Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
In the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton had sewn up the Democratic nomination, but was trailing George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot in the polls. So – at the Democratic Convention – he reintroduced himself as “The Man from Hope.” He and his consultants painted that picture to counter the popular view of Clinton as a…
Rep. Mary McAllister is a Democrat from Fayetteville. According to a report published by Democratic researcher Joe Sinsheimer last year she sponsored a bill that read: “There is to be appropriated from the General Fund to Operation Sickle Cell, Incorporated, a non-profit organization, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2006-07 fiscal…
George Bush ran as a “compassionate conservative” but hasn’t governed that way – until it came to immigration reform. But his own party is having none of his compassion toward immigrants. By voting 38-18 against his immigration bill, Senate Republicans officially certified Bush as a lame duck President. This is no surprise. Republicans reverted to…
Democrats must have a cadre of people working “round the clock” to find ways to skirt the state Ethics Laws. Take this example. Lobbyists in North Carolina for Time Warner Cable – just to pick an example mentioned in The News and Observer – are banned from contributing to Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue’s campaign for…
Here’s a peculiar poll. And a good example why – if you’re a candidate – depending on polls is more reliable than depending on your instincts. John McLaughlin and Associates, a respected Republican pollster, reports Fred Thompson has gained nine points on Rudy Giuliani since April. Giuliani dropped from 28% to 24%. Thompson rose from…
The pro-immigration camp, politically, is small. It’s only 10-20% of the voters. They are mostly liberals though not all liberals – by any means – support the President’s plan to legalize twelve million illegal immigrants. The anti-immigration camp is huge. Roughly 70% of the voters. They are primarily Republicans and conservatives. But not entirely. Many…
Here’s another unusual footnote from eastern North Carolina. After ten years – and $1.2 million of taxpayers’ money – government officials still haven’t proved a shipwreck buried in the mud in Beaufort Inlet belonged to Blackbeard the pirate. The problem, they say, is lack of money. Now, how much would it be worth to prove…
Here’s a really outrageous story. The head of the northeastern North Carolina Regional Mental Health Agency’s salary is: $319,000 a year (Charlotte Observer, 06-03-07). Plus a $1000 a month car allowance. Of course, the Governor only makes a fraction of that – as does the head of the much bigger Mecklenburg County Mental Health Agency…
It looked for a while like disgraced ex-speaker Jim Black might have stolen a march on Hanging Judge Jim Dever. But Dever taught Black and his lawyers a lesson in the law and politics. Black’s lawyers asked Dever to recuse himself from sentencing. The N&O said they “argued that Dever, a Republican and former Raleigh…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…
Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany…