“Tillis who squirted from obscurity to the state’s most powerful politician in record time, is an adroit organizer, manager and fundraiser and is as politically sophisticated as most of us have ever seen. He’s made two interesting tactical moves recently that deserve comment:

“He’s traveling the state and conducting town-hall style meetings. He implores his audience to engage in civil discourse, and has an open dialogue about divisive issues. This is a new tactic for a House speaker; most of his predecessors rarely strayed from the confines of the corner office except to attend fundraisers of their key members.  It does two things: it reinforces that he is a visible political leader for the entire state, not just the obscure leader of the State House. And, it gives him a chance to gauge his chances for a bigger elective office. If he gets some traction, Kay Hagan is in serious trouble.

“He reaffirmed that his next term in the House is his last. This is a dicey political move. Granted, he’s demonstrating that he plans to honor a commitment that he would only serve four terms. But it also jump starts the infighting among the GOP to see who’ll be the next speaker. This could marginalize his power and leadership at a time when he really needs to drop the hammer on the Tea Partyers and others who want to take the party down a path of ruination. If they aren’t afraid of him or view him as a short-timer, it might make it difficult to lead effectively.”