North Carolina – Democrats
Ghost of Gerrymanders Past
When I blogged last week that North Carolina Republicans are guilty of “the most extreme and egregious gerrymandering in American political history,” they responded: Democrats did it, too. No, they didn’t. Not like this. Democrats last drew maps after the 2000 census. The elections that followed were close, so close that one legislative session had…
Read MoreThe Final Nail
North Carolina Republicans have given Democrats our crowning issue for 2024: their cynical, corrupt, hyper-partisan gerrymandering of congressional and legislative districts. They’ve packed and cracked and sliced and diced a 50-50 state – the most closely divided state in the country, where fairly drawn districts produced a 7-7 congressional split – in a blatant effort…
Read MoreA Sign for the Speaker
N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore’s petty vengeance backfired. Moore exiled Rep. Terence Everitt, a Wake County Democrat, to a tiny office in the basement of the Legislative Building. Everitt posted this sign (photo) in his new office: “I asked prosecutors to open an investigation into credible allegations that Speaker Tim Moore used taxpayer money to…
Read MorePure Politics
Running for Governor Andy Wells and Mark Walker asked Mark Robinson to join them in opposing casinos. Robinson, who likes to talk tough, act fearless, sidestepping, dodging, didn’t say a word to stop the State Senate’s ‘Casino Bill’…the bill died in the House in Raleigh on a Tuesday night and the next morning, back to…
Read MoreLosing Streak
If North Carolina Democrats want to become a governing party by 2030, we need to face up to harsh history. In 2016, Democrats had hope. We won back the governor’s office, held onto the attorney general’s office and won a majority on the Supreme Court. But it’s been downhill in the three elections since –…
Read MoreWho’s That?
A recent Meredith College poll shows why you shouldn’t pay attention to early polls. Asked to identify photos of North Carolina’s top elected officials, most voters had no clue. 80% did identify Roy Cooper, who’s been governor for seven years and attorney general for 16 years. Still, 20% didn’t know him. And these were voters,…
Read MoreThe Age of Social Media
Abrasive but entertaining politicians rant on Facebook, Twitter – and legions of people follow them. After Jeff Jackson landed in Congress he made a video. Oddly, he didn’t rant, he talked calmly – 3 million people watched. He made more videos without a rant – and over a million people watched each video. How’d he…
Read MoreBonding Over BBQ
Anderson Clayton reminds me of Jim Hunt: the same energy, the same enthusiasm and the same determination to make North Carolina better – through the Democratic Party. A couple of us old Hunt hands saw that this week when the 86-year-old four-term governor and the 25-year-old first-term party chair met for the first time, at…
Read MoreCooper’s Casino Blast
Governor Roy Cooper measures his words carefully, so his tweet Saturday afternoon was striking: “GOP demand for passage of their backroom casino deal in exchange for a state budget and Medicaid expansion is the most brutally dishonest legislative scheme I’ve seen in my 3+ decades. People are right to be suspicious. Something has a grip…
Read MorePolitainment
A video landed from a friend in my inbox – Reverend R.C. Sproul talking about ‘worshiptainment,’ – a blight sowed in churches by preachers turning services into concerts, stage shows. I wrote back, agreed, added I felt the same way about ‘politainment.’ Vivek Ramaswamy’s the new Republican politainer. We’ve also got entertainer Mark Robinson off…
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