Easley Strafes Dole

A long-time friend of Governor Mike Easley once told me that – whatever else you say about him – Easley is a master of messaging. Senator Dole learned that this week. Easley dropped a well-timed bomb on Dole. He hit her on the Navy’s planned Outlying Landing Field with this quote: “It is time for…

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Fred Smith’s Home-School Pander

Fred Smith’s clumsy play for the home-school crowd may be good Republican primary politics. But it’s Exhibit A for why Democrats will hold onto the Governor’s Office in 2008. In the three gubernatorial elections Republicans have won, their candidates ran as public-school champions: Jim Holshouser in 1972 and Jim Martin in 1984 and 1988. Since…

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Bill Graham’s Fuzzy History

Bill Graham, the trial lawyer running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has a loose grasp of North Carolina political history. Of course, why would a good trial lawyer let the facts keep him from scaring the GOP jury with the Hillary Clinton bogeywoman? Graham wrote in recent fundraising letter: “Mark my words. Hillary Clinton is…

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Mukasey Dodges

Democrats asked the Attorney-General-hopeful-to-be Michael Mukasey a simple question: Do you think water-boarding is legal? That’s relevant. Timely. And important in the war on terrorism. And Mukasey wouldn’t give a straight answer. He wants to be in charge of enforcing America’s laws. But if you want to know his view on an issue more controversial…

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Death of Home Tax?

You can call it the Land Transfer Tax. You can call it the Home Tax. Or you can just call it a dead duck. When an idea gets overwhelmingly rejected in 16 counties, as the home-sale tax did last Tuesday, its time clearly has not come. And won’t anytime soon. Realtors and Homebuilders spent $800,000…

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The Monster is Back

After the federal Department of Transportation killed Mayor Meeker’s Triangle Transit Authority’s plan to spend a billion dollars to build lite-rail (because too few people would ride it) taxpayers heaved a sigh of relief. But the TTA didn’t fade quietly into the sunset. The monster is back. Leaders of a new Special Transit Advisory Commission…

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Riding the Log

The liberal-anti-growth-activists at WakeUpWake had an interesting election day. And a wake up call. WakeUpWake’s been vociferously urging voters to 1) elect candidates who oppose growth and 2) support ‘transfer taxes’ (taxing property sales) to pay for growth. Voters, apparently, saw the contradiction. They voted for slates of no-growth candidates – then they figured they…

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Democratic Winds Blow South

This week’s elections in Virginia and Kentucky should be encouraging for North Carolina Democrats. Kentucky threw out a Republican incumbent and elected a Democratic governor. Of course, that can be blamed on the incumbent’s scandals. But also, Virginia elected a Democratic Senate for the first time in 12 years. A year after electing a Democratic…

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Pot Calls the Kettle Black

In last week’s Democratic debate John Edwards turned to Hillary, lifted his chin, and stated, ‘Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton just said two different things in two minutes.’ At that moment the pot called the kettle black. Senator Clinton should have arched an eyebrow and responded: ‘Unless I missed something, John Edwards was two…

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John Drescher

I may get drummed out of the Republican Party and have my conservative epaulets striped off (and I’ve got several old friends who may not speak to me for years) for this but I second Gary’s praise of John Drescher. I met John so long ago I can’t even remember when, but I do remember…

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