Being a Republican in the State Legislature

If you’re a Republican in the minority in the House or Senate, the last few years have been one long, frustrating nightmare. The North Carolina legislature works on a winner-take-all system. The majority doesn’t rule. It dictates. There are no such things as filibusters or minority party rights. You lose the election and you have…

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Satanists and Mammon

The Democratic Satanists in Durham are going on trial: According to the first hearing they’ve been “channeling demons” and, naturally, met through the Internet. For those who deny the occult, the defense attorney has a different explanation. He says there are no evil spirits on the loose in Durham – just a few people practicing…

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Getting on the Same Sheet of Music

North Carolina Republicans have one bona fide, big league, blue chip campaign that has all the ingredients for success this year: Elizabeth Dole’s. Senator Dole has built the only major Republican campaign in North Carolina that is raising more money than her opponent. And she has polls. And effective ads. And her campaign team has…

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We’re Officially In Play

For a month Obama’s been talking about North Carolina being in play. The rumor mills – at least over here on the Republican side of the aisle – are churning, saying everything from, ‘He’s crazy if he thinks he can win North Carolina’ to ‘He’s sent a legion of workers here to register 500,000 new…

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The 24-State Strategy

Inside word is that the Obama campaign is targeting 24 states – for now. And North Carolina is one of them. If 24 states end up being competitive in November, this is going to be a landslide for Obama and the Democrats. If he stays active in North Carolina, it’s good news for Kay Hagan…

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Is the N&O Too Sensitive?

A reader and N&O critic says the N&O posted two different quotes on its website after Keith Hempstead of Durham sued the paper for cutting its news pages. Last Thursday afternoon, Executive Editor John Drescher said on the site: “We’ve had some really good papers recently, and they’re worth more than the 36 cents a…

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Getting to Know Him

Presidential races can turn in the summer. John Kerry got swift-boated. Al Gore got beta-maled. Bob Dole got Dick Morrised. George Bush Sr. got Peroted. Michael Dukakis got Willy Hortoned. Summer is the dead time when voters – millions of them – who haven’t paid attention start getting to know the candidates. Here is what…

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Odds and Ends

Well, I hope Gary’s dead-on right (see below) when he says John Edwards running for Vice President with Barack Obama is a fantasy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But this morning didn’t help. My wife turned on Good Morning America and there Edwards was grinning like a Cheshire cat, gushing over Obama, sounding like a…

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Veepstakes

The silly season of the presidential campaign is officially open: a CNN blog suggested that Mike Easley or John Edwards might be Barack Obama’s running mate. Let us count the many ways neither makes sense. The apparent theory is that one of them could help Obama carry North Carolina or a Southern state. This myth…

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Give ’em Helms

I was not going to blog any more about Jesse Helms. But my previous posts got so many people stirred up (see our Comments section) that I can’t help myself. My critics suggested I was being classless and disrespectful by attacking Helms so quickly after his death. Actually, I waited four days. He died Friday…

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