Archive for 2008
Is Hillary Toast?
The Clinton campaign may not be dead, but it’s on life support. She could change the momentum by winning Texas and Ohio in two weeks. But it’s hard to change the delegate math. She would have to win 70 percent of the vote in the primaries left – including North Carolina. Who would have thunk…
Read MoreThe Charlotte Curse
People from Charlotte are obsessed with the so-called Charlotte Curse: the repeated failures of Charlotte mayors to be elected to statewide office: Eddie Knox, Harvey Gantt, Sue Myrick and Richard Vinroot. There is no curse – at least among voters. Poll after poll has shown they don’t mind a candidate from Charlotte. But there is…
Read MoreIs Moore Less?
Richard Moore’s ad strategy doesn’t add up. Last week, his campaign pulled their ads off the air – after one public poll showed Beverly Perdue increasing her lead. The Moore campaign said the ads were pulled because the presidential campaign may soon dominate the air wars. That makes no sense. If that were so, wouldn’t…
Read MoreThe Media Primary
Hillary Clinton’s biggest constituency problem isn’t black voters or young voters or any other demographic group. It’s the media. She’s overwhelmingly losing the media primary. In fact, if you listen to the talking cableheads, you’d think her campaign is in total meltdown. Every primary, every caucus, every finance report, every change in her campaign, every…
Read MoreWhat is Easley running for?
Governor Easley apparently gave an impressive speech to the Emerging Issues Forum this week. He talked about making North Carolina a leader in developing an advanced generation of electric cars. Energy was his topic, but it was his own energy that grabbed reporters’ attention. Jack Betts blogged about it. One capital reporter called around asking…
Read MoreMayor Crowder
Raleigh’s realtors and homebuilders, unless they wake up politically, are about to get another does of castor oil from the City Council. After trouncing ‘developers’ in the last two elections the Mayor’s got a Council that’s more anti-growth – than, well, Charles Meeker. In fact, once the Council’s new ringleader, Thomas Crowder, gets through bashing…
Read MoreCooking the Math
Fox News has a new pundit: Karl Rove. After Super Tuesday, whipping out a white chalkboard, writing columns of numbers, he made his first prognostication on Hannity and Colmes, declaring Mike Huckabee is kaput. Rove said – according to the math – Huckabee must win 83% of remaining delegates – an impossibility. In his words…
Read MoreHow North Carolina Can be ‘The Decider’
The Clinton-Obama race is about two things: delegates and momentum. On both counts, North Carolina’s primary election counts. Here’s why. After today’s Potomac Primary – with 238 delegates – five big primaries are left: Wisconsin, next Tuesday, 92 delegates Ohio, March 4, 161 delegates Texas, also March 4, 228 delegates Pennsylvania, April 22, 188 delegates…
Read MoreWhere is Obama When We Need Him?
The monster is back. Last year the federal government, which will waste money on almost anything, refused to fund Lite-Rail for the Triangle because it was too wasteful. Humbled, Mayor Meeker and other Lite-Rail boosters appointed a study commission and they’ve given us a seminar on how government shouldn’t work. The commission studied the problem.…
Read MoreThe Mind Reels
North Carolina’s Democratic politicos and media types are in a frenzy over the presidential primary. As Rob Christensen wrote Sunday, the circus is coming to town! So here’s what we’re working on, as they say on TV. Will North Carolina pick the nominee? Has our time come? Or will our moment be stolen from us?…
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