It’s the Economy, Stupid

Those four words – scrawled by James Carville in the Clinton 92 war room – may be the smartest ever uttered in politics.   And they say more than the river of words unleashed lately about What’s Wrong With Obama.   Washington is awash in the debate. Is it Rahm’s fault? Or Axelrod’s? Why has…

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Ten Years After

The Tea Party crowd is in a frenzy over rising deficits and the national debt.   In Asheville Friday, Republican candidates fell all over themselves at a Tea Party meeting that featured a clock tracking the debt.   Do these people have any memory cells whatsoever?   Obviously not, so let me remind them that,…

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Jerry Brown Redux

Jerry Brown is one of those idiot-savant politicians who can be both a genius and a self-destructive fool.   Years ago, he was California’s youngest governor ever, and he succeeded an actor (Ronald Reagan). Now he’s trying to be the state’s oldest governor ever, and he would succeed another actor.   Brown’s own roles have…

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Elections Matter

A supporter of the new Wake school board held up a sign at this week’s hearing: “Elections matter.”   At the health-care summit President Obama told John McCain: “The election is over.”   They’re right. And Obama should ram through health-care reform just like the new school board majority is ramming through its new policies.…

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Payback Time

WakeCounty is North Carolina’s most Democratic county. President Obama carried the state in 2008 because he racked up a 60,000-vote margin in this county alone.   But two big and bitter battles yesterday showed what a split county this is – and that there are no final victories in politics.   The votes – the…

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Rascal on the Loose

Sometimes you come across a rascal who’s got so much brazenness and old-fashioned nerve you just can’t help but admire his audacity – throw him in a briar patch and he’ll land on his feet and end up owning the place.   That’s why it’s hard not to keep an eye peeled to see what…

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Filing In

The candidate filings show where the energy is this year. And it’s not encouraging for Democrats.   Republicans fielded candidates in all 50 state Senate races and nearly all the state House races. There are 40-plus Republicans running in congressional primaries.   We may be seeing the three ingredients required to make a landslide:  One…

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Follow the Money

While Secretary Lanier Cansler’s former firm has been lobbying his department, it’s also been making payments to Cansler, personally.   Another Democratic scandal?   Back when Governor Perdue appointed Lanier Cansler to lead North Carolina’s biggest state agency, he announced had severed all ties with his former lobbying firm – they had parted company and…

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Tar Heel Makes It Big

North Carolina native Julianna Smoot – who was finance director in the Obama presidential campaign – has been named the new White House social secretary.   The announcement last week said this about Smoot:   “A native of North Carolina, Smoot has worked in and out of Washington. Prior to joining the Administration, Smoot served…

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