Archive for 2010
DC Cal?
One overlooked factor in the Democratic Senate primary: Did being the Washington pooh-bahs’ pick hurt Cal Cunningham? The DSCC heavies got behind Cunningham only after a long and frustrating courtship of Bob Etheridge. Cunningham got so frustrated he dropped out of the race, then got back in when Etheridge finally said no. So…
Read MoreAnother Odd Bit of Political Logic
With a new budget looming the Governor is once again off in hot pursuit of billions from the Obama Administration and, since the President’s a fan of Charter Schools, North Carolina’s Charter School parents saw their opportunity and took it. They went to a recent State Education Board Meeting and suggested to Chairman Bill…
Read MoreRusty Money
Tom Fetzer is so outraged about Rusty Carter’s illegal campaign contributions he called another press conference. Governor Perdue and Senator Basnight are so embarrassed they think it should be a felony. Soon Joe Lieberman probably will try to take away the citizenship of anyone who does such a heinous thing. Now, I…
Read MoreThe Runoff
Cal Cunningham obviously knew what was coming Tuesday. He knew he would trail Elaine Marshall, and he knew he would face immediate pressure not to call a runoff. So he didn’t wait. He called for the runoff that night. He was interviewed live on WRAL before 7 a.m. Wednesday. And he was buzzing around…
Read MoreBev Tackles Corruption
I meant to write this a couple of weeks ago when Governor Perdue issued her fourth proclamation to end corruption but got diverted. However, with the routines and rhythms of life returning to normal I’m picking up where I left off. Over at Democratic Headquarters, the Governor’s latest proclamation was greeted with pure joy.…
Read MoreHard-core
A Democratic consultant pegged it mid-day Tuesday: “This is a base-vote primary.” That’s why Elaine Marshall nearly won, Cal Cunningham disappointed and Ken Lewis did better than expected. It has to gall Cunningham that his DSCC backing got him just 27.3 percent, just 116,000 votes. Even more galling has to be the N&O…
Read MoreObama Sets a Trap
About the only varmint on earth these days more unpopular than a Democratic Congressman is a Wall Street banker – so to save their political hides President Obama and the Democrats in Washington have gone banker hunting. Now, broadly speaking, Wall Street bankers have a simple theory of politics: Without regard to race, creed,…
Read MoreJohn A.
John A. Williams, Jr., who died this week, was one of the big reasons Jim Hunt was a successful governor. John A. looked and talked like your kindly grandfather. But he was tough as a Mafia don. Few people remember that Hunt had a sometimes-rocky first year, especially when it came to managing…
Read MoreMarshall or Cunningham?
The Democratic heavyweights in Washington who anointed Cal Cunningham – after dithering for months with Bob Etheridge – are probably sweating today. Elaine Marshall, the candidate they didn’t want to run against Richard Burr, may end up being the candidate they get. Public Policy Polling shows her with a 28-21 lead, but it’s still…
Read MoreThe Star of UNC-TV
Politicians are nothing if not creative and what they’re most creative about is making themselves look good. With the ‘Great Recession’ roaring along some politicians in state government decided paying UNC-TV to run programs to tell voters what a great job they’re doing spending money was a first rate idea. You’d think the state’s…
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