You’re news, you lose

Here’s the harsh reality of 2016 politics, as demonstrated by Hillary Clinton last week and Pat McCrory over the past many weeks: If you lead the news, you lose in the polls. You’re news, you lose. In an angry, negative political environment, more media attention translates directly into more negative feelings from voters. The ongoing…

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Apocalypse Soon

Pat McCrory just got slam-dunked by the ACC. His teammates are starting to switch sides. Tamara Barringer was the first legislator to undergo a deathbed conversion. More will surely follow. But a long-time veteran of the legislative sausage-making machine doesn’t expect much from the Jones Street crowd: “The latest HB2 shame on North Carolina will…

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WTF, Pat?

Now HB2 has gone too far. It’s interfering with our state religion: NCAA basketball. It’s one thing to lose the NBA All-Star Game or PayPal. But March Madness? And Potty Pat McCrory wonders why we’re still talking about this. Maybe because he keeps talking about it. He’s lurching. Defending HB2 one day, dropping it the…

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Sick politics

Now Hillary Clinton has two problems: a treatable case of walking pneumonia and an incurable case of raging media fever over her honesty. See my blog “Hillary’s scars and secrets” last week. By all means let’s have more transparency on her health records – and on Trump’s. He’s an overweight 70-year-old man who never exercises…

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Hail Mark Ezzell

Every great saga has a hero. The hero of the Wake County early-voting saga is Mark Ezzell. With persistence and persuasiveness, Ezzell, the lone Democrat on the Wake County elections board, prevailed in his effort to expand early voting here. He persuaded the GOP-majority state board to vote 3-2 to expand the number of voting…

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The Dealmaker

He’ll be the first to say he’s a Master Dealmaker. And looking at the money he’s made there’s not much doubt he’s correct. But will a gift for dealmaking lead Donald Trump to the White House? When making a deal to buy or sell real estate, no doubt Donald Trump asked the fellow sitting across…

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Hillary’s scars and secrets

You watch the Commander-in-Chief’s forum, and you see clearly that Donald Trump is dangerously unfit for office. But the race is too close for comfort. Why? First, Hillary Clinton is a woman. It’s that simple. And it’s unfair. But it’s a fact. Second, she and Bill have been on the front pages of national politics…

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The Question on the Horizon

Trump squints. Shakes his head. Raises his hand and gestures, pointing his index finger upwards into the air. The crowd roars and he says, ‘I love you Arizona.’ In the Primary Donald Trump pledged to deport every illegal immigrant but then, in the General Election, he back-stepped, calling it a ‘softening.’    If tomorrow Hillary…

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Shifting Sands

We’re in the throes of the most rip-tide tormented, sands shifting beneath our feet election anyone’s seen since who knows when; four years ago during the Presidential Election when the pollster came to town he said, The key undecided voter this election is a 45 year old woman with two children who lives in the…

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Bigotry is losing big

Donald Trump has figured out, or been convinced, that Americans don’t want a bigot in high public office. Petulant Pat McCrory hasn’t learned that lesson yet in his reelection race. Trump’s “pivot” (actually more of a lurch) on race and immigration was an act of desperation. His new campaign team obviously told him he couldn’t…

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