122 Professors

It’s one of the oldest temptations walking around on two legs: A man will try most anything to get his hands on a dollar – and the other morning 122 professors proved they’re no exception. Over in Chapel Hill at a Board of Governors meeting one of the trustees stood up and said it was…

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Roy vs Phil

Phil Berger can take away Roy Cooper’s powers. But he can’t take away his microphone. And he can’t match the Governor on TV. Democrats will happily take the contrast every day through the 2018 and 2020 elections. Last night, the Governor was smiling, positive and optimistic. The unshaven Senate boss was dark, negative and partisan.…

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Thanks, Josh

Politics has been so bad that for four months – ever since Election Day – I’ve meant to write about something good. But never got to it. Thanks, Trump. So now the good news: Attorney General Josh Stein. After the carnage of Election Day, one veteran Democrat said, “If you’re going to win just three…

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Three Don Quixotes

There’re a lot of odd things going on in politics: Democrats are holding anti-Republican protests and calling them Town Hall Meetings; Republicans have been tweeting about Saturday Night Live and Meryl Streep – but even when they’re angry the people hollering on Facebook or Twitter seem to be enjoying themselves. But, last week, a new…

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Fake compromise

Governor Cooper is right. The HB2 “compromise” is no compromise. It would make a bad deal even worse. The referendum provision sounds good. What’s wrong with letting people vote? Plenty. First is a matter of policy and principle. As the Governor said, we shouldn’t put minority rights up to a majority vote. That’s like putting…

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Waiting for the Blessed Silence

Phil Berger set out to fix not one mistake but a whole row of mistakes compounded over nearly a year since the day the Charlotte City Council decided to allow gay men to use women’s restrooms; at first, it had looked like Charlotte’s ordinance would be an easy bit of wickedness to cure: After all,…

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Walking Into Traps

In chambers filled with polished wood and men in robes speaking in measured cadences, leaning over thick briefs, laboring in pursuit of not perfect justice but, at least, to see enough truth to reach a verdict, three judges stopped pursuing thieves and rapists and swindlers to hold a hearing to decide the Democratic Governor’s lawsuit…

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Political Steel? Or a Boomerang?

An email flies out saying, ‘Demonstration at the airport,’ and a thousand Democratic activists head for the airport – or to a Women’s March, Gay Pride Demonstration, Moral Monday Protest, Earth Day March or Immigration Protest. So are these protests political steel? Or, like Keg Parties and Beer Blasts, simply an occasion for activists to…

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Cooper’s (familiar) challenge

Roy Cooper has seen this movie before. This time, he plays the lead. Thirty years ago, Cooper was a freshman House member. The Governor was a Republican. Democrats controlled the General Assembly. There were only 50 Republicans among the 170 House and Senate members. And the Governor didn’t have veto power. When Governor Jim Martin…

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$24.3 Million

That’s how much Governor Cooper’s campaign spent. $16.8 million. That’s how much Pat McCrory’s campaign spent. $7.5 million. That’s how much more Cooper’s campaign spent than McCrory’s. 44.6 percent. That’s how much more Cooper spent by percentage. Nearly half again what McCrory spent. These are astounding numbers. And they should give heart to Democrats looking…

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