What Trump voters in NC are saying today
If Republicans in North Carolina needed more bad news, it comes this morning following a focus group in Wilmington. Twelve people who voted for Trump were asked their opinions of him and other matters of concern. Almost all of the participants said negative things...
The cultural reckoning has only just begun
The country is going through a reckoning about the mistreatment of women, and in some cases men, by powerful men. It started with Hollywood and the horrific revelations that producer Harvey Weinstein sexually abused and harassed women for decades with no real...
Is tax reform the GOP’s Obamacare?
The wave that washed Democrats into office in 2006 began in September 2005. George W. Bush’s botched response to Katrina began a year-long series of scandals and missteps that left the GOP on the defensive and lacking a coherent message. Like today, they controlled...
Warning signs for Democrats
Democrats feel better than they have since the day Trump won a year ago. The results of elections across the country last week prove that Americans still share many of their values and that the country can swing back their way. They’re almost giddy about the prospect...
The Party of Reverend Leroy
As a kid, most Saturday afternoons, we watched professional wrestling with the likes of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Rufus R. “Freight train” Jones, and our personal hometown favorite, Sy Ritter, “The Junkyard Dog.” On Sunday mornings before church,...
Republican options
After the drubbing Republicans took Tuesday, they need to stand back and look at their options. None of them are very good. They can keep on the current course. They can embrace Trump even more. Or they can start to govern without him. I highly recommend the latter....
A sign of waves to come?
A tsunami like the one Democrats will need to take back Congress next year hit last night. In Virginia Ralph Northam won his race for governor by nine points, the largest victory margin in 32 years. Democrats also won the Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor...
Raleigh mayor’s race highlights problems in the Democratic coalition
The race for mayor of Raleigh highlights a division in the Democratic coalition that’s less noted than the split between establishment Democrats and left-leaning populist supporters of Bernie Sanders. In Raleigh, the split is between less affluent African-Americans...
Democratic divisions in the off-year elections
Voters go to the polls in cities across North Carolina and in Virginia and New Jersey tomorrow. Given the political environment and the president’s dismal approval ratings, it should be a banner day for Democrats. That’s not what the papers or polls are saying though....
The gerryrigger
The Republican legislature has been rebuffed in its attempt to draw legislative districts for the third time. The federal judicial panel instead stuck by their decision to appoint a special master to redraw districts that the court says are unconstitutional. Last...
