Karl Rove, Thom Tillis and social security
Karl Rove’s latest ad attacking Kay Hagan gets an R rating--for ridiculous. Rove is accusing Hagan of trying to cut social security and Medicare benefits while simultaneously increasing the debt. The message is muddled and the accusations aren’t believable. ...
Paying the price on education
Republicans' problem with education in North Carolina runs deep and wide. It’s not just teachers’ salaries that have people upset. It’s their whole approach to public schools. They want to see a decentralized school system that subsidizes private education, removes...
John Wynne and PoliticsNC
Over the past few weeks, I've had a number of people ask me who John Wynne is. Most have been taken aback by his unabashedly conservative point of view. About six months ago or so, I invited John to post on PoliticsNC. John’s job is two fold: provide analysis of...
Those fickle swing voters
Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of speculation about the turnout of the 2014 election. Conventional wisdom holds that off-year elections favor Republicans because much of the Democratic base, young people and minorities in particular, stay home in...
Running from his record
Two months late and several million dollars later, the General Assembly has finally adjourned. Now, Thom Tillis can finally start the process of trying to distance himself from the legislature he led. Republican legislators across the state are in trouble because of...
Keep ’em down
Yesterday, I wrote about legislative polls that indicate Republicans in House districts across the state face a tough environment. PPP’s monthly poll reinforced that perception. Statewide, the General Assembly has a 27% approval rating and 57% disapprove. Republicans...
Legislative polls: Can coattails fly up?
The day after Republicans took control of the legislature and the Governor’s Mansion for the first time since the 19th century, former Raleigh Mayor and then-GOP party chair, Tom Fetzer told WRAL’s Mark Binker, “We, the Republicans, now own anything that happens in...
Ads, ads, everywhere ads
Last week, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee reserved $9 million in TV to support Kay Hagan. Immediately, Republicans started saying that Democrats had hit the panic button and the buy showed that Hagan was in real trouble. Hagan’s been in real trouble since...
For McCrory, a little transparency a long time ago would have gone a long way
There goes Pat McCrory, showing off his thin skin and fighting with the media again. When is he going to learn that the best way to kill a story is to down play it, not escalate it? Now, he’s dragging it out for another day and making me write about it again. ...
Pat McGeddings
Remember Kevin Geddings? No? Well, Kevin Geddings was the former political consultant who went to prison in 2006 for failing to disclose earnings on an ethics form. When Geddings was appointed by former Speaker Jim Black to the newly created lottery commission, he...
