Civitas poll shows Biden with substantial lead in NC
Civitas released a new poll yesterday that shows Joe Biden firmly in the lead in the Democratic primary in North Carolina. It also looks at the level of interest in the primary and asks about a battery of questions about issues facing North Carolina voters. Questions...
Chief budget negotiator
The standoff over the budget is a great example of the perils of one-party rule. For most of this decade, Republicans in the legislature held veto-proof majorities, or close to it. They got accustomed to passing legislation and routinely overriding governors’ vetoes,...
The bar for bigotry
We’re in an age where the dangerous rhetoric of our top elected officials emboldens extremists to take action. The latest mass murder in El Paso offers the best example. The 21-year-old white supremacist who killed 20 people mimicked the language of Donald Trump in...
The Cohen Grand Bargain
The chair of the State Board of Elections abruptly resigned this week after telling an off-color joke in front of a large audience of election officials from across the state. According to WRAL reporters, Bob Cordle has a history of making inappropriate...
The Democratic field, post-debate
I didn’t watch any of the first night of the debates this week and only watched about forty-five minutes of the one last night. I don’t think they matter that much except for whittling down the ridiculously large field. Nobody’s paying much attention at this point in...
North Carolina and Trump’s motivating rhetoric
Donald Trump seems determined to make the 2020 election about race and immigration. He thinks that those issues divide the electorate and motivate his base. He believes they work especially well in states like North Carolina with large rural populations and areas...
Fair weather friend?
This weekend, Donald Trump went off on another racist tirade. Out of the blue, he blasted Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, who is black, for representing “a disgusting rat infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” The Baltimore district is a...
NC-09 special election is a test run for 2020
As Democrats nationally debate whether to make the 2020 election about Trump and racism or health care and kitchen table issues, the special election in NC-09 might offer them guidance or at least insight. Republican Senator state Dan Bishop is wrapping himself around...
R.I.P. Leanne Powell, 1968-2019
Leanne Powell passed away following a stroke. Powell was an entrepreneur, political consultant, Congressional staffer and local hero. She lived much of her life with one foot in the world of national politics and the other firmly planted in the central piedmont of...
Trumpism infects North Carolina judicial contests
Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby is a good example of what’s become of the GOP and what’s happening to our judicial races. Maybe Newby has always been petty and snide, but it’s the influence of Donald Trump that’s made his attitude a political asset instead of a...
