Since Nixon: The party of personal deniability
Yesterday, conservative pundit Matt K. Lewis asked in an article, “When did the GOP become the party of jerks?” Conservatives on Twitter almost universally replied that the behavior started because Democrats were so mean to Mitt Romney in 2012. Their response is...
The Strength of the LGBTQ Community in North Carolina.
Faces of the LGBTQ community in North Carolina. Trans woman, of color, veteran: Lara Americano, Charlotte. Judge, official, first in the South: Chris Brook, Raleigh. Activist, transplant, rising star: Chris Sgro, Greensboro. 300,000: LGBTQ population, across the...
Student loans, Biden’s approvals and other thoughts
Yesterday, I watched snippets of Joe Biden’s speech at a DNC fundraiser in Maryland. I want to see more of that guy. He was feisty and sharp, delivering jabs and promoting his record. Going into the midterms, Democrats need fighting Joe Biden. His performance...
New York, New York
In another bad sign for Republicans, Democrats won a special election in a district in New York that’s considered a bellwether. Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in a district that has tracked presidential results, with Biden winning it by two points...
Return of retail politics
Last week, we heard a lot about Cheri Beasley’s “go everywhere” strategy. The U.S. Senate candidate is traveling to counties across the state, talking to voters, and trying to build momentum for her campaign in a state that has only elected on Democrat to the U.S....
Cheri Beasley is Running the Perfect, Scrappy Campaign Democrats Need
A party that has struggled as consistently as North Carolina Democrats requires a new approach. For decades, the state party has hewed to the classic Southern-Democrat formula of tacking as far to the political right as possible while taking no risks and attempting to...
From defund the police to kill the feds and other observations
I have a lot of thoughts today and I am going to write about all of them. Instead of one subject I’ll tackle several. Bear with me. First, more news on the U.S. Senate race in North Carolina. A John Locke Foundation poll has Cheri Beasley tied with Ted Budd. That...
The line from Helms to Trump
Last night, Liz Cheney lost her primary to Trump-backed Republican Harriet Hageman. Hageman is typical of a lot of Republicans. She supported Cheney for years and, according the Washington Post, she “opposed Trump, calling him ‘racist and xenophobic’” in 2016. Now,...
Is a Red Wave On the Way? Maybe Not.
The usual summer lull in political activity has turned out, this year, to be more of a spike. Democrats, having entered the humid season deep in a funk, now sense that because of a series of transformative events, their future political prospects may be far less dire...
Is Beasley up?
A new poll is out with more good news for Democrats. The Blueprint Strategies poll shows Cheri Beasley leading Ted Budd by four points, 46-42. It’s only one poll but it’s the first public poll since Democrats’ legislative successes and the overturning of Roe v....
Pardon Trump
The raid on Mar-a-lago could not have come at a worse time for Democrats. While a lot of them are giddy about the prospect of prosecuting Trump, Republicans are now fired up to protect their leader, likely offsetting any advantage Roe v Wade may have given...
Make yesterday’s victory count
Yesterday, Democrats delivered Joe Biden a victory that makes his first two years in office the most successful of any president since Lyndon Johnson. It’s certainly not been two straight years of wins, but the impact on the country will be felt for decades. The...