We're in the short rows of this election | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Those like us who were raised "cropping" tobacco will know what we mean by saying "we're into the short rows" of the election. Those who don't know, should know. You see, when the crew that went into the tobacco field for a day of hard work they often worked in fields that were neither square nor rectangular. Some rows were longer, usually on one side of the field and shorter on the other side. We usually started in the long rows while we were fresh and not so tired. Then, later as we neared day's end we would be in the short rows, which took less time to work before we got a rest at the end of the row. The shorter time left leaves us in the short rows of this election.

    As we survey the campaigns to date, two things stand out at this point: First, it has been a relatively clean campaign. We commend the candidates for that. By clean, we don't mean the absence of negative ads but rather the fact the ads have, as far as we can tell, been focused on the issues and not the personalities. That's a good thing. But we don't expect it to continue, either at the local, state or national level. Particularly at the nation level. We fear what the Chicago Mob is going to do if the polls continue to move in Romney's favor. That worries us. We hope there will be and election.

    At the state level we think the really big races are over.

    At the local level we expect a couple of the candidates to get desperate. We'll have to wait and see but we think in the Commissioners' race the fight will be over the fourth seat. That's where it is likely to get ugly.

    The second observation we would offer is that there has been scant attention paid to what we think is one of the most important political issues this season: The control of the State Legislature. The Democrats have controlled it for ages. That changed last year when the Republicans gained the majority in both the House and Senate. But there was a Democrat Governor who could veto anything the majority did so they had to get five Democrats in the House to override a veto. There were enough Republicans in the Senate to override without any Democrats.

    That is likely to change this time. Pat McCrory will most likely be Governor. The Republicans will most likely have a majority in both houses but more importantly, they will not need all of the Republican votes to do what they want. The Democrats will be relegated to the "back benches" where the Republicans spent years watching the action but having little or no effective impact on it.

    This time the veto will not be an issue if McCrory is Governor and the Republicans have a majority in both houses. Expect major changes in the legislative record, starting with things like voter photo ID, restoring capital punishment, curtailment of bureaucrat regulations and more restraints on spending. The leadership will be more in control and individual members will be less necessary to the leadership doing its thing.

    What is surprising is that none of our local candidates has called attention to where they see themselves fitting into this scenario of the Republicans being in control and the Democrats being in the position of the red-headed step child at a family reunion.

    So let us offer this observation. People can talk all they want about which county a member of the House or Senate is from but that will not matter much more than which side of their head they part their hair on. They can talk all they want about "jobs" and "education" and this and that of what they will do. Don't believe it. Republicans will do what the leadership tells them to do or they will find themselves unable to get anything out of committee, or even heard in committee. Democrats will get nothing done. Absolutely nothing that the Republican leadership does not want done will get done.

    So if you're a Democrat--candidate or voter--just realize that as a Democrat you'll have about as much chance of getting anything done as a fisherman without a pole, hook or line.

    And if you're a Republican understand that who becomes the Speaker, President Pro Tem and their lieutenants will determine what gets considered in committee, what makes it out of committee and what gets voted on on the floor.

    Much of the rest of these promises about "what I'll do in Raleigh" are pretty much hot air.

    Elect a Democrat and you're wasting your right to be represented effectively. Elect a Republican and hope they get along well with the Leadership if you want Beaufort County to fare well.

    That's just the way it is.

    And less than fifty people showed up to greet the Top Dog in the House Monday.

    We gotta do better folks.