Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory became North Carolina's third Republican governor since Reconstruction and the first since the 19th century to work with a General Assembly controlled by his own party, as the GOP built on its electoral momentum from 2010.
Published: Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 @ 2:24 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I don't think there is anybody -- outside of Walter Dalton's immediate family -- who hasn't conceded that we will be spending the next four years talking about GOVERNOR McCrory.
Published: Sunday, November 4th, 2012 @ 3:31 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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I heard through the grapevine that John Hood thinks I don't like him very much. (For the record, all I know of him is what I read in his columns and what I hear him saying on NC Spin.)
Published: Saturday, October 27th, 2012 @ 10:46 am
By: Brant Clifton
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The political establishment -- and the state political media -- are coming around to the realization that, barring the discovery of a dead girl or a live boy in the McCrory residence, Mayor Pat will be getting a promotion at the end of the year.
Published: Friday, October 26th, 2012 @ 11:37 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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Democrat Walter Dalton and Republican Pat McCrory sparred Wednesday night in the final debate of the 2012 race for North Carolina governor. While the event contained some interesting exchanges, I doubt it changed the trajectory of the contest.
Published: Friday, October 26th, 2012 @ 9:24 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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But when the conversation turns to races like Secretary of State, Secretary of Labor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, eyes glaze over, yawns break out, and looks of confusion take over.
Published: Monday, October 22nd, 2012 @ 4:38 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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While Republican Robert Pittenger invokes a need to return to the principles of Ronald Reagan, and Democrat Jennifer Roberts implores voters to remember she works in a bipartisan manner, the campaign cash gap between them grows.
Published: Monday, October 22nd, 2012 @ 12:24 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I disagreed with the late Bill Friday on nearly every public policy issue you can imagine. But over two decades of regular phone conversations and occasional meetings, Mr. Friday and I never had a disagreeable moment.
Published: Monday, October 22nd, 2012 @ 10:36 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Once again, we got treated to a double-header of televised political brilliance.
Published: Thursday, October 18th, 2012 @ 10:09 am
By: Brant Clifton
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On Tuesday evening, the second presidential debate of 2012 put President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney in a town hall-style forum moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley.
Published: Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 @ 4:49 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past three general elections (2006, 2008, 2010) or be newly registered to vote since November 2, 2010. The poll had a margin of error of plus/minus 4.9 percent.
Published: Monday, October 15th, 2012 @ 11:40 am
By: Civitas Insitute
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Most modern pollsters don't just ask likely voters which candidate they support and leave it at that. They also ask voters unsure about their preferences whether they "lean" to one or the other candidate.
Published: Tuesday, October 9th, 2012 @ 12:43 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Republican Pat McCrory has a large fundraising advantage in his encore campaign for the governorship.
Published: Monday, October 8th, 2012 @ 1:11 am
By: Brant Clifton
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There's nothing like the whitest white man on the planet Earth complaining that someone else doesn't get "the black experience."
Published: Sunday, October 7th, 2012 @ 2:42 am
By: Brant Clifton
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We are still more than a month from Election Day, so I'm not ready to make predictions about state and federal races yet. For the sake of argument, however, let's imagine that the current polling leads for Barack Obama and Pat McCrory are predictive of the outcomes of their respective races.
Published: Thursday, October 4th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I don't find the structure of North Carolina's tax code to be at all surprising. I find it confusing, destructive, unfair, and absurd, as do most folks who have ever studied it. But no one should ever be surprised that tax systems are screwy.
Published: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 @ 12:40 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Jay Parmley, the former executive director of the NC Democratic Party who helped bring discussions of mano y mano 'crotch-punching' to the state's local papers and newscasts, is getting an up-close-and-personal look at the economic situation he and his allies helped create.
Published: Sunday, September 23rd, 2012 @ 10:30 am
By: Brant Clifton
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The two candidates for governor have spent lots of energy and money debating whether North Carolina has lost our mojo, pointing out who is to blame. With days remaining before the November 6 elections it's time to debunk the rhetoric.
Published: Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 @ 9:37 pm
By: Tom Campbell
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We've talked about A LOT of stuff in the 2012 race for governor of North Carolina. We've heard a lot about Pat McCrory's tax returns. We've been treated to commercials featuring a Pat McCrory puppet.
Published: Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 @ 2:28 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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While the national Democratic ticket is enjoying a modest lift in the polls after the convention in Charlotte, the party's gubernatorial nominee, Walter Dalton, remains significantly behind Republican Pat McCrory.
Published: Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 @ 11:31 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Cook leads among Republican voters 86 percent to 11 percent. Unaffiliated voters, which make up 23 percent of voters in this district, are breaking to Cook by a 5-point margin, with 46 percent backing him, compared to 41 percent for the Democrat.
Published: Friday, September 7th, 2012 @ 8:29 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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The stenography pool in The N&O newsroom trumpeted recently an announcement of an ethics reform package by Democrat gubernatorial candidate Walter Dalton. Apparently, Dalton wants to clean up the legislature -- where he has been serving since 1996.
Published: Friday, August 31st, 2012 @ 12:16 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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This poll of 600 registered 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted July 16-18, 2012 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ.
Published: Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 @ 11:36 pm
By: Civitas Insitute
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Yep. That's the bill of goods wonderboy super-scribe Rob Christensen is trying to sell us in the pages of The N&O:
Published: Monday, August 27th, 2012 @ 4:52 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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The boys and girls in The Ol' Reliable's newsroom have had a busy week -- running damage control for Walter Dalton, Elaine Marshall and NOW Barack Hussein Obama (MMM -- MMM -- MMM).
Published: Monday, August 27th, 2012 @ 3:04 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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In marking their recent anniversary, the folks at The Ol' Reliable kept talking about how they long ago shirked their role as chief shill and water-carrier for the NC Democrat Party.
Published: Sunday, August 26th, 2012 @ 1:30 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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The tables have been turned in the political money wars. North Carolina Republicans, who traditionally lag behind their Democratic rivals in fund-raising, are leading their opponents in most races across the state, although there are some notable exceptions.
Published: Monday, August 20th, 2012 @ 9:21 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I had an interesting talk today with an individual who is (1) a well-known name in North Carolina Republican circles and (2) a battle-tested veteran of decades of political combat:
Published: Monday, August 20th, 2012 @ 12:15 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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Reading the News & Observer these days, you can almost sense the panic among the stenographers in the newsroom. Just yesterday, the paper ran an item about Pat McCrory's tax plan with a headline containing the word "nebulous." No, the item was NOT in the op-ed section. It was a "News" item.
Published: Friday, August 17th, 2012 @ 11:19 am
By: Brant Clifton
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The campaign debate season soon will be upon us, with three scheduled meetings between the two major party candidates for governor already lined up.
Published: Wednesday, August 15th, 2012 @ 10:11 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It would be nice to have someone with a (R) next to their name residing in that big pretty house on Blount Street. But what if that person with the (R) next to their name is not really all that big of a fan of limited government?
Published: Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 @ 4:45 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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I've changed my mind about the 2012 campaigns for North Carolina governor. I now think they may actually matter.
Published: Monday, August 13th, 2012 @ 6:10 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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