You know, I can't remember the last time I woke up at 5:45. I'm sure my boss wonders why I can get up early to vote, but I can't seem to ever get to work on time.
I've never waited so long to vote in R-vegas. In fact, I've never waited. It's usually in and out in 10 minutes or less. Today, however, I spent a good 30 minutes standing there.
I have a story from 6:30 this morning that totally made my day. I got a text from a fellow Rockingham County-er asking for one good reason why he should vote for Pat McCrory over Fred Smith. This is Fred Smth country up here (as I was reminded while putting up my lone McCrory sign amid all the Smith ones), so I jumped at the opportunity. I told him plain and simple, both are conservative, both have good ideas, but Smith can't beat the Dems. I cited the poll that showed McCrory only a few points behind the Dem candidates and Smith almost 20 behind. A few minutes later, he responded:
"That's what I was looking for. Fred, as much as I like him, can't beat Perdue or Moore. And that's why I'll be voting McCrory today."
W00T.
I'm about to go "work the poll" (as LK likes to say) in Bur-Mil, and then it's off to Charlotte for the victory (I hope) party. I'll prolly be doing a voice post later on today just to touch base. VOTE!
(Ron Paul and Pat McCrory *sigh*... the dream ticket!)
Well, Fred Smith can just hang it up. I'm done with him, and I know lots of other NC Republicans are as well.
Remember my voice post last week where I told you that Pat McCrory finally responded to Fred Smith's unwarranted and false attacks? For those of you that didn't listen to it, the McCrory response ad points out that McCrory attempted to have the Republican candidates sign a contract to uphold Ronald Reagan's "11th commandment", which is not to attack other Republicans -- and Fred Smith refused to sign. The ad then goes on to point out the inaccuracies in Fred Smith's attach ads.
The very next day, Fred Smith released ANOTHER attack ad against McCrory, accusing him of breaking his promise to not attack the other Republican candidates! So what -- it's ok for Fred to tell half-truths about McCrory, but when McCrory attempts to set the record straight and defend himself, he's ATTACKING Fred Smith?
I think that was the first time that I realized that there was no way in hell I would be voting for Fred Smith in November if he wins the nomination. God, I hate Beverly Perdue, and what she's done in her campaign is dirty, but I simply cannot support a man that gets so desperate when things are not going his way. I've been saying for a while now that Smith doesn't have the appeal to win in a general election, but he just lost another Republican in me.
It's more that just the man himself. It's the people in and around his campaign. They are apparently just as bitter as he is, and rather than argue his virtues, they prefer to rely on their anger. I first realized this several weeks ago at the Civitas Leadership Institute in Greensboro. I had woken up early on a Saturday morning to man the Pat McCrory for Governor booth, and was the only one at the booth for several hours. During that time, I was approached by three Fred Smith fans who felt the need to attack me for supporting McCrory. They all came at different intervals, two of them pulling random things out of McCrory's record from the 90's, and one just incoherently screaming at me (I think he thought I was Pat McCrory) for not visiting Dare County. Oh, and they were all about 135 years old.
With the first two, the most I could do was tell them what McCrory's stance on the issues are NOW, and explain that the things that have happened in Charlotte over the last few years are not always within the mayor's control. Afterall, it is a majority-Democratic city, and while McCrory does have the veto power, there are usually enough votes to override him. When one guy continued to press me for why McCrory had said one specific thing over 10 years ago, I finally had to shrug and tell him, "Sir, I'm not Pat McCrory, I've really never heard that until now, so I can't answer for it." His snappy come-back? "Well, you ARE working his table!"
The last guy was my favorite. He stood several feet away from the table, like he was afraid I was going to snap and come after him, and loudly proclaimed that he was NOT voting for Pat McCrory because McCrory had not been to his county -- Dare County, over on the eastern part of the state. "Fred Smith has been to Dare County FOUR TIMES over the past year, and Pat McCrory hasn't been at all!"
Would this be a good time to mention that Fred Smith, who probably has more money than everyone in Dare County put together, owns a vacation home there? Could that be the reason he's visited four times in the past year? Maybe?
I didn't know that little tidbit until later on in the day, so I couldn't use that against the Dare County crazy man, but I did point out that Fred Smith has been campaigning for governor for about two years, where as McCrory only recently entered the race. I also pointed out that during his extensive campaigning, Smith has been the most absent senator in the NC legislature, whereas McCrory insists on continuing to do his job properly while running for governor. Did this man care? I think you know the answer to that question. He literally yelled at me for another five minutes before wandering away. Most of the room was staring at me at this point, and one person in the crowd piped up, "Well, McCrory's been to my county, so I guess I don't have any reason to argue with you."
I'd also like to point out that after someone showed up to help me with the booth around noon, no one else came by to fight. Could it have something to do with the fact that these old men saw a young girl working the booth all alone and figured it would be easier to fight with her than later on when I was joined by a male? I could make a lot of assumptions here.
Add to this all the crap I've put up with from Smith fans on local blogs who never really debate my point that Smith is not the electable gubernatorial candidate -- the majority of the rebuttals I receive are, "McCrory's a RINO!" or "Smith is a REAL conservative who will beat the Democrats in November!" Really? Is that why the polls show Perdue and Moore at about 20 points ahead of Smith, whereas they only lead McCrory by a few points? I mean, if these people could just give me some proof for why they believe what they do, I might give them some credit every now and then, but they can't do it.
Oh, and how about good ole Nathan Tabor. Nathan Tabor ran an unsuccessful campaign for a local US House seat several years back, and I worked for the campaign that defeated him in the primary (although we lost to the eventual winner, Virginia Foxx, in the run-off). A couple years ago, he was spamming local blogs (including mine) with crap about how NC needed a TRUE conservative like -- who else -- Fred Smith. About a month ago, I noticed a blog called "The Conservative Voice" which had several inflammatory stories about McCrory, including one that he had pulled ahead in the polls using deception. I signed up for the site solely so that I could post comments to the anti-McCrory entries, and who else should send me a welcome email but Nathan Tabor. A few more clicks of the mouse tells me that Tabor is currently working as a political consultant to Fred Smith. So are Smith's campaign dollars funding inflammatory articles about Pat McCrory via this pseudo-real website? It sure appears that way.
And now, the yard signs. A friend of mine had been putting McCrory signs around High Point and Jamestown, and had reported back to me that someone was replacing all of her signs with Fred Smith signs (including the signs in her OWN YARD!) I had hoped that maybe this was just some local bitter Smith fan at work, but I was wrong. This weekend, I went to Charlotte and rode around with one of the campaign's volunteers, and he pointed out that every McCrory sign he had put up over the past week was gone and replaced with a Smith sign. The sure makes it sound like it's not just one local nutjob, but something that's going on throughout the entire campaign.
No, Fred's bitter campaigning style does not sit well with me, and regardless of what happens, I will not be voting for him in November. I know that there will be some Republicans that disagree with me, and some that join me, but I really don't care either way. If McCrory doesn't win on Tuesday, I'll be finding myself a nice Libertarian to work for, and you Smith fans can all rest easy knowing that you lost one of your most hard-working and passionate Republican volunteers.
And if Fred's dirty politicking doesn't give me enough reason to not vote for him, I stumbled across these YouTube videos last night. I asked all around the campaign to see if I could find out who made them, but no one seems to know. They're not pro-McCrory at all, just anti-Smith. They make some very good points.
The Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro's token conservative newspaper, endorsed Fred Smith today. That was not a surprise -- everyone saw it coming. What WAS surprising was the article that accompanied the endorsement:
"The nod here goes to Fred Smith, who is much more conservative than McCrory, who is a get-the-job-done and get-reelected type of politician."
As with EVERY OTHER "RINO" ATTACK ON MCCRORY, no one ever really explains what it is about Pat McCrory that is so liberal. Okay, so at least once in every debate I've ever seen, Fred Smith has had to mention that he thinks there should be an amendment banning gay marriage, and McCrory has simply not brought the issue up. Is that it? Is that what makes Smith the "true conservative" -- the fact that he wants to interfere in the separation between church and state in a blatant display of bigotry?
I digress.
I find it amusing that not only does the Rhino Times compare the "conservatism" of the two candidates, but McCrory is suddenly a bad guy for "getting the job done" and getting re-elected. Getting stuff done is bad? Working across party lines for the good of the state is bad? Getting elected is somehow... BAD?
The Rhino Times needs to look at the polls. McCrory is the "get-elected" candidate for the Republicans, which is what we need. In a recent Rasmussen survey, McCrory only trailed Bev Perdue by 3 points and Richard Moore by 2. That's compared to Fred Smith who lost to Perdue by 18 points and Moore by 11.
Let's continue with the article:
"[Fred Smith] knows a lot about how small businesses are being regulated to death and has done a good job in the state Senate trying to hold the line as a conservative, which hasn't been very easy the past couple of terms."
The article is right about one thing -- Fred Smith knows how to get a small company off the ground. Step one -- purchase a company on the brink of bankruptcy... step two -- get elected to state legislature and ensure that your company handles as many state projects as possible.
And finally:
"It's simply a fact that it takes a good amount of money to run statewide races. It doesn't matter how qualified a candidate is; if he or she can't raise money, it is nearly impossible to get the word out."
Oh what do you know -- it just came out this week that McCrory raised $1.2 million during the first few months of this year. Compare that to Smith's $885,000... $500,000 of which came from PERSONAL LOANS. That's right -- McCrory is the only gubernatorial candidate that has not supplemented his campaign with personal loans, and he's still the one that raised the most money.
He also hasn't wasted that money on state-wide bbq, which perhaps speaks to his fiscal conservatism?
Not that I'm particularly worried about the Rhino Times endorsements... after all, they endorsed Alan Keyes for President. Yes, this election. No, I'm not kidding.
There's no doubt about it -- Pat McCrory is the Republican candidate that can and will win against the Democrats. Whenever I bring this up to Fred Smith fans, their response is, "Fred Smith will beat the Democrats because everyone's tired of the Raleigh Democrats." Well, that's not what the polls are saying... and were we not all tired of the Democrats back in 2004? What about 2000? Our state historically votes Democrats into state office, and that's just a fact... not a trend.
I really can't stress this point enough. If you're tired of the Raleigh Democrats, if the thought of Governor Bev Perdue scares the crap out of you, you'll vote for the Republican that actually has a shot at bringing change to Raleigh... and that Republican is Pat McCrory.
I refrained from posting last night, because I was so angry. Oh, I wanted to post. While I was sitting in that crowded theater listing to the final Republican gubernatorial debate in Asheboro, I was planning what I would say. I was going to do a voice post from my cell phone on the way home, but I was simply too fired up to say anything even reasonably polite. I wasn't much better off by the time I got home, so I thought, "I'll do it tomorrow, when I'm calmer."
So much for all that.
What's got me so hot? As I mentioned, last night was the final Republican gubernatorial debate, and it was held in Asheboro, NC. All of the candidates were there -- even Elbie Powers, the Ron Paul character that speaks his mind and usually has 1% or less of the vote -- with the exception of Pat McCrory. Now, common sense should tell you that with a race as close as this one, McCrory would not CHOOSE to miss the last debate, especially with his opponents attacking him every chance they get. No, you see, Pat McCrory has a JOB. He is mayor of Charlotte, and he has city council meetings to attend. Early on in this race, McCrory made it known that he would not be missing city council meetings, because when he does, the Democrats control the meetings. He stood by that promise last night.
Oh, did I mention that there are other gubernatorial candidates that also have jobs they should be doing? Namely Fred Smith, who has been an absentee senator in the NC legislature for the past two years, missing OVER 300 VOTES IN 2007 ALONE. And just in case you're not familiar with the NC legislature, it's got a Democratic majority, and every Republican vote counts when you have a Democratic majority.
Gosh, do I even need to finish writing this post to let you know WHY I'm so angry about last night?
As you can probably guess, two of the candidates took this opportunity to make it seem like McCrory doesn’t care about the people of North Carolina. It all began when Jack took the stage to speak on behalf of Mayor McCrory and explain why he couldn’t make it. There Fred Smith sat in front of the crowd, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, sneering and shaking his head. Oh what am I saying, I’m not being fair here – he’s always sneering. But he did made a show out of showing his disgust in a very tasteless manner.
The debate opened with an actual question, but rather than answer it right off the bat, Fred Smith took the opportunity to address the crowd and scold Mayor McCrory for not attending. I have the spectacle on tape, and I’ll be uploading it tomorrow so you can all see what it looks like when the pot calls the kettle black.
In all honesty, I don’t entirely remember what Smith said because it was completely dwarfed by Bob Orr’s comment. When it came time to answer the question, Orr again chose not to address the issue and instead told the crowd that McCrory “needs to decide whether he wants to be a mayor or run for governor.”
Seriously?
So let me get this straight – for starters, you absolutely have to be independently wealthy to run for governor. That’s what I’m going to take from that comment, because Orr obviously wants his gubernatorial candidates to be jobless.
And if you DO have a job when you run for governor, you’re supposed to completely shun it? Doesn’t that just speak VOLUMES about your work ethic? How do the citizens of North Carolina know you’re not going to decide it’s time to run for president in a few years and just leave your position empty in the governor’s mansion? Justice Orr, it’s good to know that if you are our next governor, you’ll be entirely committed to your position UNLESS something better comes along. Fred Smith has already shown his great work ethic through his senate attendance.
So yes, let’s please criticize McCrory for deciding to stick with his commitments, because after all, we don’t want a governor that’s going to stick to his word, and we CERTAINLY don’t want a governor that thinks he’s supposed to do his job.
I'm really REALLY glad I didn't watch this debate before going to the one in Greensboro this past Friday night, or before dealing with those angry Fred Smith fans on Saturday (more details to come in another post very soon). I'm seriously very angry about what I saw in that WRAL debate.
You expect to see the candidates attacking each other on their positions, especially this late in the race -- what you don't expect, however, is to have one candidate OPENLY LYING about something that happened less than a week earlier.
Let me elaborate: about 20 minutes into the debate, during a discussing on taxes, Fred Smith accuses Pat McCrory of stating that he was "happy to raise taxes" on the people of Charlotte. Immediately, the moderator asks for clarification, and Smith again tells him that during the last debate they had in Greensboro on Saturday night, McCrory had stated he was happy to raise taxes on "his" people.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa, what? Greensboro debate? Saturday night? I was THERE. I was AT that debate, and I transcribed the ENTIRE event. I sure as hell don't remember hearing that.
In the WRAL debate, McCrory laughs that he must have missed that part of the debate, and asks Orr and Graham for backup. Orr just holds up his hands as a sign to keep him out of it (like Orr would have been on his side anyway.... Orr's an ass, in case you weren't already aware), and Graham tells the moderator that he certainly did not recall the exchange. Smith again states that in a discussion about the arena in Charlotte, McCrory stated he was "happy to raise that tax" to build the arena.
So much calmer than I would ever be when someone sitting 2 feet away from me was telling lies about me to the entire state, McCrory responded "It's just sad this is the way the state government politicians are acting. We didn't raise the tax to build the arena, so there's no way I did say that."
I pulled out my little notebook from that very debate which they were discussing, and confirmed that my initial suspicions were correct -- there was never any mention of the arena, let alone McCrory being "happy" to raise taxes.
I can't believe the gall of this man. I know that he's trying to appeal to the Religious Right by way of his portrayal of himself as "THE social conservative", but this sure isn't how I was taught that Christians are supposed to act. Earlier today, a woman told me on her blog that she had to "vote her conscience" in the primary (she was endorsing Smith, and she couldn't quite explain to me why it was that she was so opposed to McCrory), but I'm not sure how anyone's conscience could be telling them to vote for this guy.
It's seriously disturbing. Are there any limits to this guy's deceit? What other kinds of stunts does he have up his sleeve that he's waiting to pull out before the primary?
A political nerd like myself couldn't have asked for a better weekend.
This weekend was the NC Young Republican convention, and lucky for me, it was held right here in Greensboro. That's right... two days of politics, politics, and MORE politics with people who more or less share my beliefs.
Friday was mostly going to be a meet and greet social event for convention attendees. I was planning on going over after work and spending most of the evening driinking and conversing with other Repubs -- until I got a text message sometime around 2 PM. A friend of mine (who happens to work for the McCrory campaign) had texted me to let me know that Pat McCrory was going to downtown to speak at the NC College Republican convention dinner later that night, and he wanted to know if I wanted to meet him.
Seriously? I was probably a little more excited than your average person would have been to get such an offer.
Okay. A LOT more excited.
Five hours later, I met Mayor McCrory at the downtown Marriott. Now, I've met a lot of politicians in my day, and regardless of how much I admire/support them, they all seem to share a common falseness about them. Maybe it's my own cynicism (what, me a cynic? Noooo...), but I dare say 95% of all politicians appear to be in a constant "campaigning mode" at all times. It's not necessarily a terrible thing, just something I've come to expect. So imagine my shock and amazement when Pat McCrory, the mayor of the largest city in North Carolina and very possibly our next governor, did NOT have that trait.
My friend introduced me to Mayor McCrory, and instead of going into some spiel about why he's running, he actually acted like a normal human being. It did catch me a little off-guard, I'll admit, but it was... oh my God, so REFRESHING. He's such a genuinely nice person, I don't think it's possible to talk to this guy and not like him (unless you're running against him, but we'll get to that bitterness later).
His speech during dinner was flawless. He focused on the fact that the Democrats in Raleigh have gotten so used to be in charge that they've let the power go to their heads (he referred to them as "Machiavellian", which I found awesome along with being completely true). They're so busy trying to get more and more power for themselves that they've completely forgotten the people who got them where they are. As Mayor McCrory said, "The moment that you start believing it's all about you is the moment you forget that it's really all about public service."
Because he was speaking to a room filled with College Republicans, McCrory likened the point to college politics. He urged them to expand their political horizons by hanging out with people who may share different political beliefs. If we only associate with people we agree with, he pointed out, we'll never learn the other side of our arguments.
Does anyone really need to question why I love this man?
McCrory then went on to tell everyone about his three major issues: Crime (with a particular emphasis on illegal immigrants), transportation, and education. I particularly loved the comment he made about education in NC. He pointed out that money was not well-distributed within the university system, and that we should start rewarding universities that have majors which are more likely to get jobs for graduates (you have to admit, that's a gutsy thing to say in a room which is probably full of liberal arts majors -- and that's coming from a political science graduate!). But he did make a great point: if the taxpayers are expected to help pay for higher education, then they should expect their money to go towards an education that is needed within the community and that will assist graduates in finding a career later on. He reminded us that this plan is "fair for both the taxpayer and the student."
He closed his speech by reminding everyone that we need to get the Democrats out of Raleigh, and that he was the most electable candidate.
Overall, it was a great speech, and the audience seemed to think so as well (with the exception of a couple of anti-McCrory UNCG students who were sitting next to me -- they wisely chose to not tell me who their gubernatorial choice is, which is a good thing because I have no doubt that I know more about the candidates than they do... they just aren't interested in McCrory because he didn't spent 10 minutes talking about the evils of homosexuality in NC).
Saturday was fun, aside from having to actually wake up on a Saturday. There were classes on campaigning tips, a luncheon with speeches from multiple NC GOP candidates, and several different groups and candidates with stations in the lobby. It was there that I learned to never, ever let a table full of Ron Paul fanatics being headed up by an old man in a white suit and brown crocodile shoes that you supported Ron Paul. I'll really never get rid of all this literature. I also discovered another candidate that I really like, BJ Lawson, who's running in the 4th district. Lawson seems to me another Paul-esque candidate, meaning he focuses on sticking to the Constitution (imagine that!) and attracts many Libertarian followers. Lawson's campaign manager and I had a great talk about whether or not libertarian-minded Republicans should stay in the party and attempt to change it from the inside, or completely branch off into a 3rd party. I informed him that I refer to myself as a Republitarian, to which he responded, "I love you". He then apologized to Matt, who is just getting used to it, as this is the second time in about two months this has happened.
The big event of the convention was Saturday night: the Republican gubernatorial debate. Howard Coble officiated the event, and he opened by reminding us that we actually have a chance to elect a Republican governor this year. One of the main reasons for this, he supposed, is that "we're not having food fights like the Democrats -- and we will benefit from their squabling."
Each of the four candidates was given the opportunity to deliver a 2 minute answer to each of the 5 questions asked. Luckily for McCrory, the first four questions focuses on four of his best issues -- illegal immigration and crime, transportation, education, and fiscal conservatism.
McCrory was the first to answer the first question, which asked what policies he would use as governor to fight crime and illegal immigration. He responded by citing his experience as mayor of the largest city in NC, where not long ago the police had a shootout with an El Salvadorian gang ("Luckily, they missed and we didn't," he states). He also stated that he planning to demand of the new president that an illegal immigration detention center be built in NC. The closest center to us right now is in Atlanta, and our inability to easily transport illegals there is putting a strain on our jails, which also puts a strain on our police. McCrory also wants to completely do away with our willingness to hand out licenses to illegals in NC, as well as work on gang legislation that would implement longer sentences for criminals found to be involved in gangs.
Because McCrory spoke first, the other three candidates spent most of their time criticizing his answer. Bob Orr and Fred Smith jumped on the fact that McCrory wanted to pass more legislation, when the real problem was that the current laws weren't being enforced. None of them really gave any solution as to HOW they would insure those laws were enforced if they became governor. The only exception was Bill Graham who argued that gang legislation DOES help, and that building more jails would hep solve the problem of "revolving door" sentences in NC (a point that I've heard McCrory address in previous debates.)
The next question asked the candidates what they would do about NC's transportation problems. All four candidates agreed that there needed to be a major overhaul in the leadership of the DOT -- but only McCrory wanted to outline a 50 year transportation plan. Not only that, but he wants to focus building where the cars and motor vehicle accidents are -- not "where the powerful politicians are" -- and he thinks that only after the plan has been laid out should the citizens of NC vote on it.
Next, the candidates were asked to explain how they would fix the education system in NC. Both Smith and Graham listed generic and vague ways that the system could be amended by taking the "disruptions" out of classrooms and using "local innovations" to make learning more efficient. McCrory pointed out that going back to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, rather than strictly preparing our kids for one-size-fits-all testing, would benefit everyone in the long run. He then urged that we put the "tech" back into technical and vocational schools, as technical jobs are in such high demand. He reminded everyone that "not every student needs nor wants a four year degree" so we shouldn't be treating them all as if they're on a college-bound track.
It's at this time that Graham requested a rebuttal, although I'm not sure what he was rebutting. In fact, he didn't seem to be in disagreement with McCrory's stance at all, so we have to assume that he only wanted an extra minute to finish a thought that he hadn't gotten to earlier. Later, a fellow McCrory supporter suggested to me that Graham had chosen that moment to rebut because McCrory had aced the education question, and he was trying to save face.
The fourth question was a two-parter: Are you a fiscal conservative, and what area needs new vision in NC? Of course, all four candidates answered that they were fiscally conservative, except for Fred Smith who apparently couldn't get a handle on the word "fiscal" and kept claiming to be "physically" conservative. It wouldn't have even been so noticeable if it weren't for the fact that he kept saying it over and over again. When it came time for McCrory to answer, he stated, "Well, where I come from, they don't tell me I'm fiscally conservative so much as they tell me I'm cheap." He then went on to push the fact that he was the only candidate on stage who had the opportunity to use a veto, and he had used it several times against the Democrats in Charlotte. He promised that he wouldn't hesitate to use it against the Democrats in Raleigh in order to keep our taxes down, and to limit waste.
The last question, in keeping with the theme of our convention ("Reclaiming the Reagan Legacy") was "As governor, how will you carry on the Reagan Legacy?" At this point, I was tired of jotting down notes as fast as I could, so I decided to get some video of Pat McCrory's answer (sorry it's so dark, the lighting was horrible in there, but all you really need to do is listen):
And of course, following the final question, each candidate was given the opportunity to give a closing statement. Here is McCrory's, in which he discusses the corruption that is taking place in Raleigh under the Democrats in power:
You can't tell me that man's not a great speaker.
All in all, a great weekend. I'm going to be posting some more pictures from it on Facebook the next time I great a free chance. Until then, this picture of myself with the next governor of NC will just have to tide you over:
Check out the crosstabs on page 4. McCrory leads Fred Smith 35% to 23% in REPUBLICAN voters alone. Why is that so great? Because NC Republicans can't count on the unaffiliated voters like we could in past years.
For those of you unfamiliar with the NC voting system, if you're an unaffiliated voter in this state, you have to chose whether you want to vote in the Democratic primary or the Republican primary. Any other election year, this gubernatorial race would pull a lot of unaffiliated voters to the Republican primary, especially those around the Charlotte area (where McCrory is currently serving his record mayoral 7th term).
However, thanks to the current never-ending power struggle that is the Democratic presidential nomination, North Carolinians have (mistakenly) convinced themselves that their vote is needed there. You see, our primary happens so late in the year that there's already clear winners by the time anyone even reaches us, so people around here are pretty sure that *we* are going to be the state that decides it all.
Yeah. Just like every single other state before was going to be "the state that decides it all". Obama's going to win NC -- truth is, NC didn't like the first Clinton, and most of it was probably thanks to Hillary (the 2nd most unpopular thing about Bill's presidency after Monicagate). Aside from that, it's kinda annoying to me how many North Carolinians are getting star-struck about this primary. Guess what people -- they never cared about you before, and after the primaries, they're going to forget all about you. NC is a Republican state, and chances are it's going to stay that way in 2008.
I'm not an unaffiliated voter, but if I were, I'd focus more on the gubernatorial race. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- McCrory is the only electable Republican when you pair him against Purdue (or Richard Moore, as it seems many North Carolinians are coming to their senses about Purdue). I know that thinks both Smith and Graham "have the ability to win this thing by signing a check", but I think the people of NC are smarter than that. If McCrory's only downfall is that Smith has more money than he has good sense, then I think it's time for me to get out of politics altogether. It's a shame Ross Perot didn't use that check-signing power to win in 1992.
I think I just dated myself. Or maybe outed myself as the only 8-year-old that kept up with politics.
Enough politics for today. UNC's playing tonight, and I have to go support them (even if it WILL destroy my bracket).
I'm super busy right now, but I'm too afraid that the primaries are going to sneak up on me without having posted my support for the only Republican gubernatorial candidate that has a chance against Beverly Perdue.
North Carolina has had something like two Republican Governors in the past 100 years. Just a few years ago, Mike "Tax-Hike" Easley was one of the most unpopular guys in NC politics, but the slew of bumbling idiots on the Republican side made it easy for him to hold his position for another four years.
NOW, Easley's Democratic Lt. Governor, Beverly Perdue, thinks it's her turn. I'll be completely honest with you: I voted for "Bev". In fact, I was a big proponent of her running for governor (especially since I couldn't stand anyone on the Republican side). But that was before she took a complete nose-dive over to the left. Now, every other commercial on local television is Bev talking about how all North Carolinians have a "right" to healthcare, or complaining about the "greedy" lenders that dared to foreclose on the homes of people that refused to pay back the money they owed. I've spent the last month begging my parents (who are registered Democrats and therefore must vote in the Democratic primary) to vote for anyone BUT Perdue. If nothing else, the name recognition will do us in.
Pat McCrory is the only Republican candidate that has a chance against Bev. He's been mayor of Charlotte (easily NC's most liberal city) for 7 terms now -- a record, mind you -- and during those years, he actually brought crime DOWN 33% even as crime rates nationwide were skyrocketing. Home values have actually gone UP in Charlotte... which is a refreshing change.
The other gubernatorial candidates know he's the best chance we've got, and they've been shamelessly attacking him. I can promise you right now: if you nominate Bill Graham, Fred Smith, or Bob Orr as the Republican candidate, WE WILL LOSE TO BEVERLY PERDUE. He may not be as socially conservative as they are, but social issues aren't a part of his agenda. Look around you, North Carolina -- is our greatest threat right now gay marriage? Do we really want a governor that's going to make taxes and the economy take a back seat to school prayer?
I've already emailed the campaign to see if I can help out in any way, and I've offered to use my vacation time to volunteer. This is a man I truly believe in. Check him out.
