Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has edged ahead of Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the gubernatorial race with less than five weeks until the election, according to a new WRAL News poll.
Polling firm Rasmussen Reports surveyed 700 likely voters statewide Tuesday and found that McCrory, the Republican candidate, holds a 50 to 46 percent lead over Perdue, the Democratic candidate...
The only segments of voters where Perdue holds a lead, according to the poll, are those under age 30, unmarried voters and those making either less than $20,000 or between $60,000 and $75,000 a year. -----
So basically, the only voters who are voting for Perdue are people who are already planning to vote straight-ticket Democrat. I wonder if they would be so gung-ho to vote for her if they knew how reluctant she is to have anything at all to do with the party's presidential nominee, Barack Obama.
No, I'm not kidding, although when I read it in the News & Observer this morning, I thought it was a joke (especially when I read the title): Inmate rebuts McCrory, likes moratorium
A death row inmate singled out by Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has responded.
At a recent debate, the Charlotte mayor said that the moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted, noting that the convicted killer of two Queen City police officers was still on death row.
"Listen, this is personal to me," McCrory said. "Two young police officers that were shot by one man with their gun, and this man has still not been dealt with even though a jury of his peers convicted him. ... There's no reason we should have the moratorium right now."
At the debate, McCrory did not name the killer, Alden J. Harden, but he did name the police officers, Andy Nobles and John Burnette. Harden was sentenced to death in August of 1994 for the killings, which took place the previous October.
Contacted by Dome at Central Prison in Raleigh, Harden said in a handwritten letter that, "I am being dealt with."
"The moratorium is set to help make sure that more people like you and my so-called peers don't take it 'personal' as well, but rather look at the law," Harden wrote. "Because everyone has a right to fight for themselves under the law."
He wrote that "there's every reason" to have a moratorium.
Apparently, the two police officers that he shot to death were unavailable for comment.
I think this article speaks for itself.
(The pictures above-right pictures are of fallen officers Nobles and Burnette)
James Carville's group, Democracy Corps, recently conducted a poll in North Carolina to rate voter's knowledge and general feelings on the candidates. The poll focused mostly on national candidates, but had a few questions which involved gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Bev Perdue -- and I have to say, I'm a little shocked to see results like this from such a liberal poll!
The poll had voters rate each candidate on a scale of 1 - 100 based on how favorably they viewed them (1 being the least favorable, 100 being most, 50 being neither). Out of a list of eleven candidate, Pat McCrory was veiwed the most favorably with a mean score of 55. Bev Perdue received a mean score of 49, and the only person scoring lower than her was John Edward (with a mean score of 35).
In the typical "who would you vote for if the election were held today" question, the vote was completely split between Perdue and McCrory. Given the fact that the rest of the responses lean a bit on the liberal side, this is a little amazing. Even more amazing is when you take into consideration the fact that a 527 has been running ads against Pat McCrory for the past few weeks, while Perdue has had the luxury of having NO negative ads run against her. Must be nice.
I feel good about November. Pat McCrory should too.
Check out this video of a local talk show in Greenville, NC. Joe Mavretic, former Democratic Speaker of the NC House tells Henry Hinton why he will not be voting for Bev Perdue. Keep in mind; this is a DEMOCRAT -- you know, one of Bev's peers.
"I think that her entire political career has been based on flip-flops. Bev Perdue in my personal opinion is a person whose word you can not trust... I've watched her in the House and in the Senate, and in the Lt. Gov. slot, and I think that's an accurate description."
This Sunday, Pat McCrory addressed the Greater Greensboro Republican Women's Club -- and your favorite blogger was right there, front and center, to record the speech for your viewing pleasure! Yes, I am a few days late with this post, but I had a few minor technical difficulties with my new video camera. Thanks to some help from Guilford Young Republican President Kyle Suggs (who makes a cameo at the end of the last video clip).
I've split these clips up into 2-3 minute increments, for those of you that don't feel like wading through a 13 minute speech, but I assure you, Mayor McCrory is a superb speaker, and I recommend watching all of these clips!
The first clip is Pat McCrory's introduction, and he tells a story that he often recounts when in the Greensboro/Jamestown area. It is a cute little anecdote that he tells very well, even if you have heard it five times like I have ;)
Mayor McCrory then addressed the attack ads that are currently being run by the Bev Perdue campaigns and their cronies (which I have discussed at length on this blog), and countered that perhaps it is Lt. Governor Perdue that is the real threat to North Carolina.
McCrory went on to outline his plan for public schools, which unlike any of Bev Perdue's stances, has not changed since this primaries:
And he even addressed the fact that our transportation system is broken, with all of the money for road projects going to the areas with the most powerful politicians:
Pat McCrory concluded his speech by urging everyone to not only remember to vote, but to help motivate others to vote. He reminded us that in order to win this election, we can't only rely on the Republicans, but also Independents and even Democrats. He contends that most North Carolina Democrats do not relate to the leftest agenda of Beverly Perdue, Barack Obama, and other liberal Democrats.
He's got my vote, but I guess you all probably know that by now...
Pat McCrory is officially a threat to the Bev Perdue campaign.
How do I know? I don't have to look at polls or watch the debates, although either of those outlets would show anyone that this race is not the Democratic landslide this state is used to. No, I learned that Perdue is starting to really worry about McCrory because of a small text-only ad along the side of my Gmail account inviting me to learn "The Real McStory".
Now, I'm not going to link to this pathetic attempt at a new-age attack ad, because I don't want to give them anymore free press than I have to, but you're really not missing too much. It's little more than a bare-bones Blogspot blog masquerading as an actual website with fantastic stories about how McCrory is going to single-handedly destroy North Carolina's public school system and how -- get this -- McCrory is flip-flopping on issues like off-shore drilling!
Excuse me? Pat McCrory is a flip-flopper? This from the woman that stated she was against off-shore drilling on several occasions before then putting out a television ad saying she has been consistently FOR off-shore drilling, while failing to mention that she's only for it if it's being done in the Gulf of Mexico. But I digress.
A small square of text in the bottom right hand side of the blog tells us that everything is paid for by the North Carolina Democratic Party. Well, of course -- we can't let "Positive Bev" put her name on something that dirty.
Don't let Beverly Perdue fool you, folks. This website might not have been her idea, but she has a hand in it. She knows about it. And if she were really interested in running a clean race, she would demand that it be taken down. This is just another one of her ways of getting her slimy attacks out without actually having her name on them.
It's interesting to note that there is absolutely nothing on this site about Perdue's record. Isn't it a given that the NC Democratic Party, who posted this site and bought Google ads to spread the love, support Beverly Perdue? So why pass up an opportunity to show how great Perdue's platform is while bashing her opponents?
Could it be because her own record is less than stellar, so they have nothing else to do but attack Pat McCrory in as many media outlets as possible?
Bev Perdue was a guest this morning on the Brad and Britt show on FM Talk 101.1 WZTK, and it was a very eye opening event. For starters, early on in the interview, she expressed a desire to distance herself from current Democratic NC Governor Mike Easley. She said that her administration would not be a continuation of the Easley administration, just as the Easley administration was not a continuation of the Hunt administration (it wasn’t?).
She then said that if she could model herself after any governor in NC’s history, it would be Governor Hunt. Yes, Jim Hunt, the man that single-handedly wasted every red cent in the state budge – and then some – right before handing the office over to his successor, Easley, who retaliated by hiking taxes, thus earning the nickname “Tax-Hike Mike”. But yes, Jim Hunt is Bev Perdue’s role model. Surprised?
Perdue was then asked how she felt about the 527’s that are running ads against both sides in the governor’s race. Now, I have to interject here because I was unaware that there is a 527 running ads against Perdue, so anyone that can direct them to my attention is greatly appreciated. Regardless, Perdue told Brad and Britt that she just hates this negative campaigning, and she would like for BOTH SIDES to remove all negative ads.
Now, I’m not going to rant too much on this, because I’ve already done a great deal of blogging on how Pat McCrory did nothing more than respond and defend himself from the negative ads that have been run against them, but if Perdue really does want the ads removed, WHY HAS SHE NOT CALLED FOR THEIR REMOVAL? Allowing some mystery group to run negative ads against your opponent does NOT equal positive campaigning! I know she likes to pretend that she has no ties to this outside group, but if they really do support her (which they do, they are funded by the Democratic Governors Association), then they will respect her request to remove the ads.
Bev knows that if she does that, they might actually remove the ads and she might be forced to run on HER record – not against Pat McCrory’s. Of course, she’d probably just continue to change all of her positions to match his…
Bev Perdue, a governor is a leader, not a follower. Get your own talking points, pull your cowardly attack ads, and for once in your life, attempt to run a clean race. THANKS.
Oh, I'm sorry, my lunch break is only an hour long. I'll have to limit myself to one topic.
During the primaries, Perdue started an all out war against Richard Moore. That's right -- SHE started it. I watch the local news every morning while getting ready for work, and although I'm usually too tired to speak for at least 3 hours, seeing that first Perdue attack ad made me whistle in disbelief. It was harsh, and I remember wondering why a Democrat would do that to another Democrat during an election year.
Richard Moore came back with an ad defending himself, and pointing out Bev's inadequacies. This back and forth went on for some time (not being a registered Democrat, I didn't really have a dog in the fight, so I can't tell you exact figures), and Perdue and Moore remained fairly equal in local polls.
Then Bev announced that she was done with the bickering. She wanted to run a "positive campaign". She made it look like Moore had forced her to defend herself, which is the only reason she was running the ads, even thought she started it all. And almost overnight, her numbers skyrocketed. I was shocked and appalled that North Carolinians could be so naive.
A week prior to the primaries, an extremely conservative friend expressed disappointment at the fact that he could not vote in the Democratic primaries so he could vote AGAINST Moore. When I asked why on earth he would want to do such a thing, especially since Moore is a moderate Democrat (and Perdue is a socialist), he informed me that Moore attacked Perdue, and "a gentleman does not do that". I asked if he was aware that Perdue had started the fight, and he told me that he was not aware, but it did not matter to him.
So, basically, North Carolinians voted for Bev Perdue because Richard Moore treated her like a opponent rather than a housewife. You know, as a woman, I don't think I'd like to win on those grounds. I would rather be seen as an equal.
Not Perdue, and she's already playing the poor pitiful woman against Pat McCrory. As you all know, the Alliance for North Carolina has been running an attack ad against Pat McCrory for the past couple weeks. While Perdue is claiming she has nothing to do with them, she has also failed to insure a "positive" race by asking that the Alliance for NC have the ads removed. So this week, the McCrory campaign released an ad defending himself from the current attack ads, and also pointing out that Perdue is against offshore drilling in North Carolina, while he expects it to happpen "under [his] watch" as governor.
The same day the McCrory ad was released, Perdue sent an email out to her supporters with the subject line "McCrory Launches Desperate Negative Ads". The email began: McCrory’s First Ad: Negative and Untrue
Pat McCrory launched a desperate negative attack today in his first TV commercial of the general election – an ad that is simply untrue.
The email then went on to tell us how much Bev Perdue WANTS to allow offshore drilling! Really, Bev? That is so interesting. Then why is it that on June 18, 2008, you told WRAL that you were "100% opposed" to offshore drilling? And then, on July 19th, you told the Charlotte Observer: "On my watch, we'll never solve the gas problem by drilling off the coast of North Carolina."
NOW, according to her email, Bev has "consistently said she supports offshore drilling."
Ignoring her major flipflop on the issue, isn't it interesting how McCrory is being "desperate" and "negative"? She knows what she's doing. She knows that the old Southern gentlemen who are likely to vote Republican this year would not approve of a male candidate "attacking" his opponent when she just so happens to belong to the weaker sex.
"Oh please help me, ya'll, this mean man is pointing out my inconsistencies. I just can't be expected to be held accountable for what I say!"
Please.
Bev, if you want to see a "negative", "desperate", and "untrue" "attack ad", check out the one that's being run by the Alliance for North Carolina -- an ad that you'll never ask to have removed because it does your dirty work for you. You'll never run a "positive campaign" until you start to take some responsibility.
Charlotte, N.C. – The McCrory for Governor Campaign today condemned The Alliance for North Carolina, a mysterious Washington-based 527 group that supports Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue’s campaign for governor, for breaking North Carolina election law.
“North Carolina law mandates that third party political organizations that run ads must file a detailed report with the State Board of Elections within 24 hours of airing an ad. Yet this secret 527 group has launched over $300,000 worth of negative television ads without disclosing any information whatsoever,” said Amy Auth, communications director for McCrory. “This is the latest example of the culture of corruption and secrecy that Raleigh politicians like the lieutenant governor are a part of. Pat is running for governor to change that culture.”
---
She couldn't have said it any better. The Perdue camp can deny it all they like, but they had a hand in that McCrory attack ad. And now, they're breaking the law in regards to running those ads. BIG SURPRISE THERE.
Pat McCrory actually did not say that he opposed raising the minimum wage (much to my chagrin, as someone who personally opposes any kind of a government-mandated minimum wage). In fact, when asked by an anti-minimum wage group for his stance, McCrory stated that he WOULD consider raising the minimum wage, and added, "Any one-time minimum wage increase should be coupled with a tax cut to small business to help offset additional costs. I would also back an alternative such as adjusting minimum wage to the cost of living."
What? A minimum wage increase AND tax cuts? Somewhere, a Democrat's head just exploded.
And how about that part where McCrory "supports pay raises for politicians, including himself"? I'm actually dying to know where that comes from. The ad cites a Charlotte Observer article from 6/10/08, but the article says no such thing. All it actually addresses is that Republicans in the city council voted against a pay raise, while Democrats voted for it. It also lists how each member voted -- but does NOT include a vote from Mayor McCrory. Hmmmm...
The last part of the video (about McCrory opposing free community college tuition for high school graduates) is the only true part of this smear ad. Since the primaries, McCrory has opposed this socialist measure, always arguing that "The teachers aren't going to work for free. The buildings aren't free. The textbooks aren't free." That's just plain common sense. It's the taxpayers that pay for it all, and as North Carolinians, we're already some of the highest taxed citizens in the US.
In a nice twist of irony, however, Perdue has never voted to decrease the tuition in community colleges; rather, she has never failed to INCREASE the tuition.
The attack ad closes by urging viewers to call the mayor's office of the City of Charlotte. By attempting to flood the office with needless phone calls, this ad attempts to waste more of the taxpayer's money (which really only proves to us that this is backed by the Democratic Party, since they're so good at spending taxpayer money).
Now, you want to know what REALLY irks me about this ad?
Of course it only stands to reason that an anti-McCrory ad would be backed by Perdue or a Perdue supporter. But Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley has denied having anything to do with the ad.
The group that's running the advertisement is called Alliance for North Carolina, and according to the group's website, "Its purpose is to communicate independently with the citizens of North Carolina on vital public issues, including but not limited to education, economic development, health care, public safety and better government." Nicely generic, yes? Not quite. The group is receiving funds from the Democratic Governor's Association, an organization whose main objective is to help elect Democratic governors across the US.
What does that ultimately mean? That sweetheart Bev can play innocent all she wants, but these are her people that are running this ad. But I know it'll be a cold day in hell when she calls for the removal of this attack ad (and the many others that will follow), because this makes it so much easier for her to pretend to run a "positive" campaign while still falsely smearing McCrory.
Too bad Bev's not any better at debating, or she wouldn't need to rely on such sleazy methods to insure a victory in November. I would hope that the North Carolina voters are too smart to fall for her shenanigans, but they sure fell for her BS in the race against Richard Moore.
Charlotte, N.C. – Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for governor, today called Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue a hypocrite for accepting over $850,000 in PAC and committee money since 2000 and then criticizing McCrory for sending a fundraising letter to PACs.
“The lieutenant governor has criticized me in recent news reports for sending a letter to political action committees requesting a contribution,” said McCrory. “My request stated it would help me make constructive change to state government. There was no promise of any political favors in return. Perdue, on the other hand, has a record of slipping special provisions in the budget to help special interests who give her large contributions. She is part of the culture of arrogance and corruption I intend to change.”
In 2008, Perdue reported $376,293 in contributions from PACs and committees while McCrory reported $62,657. McCrory campaign consultant Jack Hawke dismissed Perdue’s criticism by saying, “the PAC lady sitting in the smoke-filled rooms making deals has no standing to criticize her opponent.”
Perdue has been investigated by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) for illegal contributions from the health care industry and for contributions alleged to be in return for road paving. During the primary with Richard Moore, a member of the state Board of Transportation resigned in controversy over fundraising for Perdue. In addition, Perdue was editorially criticized for a fundraiser by the Chairman of the ABC Board and for fundraising efforts by a liquor industry executive.
New Bern, N.C. – Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for governor, today presented his plan to improve public safety and reform North Carolina’s criminal justice system at the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association Conference in New Bern. He highlighted many key differences between his record of effective executive leadership and the lieutenant governor’s record of supporting a failed status quo for the past eight years.
“When it comes to fighting crime, I’ve been on the front lines for the past 12 years while the lieutenant governor has turned a blind eye to the problems,” said McCrory. “I’ve seen county jails overflowing with people sleeping on floors, gangs infiltrating our schools and illegal aliens filling our jails. I’ve seen our state judges and district attorneys work out of cardboard boxes and I’ve seen our state mental health patients transferred to local jails. When I led a bipartisan group of mayors and law enforcement officials to Raleigh to work on solutions to these problems, the lieutenant governor was nowhere to be seen. Now she’s ‘forming a plan’ that’s ‘emerging and changing’ that calls for another government commission to meet in Raleigh and talk about the problems. Where has Lt. Gov. Perdue been for the past eight years?
“Now that she is campaigning for governor, Perdue is drafting a plan that should have been written eight years ago. North Carolina needs a governor who cares about public safety even when it’s not an election year. We need action and effective executive leadership.”
As Mayor of Charlotte, McCrory responded to an inadequate state criminal justice system by:
• Hiring hundreds of new police officers; • Opening a local crime lab because the state lab couldn’t handle workload; and • Transferring local funds to state district attorneys.
McCrory defined his vision for improving public safety if elected governor by saying he will work to:
• Increase salaries for judges and district attorneys; • Lobby for an immigration court and detention centers for juveniles; • Build a bigger and better crime lab; • Pass anti-gang legislation with stronger penalties; • Provide more flexibility for local administrators of courts; • Build more prisons; • Reform mental health program so we don’t have overflow patients going to local jails; and • Lift the death penalty moratorium.
I had to take a break there right after the primary. It's not that blogging is incredibly stressful, but politics was my life for that last week. I was literally scheduling time during my days to do post entries. It sort of took over.
I'm pretty upset that my voice post that I did during the McCrory victory party didn't take. I thought I told it to post publicly, but it posted privately instead. Anyway, for those of you that don't keep up with NC politics, Pat McCrory won the Republican nomination, so he'll be running against Bev Perdue in the November election. He's already ahead in the polls :)
The primary night party was the first actual victory party I've ever been to. I've worked on plenty of campaigns, but I always seem to get sick -- like really REALLY sick -- pretty much the day of the election. During the primary season in 2004, the doctor couldn't even tell what I had. I remember she told me, "Well, it looks like the flu -- but it's not." And it lasted for pretty much two weeks after the primary. That November, I was so sick the night BEFORE the election that the guy I was dating at the time actually called my mother to have her pick me up at his apartment because I was so insistent on driving to Reidsville the next morning to vote and he knew there was no way I could drive safely. I made her drive me back to Victory 2004 headquarters after voting that morning so I could spend my day calling people to remind them to vote. I actually think I fell asleep a few times while making those calls. As soon as I got back to my apartment, I passed out. I missed the actual election results as well as the party, but kept me updated via text messages, so everytime I woke up after having a nightmare that Kerry had won, I could just check my phone and go back to sleep in peace (believe it or not, this happened at least three times throughout the night).
Luckily, I avoided all that this year. I made it out with no more than just a really nasty sunburn (don't even TALK to me about my tan line right now) and a bit of a hangover the morning after. I had been a little concerned as the primary date loomed closer that it wouldn't go quite as smoothly as it did, and I asked several of my politically active friends what it's like to be at a victory party that doesn't result in a victory. Fortunately for me, my first victory party WAS a victory party.
We took Guilford County, the county that I was focusing on, by almost 20%. The Guilford County volunteer coordinator kept me updated throughout the night to Guilford's numbers, and when he gave me the final results, I told him, "I'm going to take full credit for this." He laughed and said that I could if I wanted to, because he was just glad that we had done it.
I began my political hiatus the day following the primary, as you can tell by my lack of blogging. I didn't even bother to publicize my accidentally-private final voice post (nor did I even listen to it). I was just -- DONE.
I'm gearing up for November though. I'm going to be getting a blog that's solely political to redirect my ncpoliticalnerd.com address to. Any tips? I see that a lot of people are using WordPress now, so I guess I'll look into that. If anyone has any other outlets that they think are particularly good, I'd appreciate some insight on those as well.
Also, I got a new video camera for my birthday, so I'll be getting into the YouTube scene like I've been wanting to do for the past year or so. Matt and I went around UNCG this weekend, and I took some video of all the crap taxpayers are wasting their money on right now, and I think they turned out really well (the videos, not the stupid crap taxpayers are paying for). I'm attempting to figure out my new "movie-maker" software right now, so I'll post some of my work after I clean it up :)
I'm looking forward to this upcoming campaign season. I think I'm ready. And I think North Carolina is going to see its first Republican governor in 15 years.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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.
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 plan on getting a little sleep tonight, so I can't do too much blogging, but I did have some points to address.
Did anyone catch the Democratic gubernatorial debate last night? Holy jeez. I mean, aside from completely disagreeing with every point she made, Bev Perdue's voice makes me want to stab myself to death with a rusty fork.
I did find it amusing to see how they contrast with the Republican candidates. Pat McCrory's answer to education has been a greater emphasis on vocational training and 2-year community colleges (he always stresses that we should put the "tech" back into technical colleges). Moore and Perdue think the answer is to give every person in NC a free 4-year college degree.
Yeah. THAT will help the dropout rate.
Anyway, this weekend at the Civitas Leadership Conference, the GOP gubernatorial candidates debated how to fix NC's ailing education system. Here is Pat McCrory telling the audience what he thinks the education system really needs:
And later, McCrory responds to the Democrats' ideas of how to fix NC's education system. I really think this was one of the best speeches of the night:
Well, here it comes. We’re two weeks away from the primaries, so the name-calling has to come out in full force.
I had a lot to do today, so I wasn’t able to follow the blogs as closely as I would have liked, but every single one that I visited had to have at least one comment about Pat McCrory being a RINO.
Seriously? We’re still using that stupid little jab? That is SO 4 years ago.
Let’s take a minute to define that word. I’m particularly interested in what it means to be a RINO because, well, let’s face it, I’ve been called one on SEVERAL occasions, and I don’t think it’s because I have gray, scaly skin and a huge horn on my nose.
To the Rush Limbaughs of the world, the worst thing you can call someone is a RINO. A “Republican in Name Only”. So vague, and yet so demeaning. Such a great comeback when you have absolutely nothing else to say to prove your point. But really, what does it MEAN to be a RINO?
Judging from my experience, a RINO is someone within the Republican Party who actually has their own mind. Rather than have the party elites tell them what to think, they tend to do it themselves, much to the chagrin of the elites.
You see, the party elites would much prefer to have a bunch of brain-washed zombies wandering around blindly spewing their beliefs. These are the people that tell us we should want smaller government, but that the federal government should be able to listen to our phone conversations and play God with the national economy. They’re much better off with a bunch of people who don’t ask questions.
Like I said only a week or two ago: I don’t always agree politically with McCain, but I like him because he doesn’t let the Republican Party push him around (or at least, he didn’t use to let them push him around…).
So basically, a RINO may be defined by any number of things. You think we should lower spending before lowering taxes? You might be a RINO. You recognize and respect that there is more than one religion in America? Probably a RINO. Anytime you’re a Republican that dares to think outside of the GOP box, you’re definitely a RINO.
I can’t tell you why people think Pat McCrory is a RINO. It kind of works like a witch hunt, or the “Red Scare”. All it takes is a couple people to call him a RINO, and everyone else follows suit, for fear of being called one themselves.
I've been called a RINO for several years now, and I've never once shed a tear over it. To me, it means I don't let the party completely shape my beliefs. I agree with a great deal of the Republican Party platform, which is why I associate myself with them, but I don't agree 100% with anyone, let alone the entire party. If having the ability to think for myself makes me a RINO, then guilty as charged. The same goes for my voting -- I vote for the person, not the party. I have never once voted straight ticket anything.
So basically, I have two questions for you:
1) Do you consider Pat McCrory a RINO and why?
and if so
2) Why do you think referring to someone as a "RINO" is such a horrible thing? Do we really want a candidate that doesn't have the ability to think for himself/herself?
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:
