Mike Easley is term-limited, so someone else has to be Governor, sadly. I wanted Mike to stay. Official Candidates: Libertarian Party - Michael Munger (Duke University political science professor) Republican Party - Bob Orr (fmr. Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court), Fred Smith (State Sen.) Potential Candidates: Democratic Party - Beverly Perdue (Lt. Gov.), Richard Moore (State Treasurer), Bill Faison (State Representative) Republican Party - Pat McCrory (Six-term Mayor of Charlotte), Timothy Cook (Alternative Fuel Chemist), Patrick Ballantine (2004 loser), Ric Flair (Woooooooo!), Bill Graham (Attorney), I. Beverly Lake (fmr. Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court), Robert Pittenger (State Sen.), Richard Vinroot (fmr. Mayor of Charlotte, 2004 primary loser) Perdue is my pick. McCrory keeps winning in Charlotte because he's "safe" and the democrats keep throwing random clowns at him, there was a guy called Patrick Cannon but he went batshit insane. McCrory has to declare or drop soon since his Mayor's seat is up for grabs this year. Flair is apparently running, that isn't a joke. It'll be interesting, Gov. Mike did a good job of blurring the party line. He's a democrat but he's a really down to earth guy.
Perdue, and it won't be close unfortunately, like 55-45. The North Carolina Republican Party are full of morons that have no clue how to run a statewide non-federal election. By the way, the Libertarians have 40,500 out of a needed 69,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
The Libertarians actually won Tyrrell County in the Presidential election. Tyrrell is tiny, but it's something. If the LP was to get a foothold in any state it could be this one, they'd need to work their asses off to get word out, but if one of the big two is ripe for taking votes from, it's the Republicans.
Moore and Perdue both seem to be quality people and quality pols. I think either would be an upgrade over Easley.
Unfortunately, they did not. Kerry 46.0% 731 Bush 53.8% 855 Badnarik 0.3% 4 http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ (click on North Carolina and then either go to County Results or scroll over individual counties, great website that keeps all presidential results for every election in history and trying to build up gubernatorial and senatorial as well, just be mindful that red and blue are switched)
Dave Leip, who runs that website I linked, says he usually comes across election errors if he finds something that doesn't make sense. He then calls up the elections board and the answer goes along the lines of "oh, we hit the wrong key, our mistake".
As far as the current crop of candidates goes, I personally like Senator Smith. He's been at the forefront of the eminent domain issue in the state senate--the sooner eminent domain is returned to its proper (restrained) status, the better.
I agree with you on eminent domain...but really, is that in the top 10 most important issues in NC? Education, transportation, taxes, jobs, crime...THAT is what state gvts. do. They should spend the vast majority of their time and effort on those things. I noticed that Flyin Ryan, who thinks it's unfortunate that the Libs didn't win in Tyrrell, and who put an after commenting on the GOPs fecklessness, doesn't like Perdue. Which is probably a plus for her.
She's from my hometown. I don't like her due to past experience. As far as the NC GOP, they're just idiots, plain and simple. For the love of God, Richard Vinroot? Republicans can win races over liberals (Erskine Bowles, any of the Dems' presidential candidates), but if the Democrats stick a populist on the ballot, the GOP run around like chickens with their heads cut off. It would be nice if someone could actually challenge the Democrats for once in a statewide non-federal race here cause it would require the Dems to field better candidates, but I suppose that's too much to ask. Not to mention the Republicans where I'm from, eastern North Carolina, operate purely on patronage. If you're not related to someone or bring money to the table, f*** you. The Carteret County Board is ran by Lauch Faircloth's nephew. His entire resume for why he's on the county board is he is Lauch Faircloth's nephew. Man's 40ish and he's never had a decent job his whole life. Are you a native or a transplant?
I've lived here since I was 3. Most Republicans in Eastern NC, at least the natives, are racists who came to the GOP because of Jesse Helms.
Race has little to do with it. It's more cause the national Democratic party were dumb enough to think that George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis were good candidates. After awhile, you get sick of being force-fed s*** and just leave. That's what is happening to northeastern Republicans now, they're disappearing cause they cannot accept the national Republican Party's views. You can go as late as 1976 and find Carter winning the state (and pretty much sweeping the eastern counties) to take 55% of the vote to win NC. In 1980, he took 47%. Not enough to win, but close enough to keep the election interesting. Then the Democrats nominate Mondale and he falls to 38%. In 8 years they fell 17 points. They've not reached 45% since. (Since I brought them up, McGovern got 29% and Dukakis got 42%.) On the other hand, every gubernatorial election from 1992 onwards, the Democratic nominee has won and has taken at least 52% of the vote.
http://www.worklifeexpress.com/PPP/pdf/surveys/PPP_Release_060507.pdf NC GOP Governor Poll Bill Graham - 19% Fred Smith - 13% Bob Orr - 12% Undecided - 56%
56% undediced. That's exactly why I think the Dems are gonna sail in again. Their candidates start the race with an enormous advantage in name recognition, and with 2008 a presidential year and a US Senate year, it's not like the GOP primary campaign is going to provide them with alot of free media. The fact that the GOP lost seats in the lege in the midst of the Black scandal tells you pretty much all you need to know about their fecklessness. The sooner they purge themselves of Pope and his intellectual and financial dominance, or at least hypnotize him into being realistic, the better for them.
The fact that Black himself won tells you how incompetent the Republicans are, and District 100 isn't exactly San Francisco.
Does Roy Cooper have other plans? I though him and Moore were gonna jello-wrestle for who could be the new golden boy of the NC Dems. Both of those guys have been planning their political rises for years now. Anyway, glad that Easley will finally be gone. He was no friend to state employees.
All one has to do is look at Cooper on TV and tell he'll run for governor or senator. Maybe challenging Burr in 2010 for the Cursed Senator Position?
The 3 Republican gubernatorial candidates resort to odd measures to get attention: http://www.newsobserver.com/630/story/736680.html 6 Things to Watch for til the Republican Primary in 7 Months: http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/736556.html