Jul 14 2008
McCrory Won’t Be “Remade”
When Jack Hawke took over as chief consultant to Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign, the candidate laid down one condition.
“His first comment to me was, ‘You’re not going to remake me the way they did Richard Vinroot,’†Hawke recalls. “And we tried not to.â€
Vinroot, the last Charlotte mayor to run for N.C. governor, is one of four to run – and lose – statewide campaigns. McCrory is trying to break the 24-year streak, in part by learning the lessons of his predecessors.
Pat has the best chance to become governor out of all the former Charlotte mayors who’ve run in the past. The state has changed since Vinroot’s run. The spiking population has brought a mixture of folks from all over the nation, but many from the northeast who escaped the stagnant economies and job markets due to high labor costs and rising taxes. I think McCrory is going to appeal to many of these newer residents as long as he sticks to being himself. He is right to not remake himself. He doesn’t need to.
