Carolina Politics Online

So Election 2008 is now over and your friendly admin of CPO can slack off for a little while now.  We saw some big changes last night around the country and also right here in the Carolinas.

North Carolina has turned blue.  By a fraction of a hair it went to Obama last night.  He earned it.  His campaign had the ground game to make it happen.

Kay Hagan predictably ousted Elizabeth Dole by a handy margin.  Dole got slaughtered with outside 527 ads and I think the “Godless” ad she ran against Hagan sealed her fate.

One Congressional seat changed hands and that was the 8th Congressional District held by Republican Robin Hayes.  This was expected to happen, but I was hoping Hayes would pull it out only because I think Larry Kissell is the wrong man for that seat.  His energy policies are an infantile fantasy that will hurt his constituents which are mostly low income.  Virginia Foxx, Heath Shuler, and Patrick McHenry easily won reelection.

In statewide races, Bev Perdue (D) narrowly defeated Pat McCrory (R) for the gubernatorial race.  This made me very angry.  It could not have been more obvious who the candidate of change was in this race.  Bev Perdue will continue the same status quo culture of corruption that has plagued Raleigh for years.  I think straight party voting caused this victory.  Likewise, State Senator Walter Dalton (D) defeated State Senator Robert Pittenger (R) in the Lieutenant Governor’s race by a slightly larger margin.

Democrat Beth Wood defeated Republican incumbent Les Merritt in the Auditor’s race which is another blow to the state.  Merritt was the only firewall defending the people from the corruption in the state legislature and now that is gone.  Roy Cooper (D), Steve Troxler (R), Cherie Berry (R), Elaine Marshall (D), and June Atkinson (D) all got reelected to their posts.  State Senator Janet Cowell (D) is now the new State Treasurer and Democrat Wayne Goodwin won the Insurance Commissioner’s race.

The Republican Party in North Carolina is extremely incompetent.

In the State Legislature Debbie Ann Clary won the race in Senate District 46 flipping that from Democrat to Republican.  In State House District 86 Republican Hugh Blackwell defeated Democratic incumbent Walter Church and in State House District 90 Republican Sarah Stevens ousted incumbent Democrat Jim Harrell.

South Carolina gave our electoral votes to John McCain last night and we were the only Atlantic coast state to do so.  Lindsey Graham easily won reelection to the U.S. Senate.  All six Congressmen won reelections to their seats as well.

In the state legislature there weren’t many changes.  Republican Kris Crawford did win reelection in House District 63.  I said last night that he lost.  Anton Gunn picked up House District 79 for the Democrats.  The District 115 race between Republican incumbent Wallace Scarborough and Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto is too close to call at this time, althought Scarborough has claimed victory.

The ballot amendment to change the Constitution to allow the state legislature to set the age of consent passed.

It’s not just the next President we’re electing on Tuesday; we’ve got all kinds of races going on in both states from the U.S. Senate down to your local school board.  I have put together a list of state and Federal races that should be carefully followed Tuesday night as I imagine they will be close.

• President – Obviously everyone knows we’ll be choosing our next President.  I think John McCain is going to carry both North and South Carolina, North by a hair and South easily, however I think Barack Obama will end up becoming the next President.
• NC US Senate Race – This has been a brutal race between Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan.  I think Hagan is going to emerge the victor in this in no small part by the Dole campaign’s “Godless” ad.  I think that hurt Dole more than Hagan.
• NC Gubernatorial Race – Another nail biter, but I think and pray that Pat McCrory ends up the next governor and I am going to make a very bold prediction here.  I think his Lt Governor will end up being Democrat Walter Dalton, not Pittenger.  McCrory has been leading by three or four points in the last few polls that have come out.  If people really are change oriented as they claim then McCrory should prevail.  He is the candidate of sorely needed change in Raleigh.
• NC 5th Congressional District – Virginia Foxx has received a tougher than anticipated challenge from Roy Carter, but I think Foxx will be reelected.
• NC 8th Congressional District – If Robin Hayes pulls out a reelection victory Tuesday night I will be stunned.  I just don’t see it and I think that Larry Kissell will be the 8th District’s new Congressman.  I think this will be the only Congressional District to flip in both states.
• NC Auditor General – I think Les Merritt will be okay, but it will be a close victory.  As I have stated in recent days, voters would be doing a disservice to themselves by replacing him.  He is the only watchdog the people have had against the majority party in Raleigh.
• NC Labor Commissioner – I think Cherie Berry is going to lose.  I think people will make a mental connection between Labor Commissioner and a soured economy.  They have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but when you think of a bad economy you think of job losses, hence labor, and people tend to relate to Democrats better than Republicans on labor issues.
• NC Senate District 9 – I think Julia Boseman will come out on top in this one, but I still expect a close race considering the money that has been spent on it on both sides.
• NC Senate District 25 – Tony Foriest just won this seat in 2006 and faces a challenge from Rick Gunn to take the seat back for the GOP.  I think Foriest will get reelected.
• NC Senate DIstrict 46 – This is Walter Dalton’s Senate seat that he is vacating to run for Lieutenant Governor.  This should be a Republican pickup.  It’s fairly conservative and has leaned Republican for some time now, but Dalton has hung on due to incumbency and having a more conservative voting record.
• SC Senate District 10 – This is John Drummond’s seat and he decided to retire after many years in public service.  The seat is being strongly contested on both sides with Dee Compton as the Republican candidate and Greenwood Mayor Floyd Nicholson on the Democratic ticket.  This has the potential to go either way, but I think the Democrats will hold this seat.
• SC Senate District 25 – I think this will be the closest race of all of them.  Republican Shane Massey won this seat last year in a special election after the former Democratic Senator Tommy Moore resigned from the Senate for a more lucrative career opportunity.  This seat actually leans slightly Democratic, but Massey has never really stopped campaigning since he won it.  He faces Democrat Greg Anderson.  This is too close for me to make a call on how this will turn out.
• SC House District 115 – Wallace Scarborough almost lost his seat in 2006 when his challenger came within a little over 300 votes of him.  He faces another strong challenge this year from Anne Peterson Hutto, but I think Scarborough is going to hang on by a larger margin than ‘06.

It’s easy to chose between State Sen. Robert Pittenger and State Sen. Walter Dalton. Pittenger is a successful businessman who has waged a lonely (and sometimes solitary) crusade against pork and government waste. Above all else, I am a small government fiscal conservative, and Pittenger is my kind of guy.

Dalton? All you need to know about him is that last year alone, he spent $227 million of your tax money in pork projects. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s taxes are the highest in the southeast and we’ve gone into debt.

Questions? I hope not.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic candidate, recently deployed a television ad featuring Sarah Witt of Raleigh, a former marathon runner now paralyzed by a neurological disease, who speaks from a wheelchair, with the aid of an electronic voice box. Witt criticizes the Republican nominee, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, for opposing embryonic stem cell research.

McCrory returned fire with an ad featuring his sister, Linda Sebastian, who scolds Perdue for suggesting McCrory is insensitive to suffering and highlights that their parents died of “long illnesses” — Alzheimer’s disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Robert Pittenger, Republican: “I support [non-embryonic] stem cell research. To date, there have been 73 medical findings improving the health of individuals with serious diseases from adult stem cell research. There have been no discoveries after 27 years of research with embryonic stem cell research.

Walter Dalton, Democrat: “I believe that stem cell research, which includes amniotic, embryonic, and adult stem cells, is going to be an important part of saving lives. That’s why I was proud to sponsor legislation to fund research in this vital area through our first class universities.

Elizabeth Dole, Republican: “I do not support embryonic stem cell research, and I do not support state or federal funding for it. However, I support numerous stem cell research methods – such as adult and cord blood stem cell research – that don’t require destruction of life.”

Kay Hagan, Democrat: “I support [embryonic] stem cell research, which could help those suffering with cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, juvenile diabetes and many other diseases.

The N&O

I realize that for people with diseases that could be cured through embryonic stem cell research, what I’m about to say is highly offensive, but that’s what I’m here for. This issue is a crock. It’s a joke. It’s a fake issue designed to entice your heart into overriding your head.

Robert Pittenger is right: Everyone talks about the “potential” of embryonic stem cell research. Notice how none of its supporters ever talk about the “results” of embryonic stem cell research. That’s because there are no results. Meanwhile, legitimate advances have been made with adult stem cell research.

That Perdue and friends are actually trying to make this an issue shows that they care more about scoring cheap political points than on keeping up to date on actual science news. See, the great thing about competition is that it leads to innovation. And here in America, we like to innovate. That’s how researchers developed a new way to take skin cells and turn them into embryonic-like stem cells. So keep talking Bev. You’re just showing how full of it you are.

To sum it up, Pittenger said of Dalton:

Charlotte Republican Robert Pittenger told UNC-TV viewers Dalton has boosted the state’s tax burden — sending small businesses flocking to neighboring states — and irresponsibly increased spending by 50 percent and debt by billions.

“He’s been chairman of the education committee, he’s been chairman of the appropriations committee, and during his tenure we have seen a tremendous collapse in our state in terms of education, in terms of not funding our roads,” Pittenger said. “We can’t afford to have more of the same.”

Excellent points by Pittenger as spending and taxation have risen in North Carolina and have not responsibly been kept in check.

Dalton would be the first candidate from Western North Carolina elected to statewide office in the executive branch since 1993.

He slammed Pittenger’s votes in the Senate, including against state budget plans that Dalton helped write.

He said Pittenger’s votes amounted to opposition to construction of psychiatric hospitals, research on cancer and light-based technology, and infrastructure like mass transit, water, sewer and broadband access.

Interesting points by Dalton as well.  The mental health system in North Carolina has practically collapsed over this past year; that’s no secret.  Pittenger was also opposed to the 1/2 cent sales tax in Mecklenburg that was used to fund the LYNX of which ridership has exceeded even the rosiest of expectations due to high gas prices.

Rhodes, a Chapel Hill software engineer, argued for limited government that would provide school vouchers and consider ending government-run schools altogether.

He said students should be allowed into community colleges even if they’re in the country illegally, something both major-party candidates opposed.

As lieutenant governor they would serve on the N.C. Board of Community Colleges, which recently voted to ban such students from its 58 schools while studying the issue.

Rhodes is the Libertarian candidate.  I partly agree with him on the schools.  I don’t think we can go as far as abolishing public education, but we should allow for school choice and less government interference in the education system.  Regarding community college, Rhodes is just plain wrong about allowing illegals to attend a taxpayer subsidized institution.

A follow-up to yesterday’s post regarding Sen. Walter Dalton’s rather lavish budget requests-

Jerry Meek says a Republican attack on Sen. Walter Dalton is off-base.

The state Democratic Party chairman told Dome that a criticism from the state Republican chairwoman about the candidate for lieutenant governor’s requested $277 million in state appropriations this year misses the benefits the bills would bring.

“If you look at the appropriations that Senator Dalton has proposed, you’ll see programs that help families protect their homes from foreclosures, help bring jobs and infrastructure to rural North Carolina, improve education and invest in programs that help the developmentally disabled,” he said.

The N&O

Wow. The Democrat Party Chairman is defending the Democrat Lt. Governor candidate. That’s a shocker.

As I said yesterday, precious few of these spending requests actually fall under what should be the government’s purview. If he really cared about N.C., he’d lower taxes and let individuals spend more of their money the way they want. But then he wouldn’t be able to show up at some ribbon cutting and pat himself on the back, would he? Sen. Dalton is simply using your tax money to get himself elected.

Since Sen. Dalton is all about “investing” our money to help N.C., may I offer a similar proposal? If any of you care about investing some of your own money in another program to help North Carolina, may I suggest a donation to the Pittenger for Lt. Governor campaign, and let’s kick this profligate Dalton out of office.

Sen. Walter Dalton is seeking more than $277 million in state spending.

The Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor has sponsored nine bills and co-sponsored 18 bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget. A longtime state senator, he is serving an advisory role on the budget in the short session.

The N&O

What the hell could you possibly spend $277 million dollars on???

Dalton is the primary sponsor on bills totaling $208 million: $135 million for grants for local water and sewer projects, $20 million for the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, $16 million for stem cell research, $14 million for the Cleveland Correctional Center, $10 million to provide services for the developmentally disabled, $5.8 million to help provide high-speed Internet access, $3 million for biotechnology training, $2.5 million for construction at historically black colleges and $2 million for small business entrepeneurship initiatives.

Among the larger appropriations bills he is cosponsoring: $44.7 million for Smart Start early childhood intiatives, $9.5 million for 4-H camps, $3 million for home foreclosure prevention, $3 million for loans for biotechnology start-ups, $1.6 million for a dropout prevention program in Durham and Vance counties, $1.4 million for water resource management and $1.25 million for biotechnology education.

It’s so easy to spend money when it belongs to someone else, isn’t it? This sort of waste is so God-awful disgraceful, it ought to disqualify Dalton from running for Lt. Governor of Drunken Sailor-Land, let alone North Carolina. Maybe, maybe, there are some legitimate government expenditures in there, like the $2.5 million for construction at historically black colleges (if they’re state schools). But how many of these projects can be accomplished through the private sector or personal initiative- especially if we had to pay fewer state taxes?

Here’s the scoop on Dalton’s opponent, State Senator Robert Pittenger-

Former Sen. Robert Pittenger sought $1.9 million in state spending.

The Republican nominee for lieutenant governor cosponsored three bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget before resigning his seat.

Pittenger sought $1.5 million for three pilot career and technical high schools, $385,000 for Kids Voting and $100,000 for a study of the effectiveness of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

The N&O

State Senator Robert Pittenger has resigned his Senate seat this afternoon so that he can concentrate on his  campaign for Lieutenant Governor.  Pittenger will be facing State Senator Walter Dalton, the Democratic nominee, for the office in November.  The Republican Party will choose a replacement to finish out Pittenger’s Senate term.  That is likely to be Bob Rucho who won the Republican primary a few weeks ago to succeed Pittenger in January.

News&Observer

The Democrats have decided to drop the ball on immigration and stick their heads in the sand.

“You talk about all the state issues as much as you want but the root of the problem is at the federal level,” Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, said. “The federal government’s going to have to step up and do something to address the issue.”

Senator Robert Pittenger is trying to do something about illegal aliens and their costs to North Carolina.

“The legislative leadership here, the Democratic leadership, has not allowed this bill to get out of committee and they certainly won’t allow any debate on the floor about it,” Sen. Pittenger added.

The News&Observer further adds.

Democrats believe new laws, such as new driver’s license laws and giving sheriff’s offices more authority to check for immigration status, are having success. Republicans argue it’s not enough.

I believe that North Carolina needs to stop being a sanctuary state and step up to the plate. North Carolinians need to stop electing “If i do not see it, it doesn’t exist” Democrats.

Canton Mayor Pat Smathers issued a strong statement today in support of former opponent Walter Dalton, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor.

“I hope you will join me in supporting Walter Dalton for lieutenant governor,” Smathers said in an e-mail to supporters. “I enjoyed getting to know Walter during this campaign, and believe he will do a great job for our state. Walter cares deeply about strengthening our schools, creating jobs in our rural communities and helping North Carolinians weather the foreclosure crisis.”

Other rivals Dan Besse and Hampton Dellinger also sent out e-mails saying they would stand behind the Rutherfordton senator.

Capital Letters

I predicted at the beginning of this race that Walter Dalton would win. He was the only candidate of the four who had broad appeal around the state and across party lines. He is a centrist and North Carolina has a center right populace. The other three candidates were too far to the left to effectively represent the state and the moderate Democrats that make up a large portion of the state party.

10:19PM – All the big races have pretty much been called except the Democratic Lt. Governor’s race, but it looks like Walter Dalton is going to take that one. I’m heading to bed. Congrats to all the winners tonight!

10:09PM – Fred Smith has conceded the GOP Gubernatorial Primary to Pat McCrory.

10:02PM – With 75% of the vote in Carter and Hamby are tied 50-50 in the Democratic Primary for NC-05. With 60% of the vote in Bratton has a gigantic lead in the Democratic Primary for NC-06 with 60% of the vote and is likely to win that one. Johnson is leading Ivester 60-40 in the Dem Primary for NC-10. In the Democratic primary for NC-03 Weber is stomping Adame 70-30.

9:47PM – Democratic Labor Commissioner Primary

With 29 of 100 counties reporting:

• Mary Fant Dannon – 28%
• John Brooks – 25%
• Robin Anderson – 24%
• Ty Richardson – 23%

9:45PM – Democratic Lt. Governor Primary

With 26 of 100 counties reporting:

• Walter Dalton – 44%
• Hampton Dellinger – 35%
• Pat Smathers – 14%
• Dan Besse – 7%

9:42PM – Republican Gubernatorial Primary

With 26 of 100 counties reporting:

• McCrory – 46%
• Smith – 37%
• Graham – 9%
• Orr – 7%

9:39PM – Nick Mackey is leading Drew Saunders 54%-46%.

9:12PM – Walter Jones is leading Joe McLaughlin 62% to 38%.

8:59PM – Kay Hagan has officially won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race.

8:52PM – Mumpower is leading the race for NC-11. Armor is getting crushed. McCrory still has a slight lead state wide but Smith is not far behind. Dalton maintains a slight lead over Dellinger.

8:32PM – I am calling Bev Perdue as the winner of the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary. She is leading handily in all the largest counties in the state.

8:23PM – Kay Hagan is going to win the Democratic Senate Primary and it’s looking fairly certain that Beth Wood is going to win the Dem nomination for State Auditor.

8:14PM – Congressman Brad Miller has clearly won his primary challenge. Dalton and Dellinger are duking it out pretty close in the Dem side of the Lt. Gov race. Pittenger is clearly going to win the Republican nomination for that seat. Congressman McHenry is leading challenger Lance Sigmon 61 to 39.

8:05PM – Jim Neal is getting smoked by Kay Hagan in all the big counties, Mecklenburg, Wake, Durham. Bev Perdue is also leading Richard Moore. McCrory is in the lead in these counties as well and is getting over 70% of the vote in Mecklenburg.

As we all know the North Carolina primary is coming up on Tuesday and there are lots of races across the state for voters to decide. I am going to weigh in on a few here. Note, I am giving my opinion on who I think will win, not necessarily who I think is the best candidate or would like to see win.

I have already given my opinion on how I think the 11th Congressional Republican Primary will turn out.

In the Lieutenant Governor’s race there are primaries on both sides of the aisle. The Republican race is easy to call. Robert Pittenger has it locked up, end of story. The Democratic race is going to be a little more tight, but I think Walter Dalton is going to prevail by about 7 points, with Dellinger finishing second.

There are primaries on both sides in the 10th Congressional District as well. On the Democratic side I believe that Daniel Johnson will prevail over Ivester quite handily. On the GOP side, I think McHenry will win by a large margin. I think Sigmon’s ad about the Iraq attack after McHenry ran his video was a bit much for people to swallow and may have backfired on him. I think people viewed it as a cheap and dirty shot. I guess we’ll see on Tuesday. McHenry’s internals show him winning in a landslide. I don’t foresee as bad of a bloodbath as McHenry says it will be, but it won’t be a close race.

The Third Congressional District is going to be closer than people think, in my opinion. I predict that Walter Jones will triumph in the end, but not by a landslide margin. I think most Republicans in the district hold him in decent to high regards. I don’t feel that McLaughlin hitting Jones on his reversal of the war is a winning issue. The majority of Americans have grown tired of Iraq and that includes Republicans. Despite the high proportion of military families in the district, I don’t see Jones in much danger. People are also assuming that military families are automatically dedicated to the continued job in Iraq and that’s not a horse I would bet my money on.

In the U.S. Senate race Kay Hagan is going to trounce Jim Neal. That’s all I have to say about that.

Regarding the Presidential race, Barack Obama is going to win, but I don’t think he’ll break a ten point spread against Clinton. She has been gaining ground on him due to two things: her win in Pennsylvania and the continued media focus on Jeremiah Wright.

And now for the big one, the gubernatorial race. Bev Perdue wins the Democratic nomination hands down. Throughout the campaign she has generally lead Richard Moore, but there have been a few times that he has caught up with her in the polls. However, I think his sleazy attack ad about her husband selling Confederate memorabilia in his stores hasn’t played well with the public and it’s going to cost any chance he may have had.

On the Republican side, this is going to be close. While it’s technically a four man race, only Fred Smith and Pat McCrory are viable contenders on Tuesday. I think McCrory is going to pull this out, but not by much. It may not be enough for him to avoid a runoff and if that’s the case I think the following runoff election will favor Smith.

So there you have it. Tuesday awaits!

ASHEVILLE – More than 50 Democratic sheriffs in North Carolina announced their support Wednesday for state Sen. Walter Dalton in his campaign for lieutenant governor.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan was among those who endorsed the fellow Democrat from Rutherford County, praising Dalton’s efforts to pass the Meth Lab Prevention Act and his introduction of legislation that would ban sex offenders from social networking Web sites.

“I am very happy to support Senator Dalton. His introduction of legislation to help with sexual predators and also methamphetamine has definitely helped our job,” said Duncan.

Asheville Citizen-Times

State Sen. Walter Dalton plans to appear in Asheville Wednesday with Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan and Rutherford County Sheriff Jack Connor to promote his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

Dalton’s campaign said he plans to announce endorsements of more than 50 North Carolina sheriffs at the event at 11:30 a.m. at the Buncombe County Courthouse. The press conference follows a three-day meeting of the N.C. Sheriff’s Association in Asheville.

Asheville Citizen-Times

The N.C. Lieutenant Gubernatorial Candidates Forum will be televised at 8 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. Thursday on UNC-TV.

Participating in the forum are Democratic candidates Walter Dalton, Hampton Dellinger, Patrick Smathers and Dan Besse and Republican candidates Timothy Cook, Greg Dority and James Snyder. The only candidate not participating is Robert Pittenger because of a scheduling conflict. The moderator will be Shannon Vickery, UNC-TV’s executive producer for content.

The News-Record

Dalton is campaigning as a veteran elected official with a checklist of legislative successes for which he gets partial credit: raising teacher pay, providing children’s health care for low-income families and helping recruit new businesses.

His campaign Web site includes much on his accomplishments but less on an agenda for the state’s No. 2 job.

“One of the great things [about campaigning] is looking around and seeing the results of things you’ve done,” Dalton said after a visit to a new health insurance call center in Granville County, near the Virginia line.

Dalton doesn’t highlight issues that appeal to the party’s more liberal base. He was criticized for co-sponsoring legislation to allow a popular vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2005 and for a 1998 questionnaire in which he did not say that abortion should be permitted to protect the health of the mother, crucial language to supporters of abortion rights.

Dalton has since said the anti-gay marriage legislation was a reflection of representing a conservative district and that his abortion answer was poorly worded and should have included the exception for the health of the mother.

The News & Observer

The ideal race for November for the Lieutenant Governor spot would be Pittenger on the Republican side and Dalton on the Democratic side. They are both good representatives of a broad base of North Carolina. Dalton is far more in touch with the mainstream than this Democratic primary opponents. I hope he will be successful in May.

Three Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor are offering similar policy visions for North Carolina.

Winston-Salem city councilman Dan Besse, Durham attorney Hampton Dellinger and Canton Mayor Pat Smathers participated in a forum Thursday night in Winston-Salem.

The candidates said they support a death penalty moratorium and agree that same-sex couples should be permitted to enter civil unions.

The Fayetteville Observer

Every time one of these three loons opens their mouth it is a raving endorsement for Walter Dalton. Personally, I don’t care about whether we have civil unions or not, but the opinion of making them legal in North Carolina is so far out of the mainstream in this state. And ending the death pending? Yeah, right! These guys should be running for office in Vermont.

Pittenger, a prolific fundraiser for Senate Republicans and conservative causes, said he raised $1.15 million during the second half of 2007, the period that the most recent reports cover.

Among Democratic hopefuls, Winston-Salem city councilman Dan Besse reported raising $29,178, with $4,000 in loans. He had $122,402 in cash to start 2008.

Sen. Walter Dalton of Rutherfordton said he had $904,192 in cash entering 2008 after raising $382,909 in the second half of 2007.

Slightly behind was Hampton Dellinger of Durham, who reported $726,439 on hand after raising $243,536 during the period, including a $100,000 loan from his parents.

Canton Mayor Pat Smathers, who also is seeking the Democratic nomination, reported raising $60,270 in the second half of the year, with $13,500 in loans, and had $5,178 on hand as of Dec. 31.

Greg Dority, the only other announced Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, announced yesterday that he was starting a fundraising committee with a goal of raising $100,000 before the primary.

Winston-Salem Journal

Hampton Dellinger took the side of environmentalists who oppose more coal-fired plants, including a $1.8 billion unit Duke Energy plans to build in Rutherford County, Dalton’s home.

But Dalton said a rapidly growing state demands more power, from traditional as well as renewable sources, and building the new unit “will shut down four dirty plants.”

Canton Mayor Pat Smathers vowed to oppose new nuclear plants, reminding the audience at the UNC Asheville debate of a plan shelved decades ago for a nuclear waste dump in northwest Buncombe County.

Asheville Citizen-Times

So Dellinger doesn’t want coal plants and Smathers says no nukes. So being one of the fastest growing states in the nation, where do Tweedles Dee and Dum expect North Carolinians to get their power from? Are they supposed to bang a couple pieces of flint together for some sparks?

We need solutions, gentlemen, not demogaugery and you’re failing. Dalton was the only one who made an actual point.