Carolina Politics Online

Republican congressional candidate Harold Johnson today dismissed a poll done for his rival, Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, calling it “a desperate move.”

The internal campaign poll, by the Democratic firm Anzalone Liszt Research, showed Kissell with a 17-point lead over Johnson and a wider spread over Libertarian Thomas Hill in the 8th District.

Kissell highlighted the poll in a fundraising letter last week.

“I’m putting no stock in it,” Johnson said today at a GOP rally in east Charlotte. “You can’t convince me that with the sentiment in this country … he’s got a 17-point lead.

Charlotte Observer

I don’t discount that Kissell may be leading Johnson, but Johnson is right.  There’s not a chance in hell it’s by 17 points, not in a Republican leaning district in a Republican leaning year.  This was an internal Democratic poll, so it’s not to be taken with more than a grain of salt anyway.

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North Carolina congressional candidate Renee Ellmers has failed to capitalize on last month’s furor over incumbent Democratic Rep. Bobby Etheridge’s physical altercation with a questioner who stopped him on the sidewalk.

Video of Etheridge grabbing the man who stopped him — and demanding to know the man’s identity — spread quickly online and drew attention to the congressman’s long-shot challenger. But a month later, Ellmers, a nurse who heads the Dunn Area Chamber of Commerce, has just $42,000 in the bank and little support from national Republicans.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has yet to add Ellmers to its “Young Guns” program, which supports top recruits. Etheridge, meanwhile, has a war chest of $1.2 million.

Politico

The people that run the NRCC are nitwits.  Same goes with the Democrats’ campaign committee.  These groups are run by career political lackeys who think they are so in tune to what is going on out in the real world, but the fact is these stooges would climb over a glass door to see what’s on the other side.  Time after time the party apparatuses ignore candidates, who either end up pulling off an upset win or come close, simply because they are out of touch with the grassroots.  The DCCC completely ignored Larry Kissell in 2006 when he ran against Robin Hayes and Kissell only lost to him that year by a few hundred votes.  If the DCCC had gotten behind Kissell in ‘06 he could have won instead of having to do a rematch with Hayes in ‘08.

Renee Ellmers can defeat Bob Etheridge.  Yes, the race is in Etheridge’s favor at this point in time, but in years where there are electoral sweeps races in the most unexpected places can have unpredicted outcomes.  Besides, Etheridge’s seat was held by a Republican before him and the district leans slightly to the right of center.  Plus, throw in the fact that they have plenty of ammunition to throw at him this year.  For the NRCC to write this race off is pretty foolish, but again, if these people were intelligent they’d have real jobs where they actually produce something.

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I love when the establishment loses and that’s one of the benefits that came out of this past Tuesday’s run off election in North Carolina’s 21st State Senate District.  Democratic voters in the 21st told the party establishment to piss off when they overwhelmingly supported political newcomer Dr. Eric Mansfield over former Cumberland County Democratic Party Chairwoman Lula Crenshaw.

Dr. Eric Mansfield captured the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 21st District with a convincing win this week, surprising party officials and defeating a partisan heavyweight.

Mansfield, who is 45, acknowledged that he didn’t know what he was doing when he started knocking on doors in the snow in January. One man whom Mansfield met on Seabrook Road gave him a candid assessment.

“He said, ‘You don’t know the neighborhood, you don’t know politics and you don’t know what you’re doing,’ ” Mansfield said.

The man was right, Mansfield said. He said the Cumberland County Senior Democrats club told him the same thing in January.

He took the message as a personal challenge.

“We had a lot of work to do, and we set out to do it,” he said. “We learned a lot.”

In Tuesday’s primary runoff, he defeated Lula Crenshaw, a former county party chairwoman, 62 percent to 38 percent, according to unofficial results.

In the May primary, he led a five-candidate field that included a former five-term city councilman.

The Fayetteville Observer

Dr. Mansfield is an Ears, Nose, and Throat Specialist with a practice in Fayetteville.  He served honorably in the 82nd Airborne Division of the United State Army and he is an active member in his church and community.  As a doctor he supports greater free market competition in health care, tort reform, and Medicaid cost and fraud controls, in order to bring down medical costs so that heath care services will be more affordable to people in the state.  He also recognizes the need for improvement in the education system and the tax structure for small businesses.  He was endorsed by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

While Mansfield will face a Republican opponent in the general election, the 21st is heavily Democratic and it’s highly unlikely Mansfield will be defeated.  I think he’ll make a great state senator for Cumberland County.

Standing up for what is right from kassaye kassaye on Vimeo.

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CONCORD – Eighth District political campaigns may be taking a breather for the moment, but they have a lot of intra-party healing to do before November.

For incumbent Larry Kissell, he is running on his record from his first term in Congress, which includes a no-vote on the health care reform law.

Meanwhile, GOP candidate Harold Johnson has his work cut out for him, trying to win Tim D’Annunzio’s supporters to back him against Kissell.

That may be easier said than done.

Independent Tribune

Boy, you can say that again.  That was one of the most brutal primaries I’ve ever seen.  Seriously, Hollywood could not have written something so absurd.  The cast of characters in this whole ordeal may as well have been straight out of a Monty Python flick.

Honestly, I don’t think Johnson will have as hard of a time getting D’Annunzio supporters to go with him in November as some may suspect.  If conservatives really want the Democrats out of the majority that badly, they’re going to vote for him even if they do so grinding their teeth.  This could be a good opening for Thomas Hill, though, the Libertarian candidate.  If he could get the resources, he might be able to gather up some of the disaffected D’Annunzio supporters to back him.

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The unions really didn’t do their homework on this one.

Concord Democrat Wendell Fant announced today that he won’t run as a 3rd party challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell.

Fant said he decided to “put my family ahead of my own political ambitions.”

A group called N.C. Families First successfully petitioned election boards throughout the 8th District in support of Fant’s candidacy. Backed by the State Employees Association of North Carolina and the Service Employees International Union, the group opposes Kissell because of his votes against some major Democratic legislation, particularly health care.

Fant’s decision means the group will not appear on 8th District ballots this fall.

Charlotte Observer

Looks like Kissell caught a break.  N.C. Families First (yeah, right) is just a shadow puppet for the unions.  The far left has been up in arms over Kissell’s more moderate positions.  Apparently, they don’t understand that he represents a Republican leaning district and no Democrat could win that seat espousing the radical leftist views the unions would have them do.

On an interesting note, I think I know Wendell Fant.  I think he used to work in my office a few years ago.  At least I assume it’s the same guy.  How many Wendell Fants can there possibly be?

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According to a Mississippi attorney, the college student in Washington D.C. last week wasn’t the first young man to be the recipient of physical aggression from Congressman Etheridge.  Brandon Leslie, a former resident of Moore County, claims that when he was a senior in high school in 1996 he too had an encounter with Etheridge at a high school football game similar to the incident in D.C.

Brandon Leslie, who moved away seven years ago and is now an attorney in Oxford, Miss., said he had an encounter with the now seven-term Democratic congressman from Lillington almost 14 years ago.

In the fall of 1996, when Leslie was a senior at Pinecrest High School, he said he met Etheridge at a Pinecrest football game. Etheridge – then the state superintendent of public instruction – was challenging incumbent Republican David Funderburk for his congressional seat. At the time, Moore County was part of the 2nd District, which Etheridge now represents.

Leslie said he introduced himself to Etheridge and asked him about his stance on a particular education program. He said Etheridge didn’t answer his question, so he pressed him two more times.

“And that’s when he grabbed me by the shoulders, he shook me, and I’ll never forget it, he said, ‘Son, you need to learn to respect your elders,’” he said by phone on Wednesday. “I was just so taken aback, I think my jaw just dropped, and he walked off.”

Leslie said he was angrier about Etheridge’s attitude and “patronizing” tone than the physical contact.

“It wasn’t to hurt me, it wasn’t to harm me,” he says. “It was that he was irritated and wanted to get my attention.”

The Pilot

According to the article the incident raised some raucous from the locals, but the media never ran with it.  Of course, back then the public Internet was still a new born babe and the alternative media really didn’t exist yet.  Even if Leslie had been able to catch it on tape, there was no such thing as a viral video in those days.  Unfortunately for Etheridge, technology caught up with him this year.

Etheridge’s office has disputed Leslie’s claim, but Etheridge himself won’t address the accusation.

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I have to say it. I have tried to remain neutral in this race, but I can’t hold my tongue anymore. After listening to an interview Tim D’Annunzio did with Keith Larson on WBT, I am fully convinced that he is not mentally stable enough to hold public office.

Deflated by new polling numbers and sagging support, Republican Tim D’Annunzio says it would “take a miracle” for him to beat Harold Johnson in Tuesday’s 8th District runoff.

His comments to the Observer came after a fiery radio interview Wednesday in which he told WBT’s Keith Larson that “there’s a special place in hell for people like you.”

So contentious – and bizarre – was the exchange that Larson called D’Annunzio “a delusional, deranged human being” and still the interview roared on.

Charlotte Observer

In the interview, which you can listen to here, D’Annunzio even accused Keith Larson of being the narrative voice speaking in a Harold Johnson ad.  I’ve heard the ad; it doesn’t even sound like Larson.

I interviewed Tim D’Annunzio early in this race several months ago and I thought the guy had great ideas, but as time has moved on it’s become clear that the man is incredibly paranoid and delusional.  Even if he were to defeat Johnson on Tuesday, which I highly doubt, Larry Kissell would bury this guy in the general.  And even if lightening were to strike twice in the same place and D’Annunzio were to actually win the Congressional race, the man would never be able to accomplish anything he’s set out to do in Washington because he would be incredibly combative.  Nobody would support his initiatives.

The voters should choose Harold Johnson in next week’s run off.

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Holy crap!! All the kid did was ask him a question and Etheridge goes crazy! The pressure must really be getting to these guys.

Renee Ellmers, I think you just found your new 30 second ad.

Update: Etheridge has issued a public apology. It is also being speculated around the blogosphere that he may have been drunk.  Apparently, he was leaving a fund raiser for Nancy Pelosi when this happened.  It would certainly explain his erratic behavior.

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Flanked by lawyers, Harold Johnson on Tuesday denounced a lawsuit by rival Tim D’Annunzio as “embarrassing and frivolous” as the war of words between the two Republican congressional candidates continued to escalate.

D’Annunzio sued Johnson for defamation Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court.

“This again is a desperate attack by a desperate candidate,” Johnson said at a news conference in Charlotte.

Charlotte Observer

Like sands through the hourglass, so our the days of our lives.

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Republican congressional candidate Tim D’Annunzio on Monday sued GOP rival Harold Johnson for defamation over ads that he said “deliberately spread lies, innuendos, and false statements.”

Johnson was served at a campaign event in Fayetteville. The suit was filed in Cumberland County.

Charlotte Observer

If Tim D’Annunzio wants to serve in Congress he is going to have to become a lot more thick skinned than this.  If he gets elected, wait until the left starts savaging him.  He’ll be a prime target as outspoken as he is.  In all honesty, he’s starting to remind me of Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson and that’s not a good thing.

I doubt he’ll be successful in this suit.  It’s incredibly difficult to prove libel or defamation against a politician and those lawsuits rarely produce results.

Update: We apparently have got video

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In a statement Tuesday evening, D’Annunzio’s said he was not participating in the June 8 debate due “to the collaboration between the Harold Johnson campaign and the news media to use partial truth, innuendo and accusations to unfairly smear me” and that he would instead be holding telephone town hall events on the evenings of June 8 and June 9.

“I thank my supporters who have continued to stand by me through the false accusations made towards me and my campaign, and I will keep fighting to set the record straight and clear my good name,” D’Annunzio said.

Politico

And the saga continues.  Is D’Annunzio making the wrong move, or is it better for him to do his planned town halls where he can actually have full interaction with his audience?  On the other hand, the news reports of him backing out of the debate could make people think he is running away from something.  When you think about it, how many people really tune into debate for a U.S. House race?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I would guess it’s not a huge number.

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The Mitchell Law group which represents 8th District Republican Congressional candidate Tim D’Annunzio has sent a letter to North Carolina GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer telling him to retract his statements regarding D’Annunzio or face a possible $5 million libel lawsuit.  Below is the letter which was posted on ConservativeNC.

Dear Mr. Fetzer:

As you may know, this firm serves as counsel and represents Mr. Tim D’Annunzio.

Mr. D’Annunzio is deeply saddened by and concerned about the recent defamatory statements and allegations you have made including the assertion that Mr. D’Annunzio is “unfit for public office.” He demands retraction.

Certainly, you and Mr. D’Annunzio have had differences. Mr. D’Annunzio has opined that you have, as the Chairman of the North Carolina Republican party, (1) sought to control him and to compel him to act as you direct, and (2) been angered and upset by Mr. D’Annunzio’s independence, affiliation with “Tea Party” voters, and his unwillingness to be required to submit to you and others in your “political oligarchy,” which he believes will do nothing more than maintain the status quo within the Republican party and compromise the conservative values he holds.

Now, Mr. D’Annunzio believes that you have unfairly personally attacked and assailed him and improperly and inequitably used your power and position in an effort to harm him by making deliberately, intentionally, and maliciously disparaging comments concerning him.

Mr. D’Annunzio is considering filing a civil law suit against you in which he would seek damages in excess of five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) caused by your comments, which resulted in matters from his youth and allegations from a divorce which occurred fifteen years ago being used to impugn Mr. D’Annunzio and to hold him up to ridicule, harming him in his campaign, his business and professional life, and causing great pain and anguish to his family.

As you know, Mr. D’Annunzio maintains his commitment to fundamental constitutional values. Yet, he also maintains that the utterances and publications that you have made individually and in confederation with others are not entitled to constitutional protection. As the North Carolina Courts have said:

At the time the First Amendment was adopted, as today, there were those unscrupulous enough and skillful enough to use the deliberate or reckless falsehood as an effective political tool . . . . That speech is used as a tool for political ends does not automatically bring it under the protective mantle of the Constitution. For the use of the known lie as a tool is at once at odds with the premises of democratic government and with the orderly manner in which economic, social, or political change is to be effected. Calculated falsehood falls into that class of utterances which are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.

Your statements, asserting that Mr. D’Annunzio has not overcome his mistakes, that there is no healing or redemption for those who erred more than 15 years ago in a divorce situation, and that the errors that he made as a juvenile, continue so as presently and always to “disqualify him… from serving [in any] elected office,” are false. This falsity and the structure and form of the statements are such as to cause a hearer or observer of those words to believe erroneously that Mr. D’Annunzio has not overcome, as he has, those difficulties of his past, and that he is not putting the past behind him, learning from it, and moving forward — looking to move this state, this district, and this nation forward, overcoming its own adversities.

In an effort to apply those principles of learning, healing, and overcoming and to move forward, Mr. D’Annunzio is willing to resolve this matter in much the same way as you resolved a civil matter in which you believed you were unfairly cast in a negative light. That is, Mr. D’Annunzio is willing to waive his right to sue, provided that you retract your negative declarations, you issue a letter of apology, and you agree to resolve this matter in a civilized and proper manner.

We will expect your response no later than June 7, 2010. In any event, please accept this notice and demand that retraction is sought.

Sincerely,

The Mitchell Law Group

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CONCORD — On Monday, Republican congressional candidate Tim D’Annunzio fired back at GOP leaders who’ve spoken out against his controversial campaign, demanding that the chairman of the North Carolina GOP step down.

“Chairman Fetzer broke the Plan of Organization of the Republican Party by speaking against my candidacy,” he said. “I am officially calling for Chairman Fetzer to step down. He should resign the position.”

Charlotte Observer

D’Annunzio’s position isn’t really off base here.  As I mentioned in my post last night regarding the North Carolina GOP attempting to use allegations from D’Annunzio’s past to paint him as being insane, the Republican leadership may very well be cannibalizing their own.  If D’Annunzio wins the run off then Tom Fetzer has given Larry Kissell all of the ammunition he needs to be reelected and keep the seat in Democratic hands.  Isn’t it incumbent on Fetzer to do what he can to take the seat back for his party?  Undoubtedly, he believes that’s what he’s doing, but it’s quite a gamble.  D’Annunzio has the tea party backing and they’ve been having some success around the country.

“The allegations are unsubstantiated and come from second-hand sources,” D’Annunzio said. “The information printed in yesterday’s newspaper was fed to journalists by certain individuals who are afraid of independent, rugged individualists, like me, who refuse to bow down to those who hold the power and want control for themselves, because they’re more concerned with getting someone elected who will put their version of political party over the people.”

D’Annunzio has admitted to several personal failings in his blog, “Christ’s War,” including using drugs, and being arrested as a teenager and as an adult.

He focuses on his redemption now, he said. “Repentance means you turn around and go a different way.”

That’s another good point.  The accusations made against D’Annunzio by his ex-wife during their divorce proceedings were 15 years ago.  D’Annunzio has admitted to having some problems in his past, but assuming that it is all in the past does not the man then deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt?  The Republican Party is still controlled by the Christian right and isn’t forgiveness the Christian thing to do?  If D’Annunzio just went out two weeks ago and claimed to have discovered the Ark of the Convenent in Arizona then I’d say that’s fair game for his opponents to bring up, but to dredge up alleged statements from 15 years ago that really aren’t relevant to the campaign chalks up to dirty politics in my book.  I’m not on anybody’s side in this race, just playing devil’s advocate here and exposing some possible hypocrisy on behalf of the party apparatus.

All of this is indicative of why I don’t like the party establishment getting involved in primaries.  The tea party folks called Justin Thibault, the Cabarrus County Republican Chairman, a coward for remaining impartial on this.  I disagree.  He’s doing the right thing.  Let the people make their decision at the voting booth.  When the people nominate who they want next month, then the party should step in and provide their support.  The question is, if D’Annunzio wins how can the GOP and his campaign come together after being fractured wider than the Grand Canyon?

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The North Carolina Republican Party is not pleased with the outcome of the 8th District primary and are throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Tim D’Annunzio in the hopes of derailing his Congressional bid in the upcoming run off election between he and Republican Harold Johnson.

“Mr. D’Annunzio has disqualified himself by his background, his record and his behavior,” said Tom Fetzer, North Carolina’s Republican Party chairman. He said the GOP embraces the tea party but doesn’t believe a person with such a checkered past should be the party’s nominee.

In Hoke County divorce records, his wife said in 1995 that D’Annunzio had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor’s evaluation the following month said D’Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple times as a teenager.

The AP

Oh my….

I’m guessing this was quite a bitter divorce and it’s possible that things were said that nobody really meant.  Or hell, maybe it was just the drugs.  One thing I do know, Fetzer had better hope that his tactic works for the sake of his party, because if D’Annunzio does win the run off, this outing of his alleged past is going to back fire on the GOP in a very ugly way.  Kissell will use all of this ammunition in the general election and will secure himself a second term.  In fact, Kissell has got to be loving every minute of this.  I’m rather enjoying it all myself.  I can say that of all the political chaos that has broken out this past week around the country, Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, etc., this is certainly the most bizarre.

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Public Policy Polling did a survey on the Congressional districts of Congressmen Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02) and Heath Shuler (D-NC-11) and have some woeful news for the two gentlemen.  The passage of that bill may indeed end up being their “Waterloo.”

In both Bob Etheridge and Heath Shuler’s districts we asked whether voters would be more or less likely to vote for their representative if they supported the bill, then whether they would be more or less likely to vote for their representative if the bill passed regardless of how their actual representative voted.

In Etheridge’s district 47% of voters said they’d be less likely to vote for him this fall if he supported the bill. And 47% said they’d be less likely to vote for him this fall if the Democrats in Congress passed the bill, regardless of how Etheridge himself voted.

It’s a pretty similar story in Shuler’s district. 51% of voters said they’d be less likely to vote for him this fall if he was a ‘yes’ vote.’ But 46% also said they’d be less likely to vote for Shuler this fall if the bill passed, whether it did so with his support or not.

PPP

Etheridge did vote for the bill; Shuler did not.  According to this survey though, it won’t make much difference for either one of them.  If this is a bellwether, then it appears voters will be holding all Democrats accountable for what their party did Sunday whether they were complicit or not.  If these numbers hold true on November 2nd, Etheridge and Shuler are toast.

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Today Freedom, Liberty and the Constitution Died.

John Adams said, “A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” Today with the passing of the Government’s takeover of the national health care system we have seen the death of the principles that were the foundation of the ratification of our Constitution, the death of liberty and with these the end of national wellbeing and happiness. The result will be the removal of the consent of the governed and the consummation of the desolation of our nation.

Christ’s War

Those are some of the words written by 8th District Congressional candidate Tim D’Annunzio this morning on the heals of the unconstitutional health insurance bill that was passed last night by a 219 – 212 vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.  I have to agree with his sentiment.  I have long held the opinion that once the government got their hands fully invested into our personal health care decisions, the fate of a complete Socialist take over would be imminent.

Despite that, I am not upset about the result of last night’s vote.  I say I’m not upset because I fully expected it to happen so I was prepared for the result.  This country, out of ignorance and gullibility, handed the reins of our nation over to an ideological  Marxist who repeatedly claimed a vision of “changing” America.  The stupidity on the parts of 54% of the electorate was that they believed this change would be a good thing despite the warnings from people like myself and many others who pointed out that change doesn’t necessarily mean a positive outcome.  Well, we’ve seen what change means.  It means more corruption and more bribery.  It means more lies and more political sleaze.  But again, you shouldn’t be surprised by this.  All the warning signs of who Barack Obama is were there for everyone to see, but it was easier for many Americans to simply shut it out and embrace the false dreams of hope and change, fueled by a complicit media which did everything in its power to get him elected.  I am surprised that so many people are surprised.

D’Annunzio and many other Republicans are already sounding a rallying cry to repeal the bill.  I hate to piss all over their parade, but they are only giving themselves false hope.  This bill will not be repealed.  You can quote me on that.  Nothing in D.C. gets repealed.  Republicans raised a raucous over Social Security and it even got struck down on its first attempt at implementation by the Supreme Court and yet more than 70 years later it’s still here.  Conservatives raised hell about Medicare and more than 40 years later it’s still here bleeding our nation’s bank account along with SSI.  If history is any indicator there is no reasonable expectation to see this go away.  The best we can hope for at this point is that one of the lawsuits that will be filed by a handful of states will be successful in the court system and result in the legislation being thrown out.

As we’ve heard many times before elections have consequences.  We can only hope that the American people remember what happened here, but again as history has shown, we have very short memories.

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On Saturday, D’Annunzio got into a flap with officials at the Cumberland County Republican Convention in Fayetteville.

During a forum, candidates drew cards with random questions. When rival Lou Huddleston of Fayetteville was asked if he supports eliminating federal agencies, he replied without mentioning D’Annunzio.

When D’Annunzio tried to respond, organizers told him according to their ground rules, he couldn’t. Party chair Suzanne Rucker took his microphone. He walked off the stage.

On his blog, D’Annunzio said the forum was “put together to enable the home town candidate to attack me while not giving me any opportunity to respond with the truth.”

Charlotte Observer

If the rules were followed consistently throughout the forum then I have to call bullshit on this accusation of there being some kind of conspiracy theory in favor of Lou Huddleston, which is who D’Annunzio is referring to.  The rules are the rules.  They drew questions at random.  Nobody can control who got what question and if they weren’t allowed to opine on the questions of other candidates then that’s the way it is.  It’s not the way I would conduct a debate, but the rules should have been understood before it started.  On the other hand, if they were allowing other candidates to do follow ups and not D’Annunzio then he has a point to be upset.  All of that aside, I think he conducted himself poorly by walking off the stage and it’s more negative press that he doesn’t need.  He’s already been getting poked pretty hard by the alternative media.

Lou Huddleston, of course, is taking advantage of this and calling for D’Annunzio to drop out of the race.  That’s not necessary.  The voters are perfectly capable of making that decision on election day.

This incident is one of two obstacles to put a rut in the D’Annunzio campaign just this week.  His top political adviser Jack Hawke resigned from the campaign regarding a dispute over a blog that D’Annunzio has been writing called “Christ’s War” which according to the Charlotte Observer “combines politics with Biblical references and end-times theology.”

Hawke said he advised the candidate to take it down after a February Observer story quoted passages from it.

It disappeared from public view for a while but then reappeared. Another news story about the blog ran Thursday in Raleigh’s News & Observer.

“He took it down, told me it was down and down to stay,” said Hawke, who advised former Gov. Jim Martin and gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. “Next I knew it was in the N&O telling me it was back up. … I don’t think any candidate should get up at 3 or 4 in the morning, sit down in front of a computer and pour your heart out. It’s just not a smart thing to do.”

Charlotte Observer

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President Obama is sinking all of his remaining political capital into destroying the American health care system and the question to be asked here in the Charlotte area is will Larry Kissell capitulate or buck his party again and vote against ObamaCare?  Kissell represents a swing district that leans slightly Republican and although a Public Policy Polling poll taken a couple of months ago showed him hovering over 50% in hypothetical November match ups, this issue will make or break that.

As reported today in the Charlotte Observer, Kissell insists that his position has not changed and that he has no intention of supporting the current proposal in Congress and that is probably a good thing.  The American people are not seeing eye to with this administration.  Over half the country opposes the bill and almost two-thirds of Americans think it would be better to pass smaller incremental bills that address specific individual flaws in the system.

If Kissell were to change his mind and vote for the bill it will mark the end of his very short political tenure.  Hell, even if he doesn’t vote for it and it still passes it could seal his defeat.  The original House bill only passed by five votes so it’s hard to predict how this is going to turn out if the Democrats decide to proceed with reconciliation, but the word is the White House is putting on the pressure.

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Cumberland County Democrats think they picked a couple of November winners Thursday night.

Attorney Phillip Gilfus bested two rivals and will serve out the term of Breeden Blackwell as county commissioner.

Nursing instructor and bookstore owner Diane Parfitt won a vacant state House 44 seat after someone else who sought the office bowed out.

The seat belonged to Margaret Dickson, a Democrat from Fayetteville.

State law allows local party officials to make binding appointments.

The Fayetteville Observer

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