Minutes of the Duke English Dept. meeting wherein faculty decide to dump Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton for "Gender and Sexuality," "The Science of Literature," "Psychoanalysis and Literature," &c.
Until the 1990s, North Carolina Republicans made only “punctuated progress.” They gained in presidential years, lost in midterms. Now their biggest gains are happening in off-year elections, as can be seen in legislative and county commission outcomes.
The Democrats’ presidential campaign basically began on Tuesday. Gephardt and Daschle are down, Gore is sideways, Kerry and Edwards are still bouncing around, and Dean is small-fry.
Did North Carolina see a “good” turnout on Tuesday? That’s what folks were saying on Election Day, but in historical terms the answer is no. And it doesn’t matter, anyway — speculation about overall turnout is a distraction from real analysis.
A recent study of faculty salaries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revealed a significant salary gap between white male faculty and minority faculty. Now that this pay gap has been proven, it’s time for the university to address this obvious pay bias. The next step is hard but clear: UNC-CH must take corrective action to pay white males more. The good news is at least they’re now getting paid more than females.
A few more thoughts about the 2002 vote are worth jotting down, including the anti-incumbency mood that was evident throughout the U.S.. Plus, GOP adventures in Yankeeland.
The 2002 election results had some surprises, and some outcomes that were easily predicted. Key point: only about 4,500 votes statewide kept the Republicans from winning both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly.
In this topsy-turvy political season, confident predictions are impossible, especially for the campaign to succeed U.S. Senator Jesse Helms. But for what it’s worth, if Republican Elizabeth Dole’s (likely) margin of victory over Democrat Erskine Bowles exceeds 6 points, there could be some coattails down the ballot.
The conventional wisdom suggests that Democrats will beat back the Republican attempt at taking over the N.C. Senate, but uncertainty persists. Winning three key races near New Bern, Jacksonville, and Gastonia would likely give the edge to the GOP.
Whether and how to wage war in Iraq is not only a legitimate debate to have in the midst of North Carolina's congressional elections but is an indispensable one. After all, national security and foreign policy are the prime constitutional tasks of a federal government.
According to the most recent data, taxpayers in North Carolina pay the fourth-highest per-pupil amount in the nation to subsidize public-college students in their state. Also, N.C. students attending the state's community colleges or public universities pay the second-lowest amounts in tuition and fees in the nation in either category of institution.
