RALEIGH – The North Carolina primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate, president (who knew it would matter?), and other political offices will be here in just 11 weeks. If you’re a North Carolina voter, you have a responsibility to cast an informed vote – indeed, as I have said many times before, I believe that you have a responsibility not to vote in races where you don’t recognize any of the candidates or have a clear preferences based on the issues important to you.
Confronted with the responsibility to inform themselves before they cast a ballot, some voters blame the news media and campaigns for failing to provide the necessary information. Nice try, but it won’t wash, at least not anymore. If you are reading this column online, then you have at your fingertips most of the information you need to become an informed citizen and voter in North Carolina.
While I think it’s true that the mainstream media devotes less attention to state politics than in years past, the web has made it easier for readers, listeners, and viewers to access political reporting outside of their own media markets. You are no longer held prisoner to what some news editor at a local newspaper allows through his or her editorial filter. You can go directly to the source. In statewide terms, there’s still a lot of meaty journalism to consume every day.
A good place to start each morning is Carolina Journal Online – naturally. Our staff works during the night and early-morning hours to find the best stories from news and broadcast outlets about state and local politics and public-policy issues. We also provide a selection of newspaper editorials and columns to give you a taste of what opinion writers are saying – from the Right, Left, and Center.
To supplement CJO’s news summaries and links, I recommend that you routinely visit some key sites and blogs from the Capitol Press Corps, including the News & Observer’s “Under the Dome,” WUNC-FM reporter Laura Leslie’s “Isaac Hunter’s Tavern,” News 14 Carolina reporter Tim Boyum’s “Political Connections,” News & Record reporter Mark Binker’s “Capital Beat,” Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Jordan Schrader’s “Capital Letters,” Winston-Salem Journal reporter James Romoser’s “Trail Mix,” Freedom Newspapers correspondent Barry Smith’s “In the Loop,” Fayetteville Observer blog editor Gregory Phillips’ “From Fay to Z,” and Curtis Media’s State Government Radio.
Moving from news to opinion and analysis, the North Carolina blogosphere offers a range of worthy offerings. On the Left, I’d recommend Ed Cone’s popular Greensboro-based site, Independent Weekly writer Bob Geary’s Raleigh-based blog, and “The Progressive Pulse” from my friends at NC Policy Watch/NC Justice Center. On the Right, JLF offers both a statewide staff blog and a set of other blogs devoted to particular issues (Environment NC) or regions of the state (Charlotte, the Triangle, the Triad, the coast, and the mountains). Other conservative blogs including the Civitas Institute’s “Red Clay Citizen” and nationally known bloggers Sister Toldjah in Charlotte and Betsy Newmark in Raleigh. Visit “Talking About Politics” to see Democratic consultant Gary Pearce and Republican consultant Carter Wrenn trade barbs, predictions, and war stories.
To see the latest from North Carolina’s pundits and talking heads, you can visit The Charlotte Observer’s Jack Betts, The Winston-Salem Journal’s Paul O’Connor, the News & Observer‘s Rob Christensen, the Greensboro News & Record’s Doug Clark, the Capitol Press Association’s Scott Mooneyham, NC Spin’s Tom Campbell, UNC-TV’s D.G. Martin, and JLF’s own columnists.
And, of course, you can go directly to the source. Each serious candidate for governor has a website that provides biographical information, positions on issues, ads and press releases, and handy links to news coverage of the campaign. I’d bookmark each of them and check regularly: Bill Graham, Pat McCrory, Richard Moore, Mike Munger, Bob Orr, Bev Perdue, and Fred Smith. You can chase down most other candidates by going through either the state Democratic or Republican party sites.
If you’re online, you get to decide whether you will be an informed voter, an irresponsible voter, or a non-voter. The middle choice is the worst one. Don’t select it.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.