Election season is underway and hundreds of North Carolinians have begun campaigning for the May 4 primary and the fall general election. Carolina Journal reporter David Bass discusses the competitive legislative races and the large number of primary challenges facing our state’s congressional incumbents. Then we turn to the controversial issue of health-care reform. We’ve heard a lot of debate about it, but it’s hard to gauge what actually will happen with the legislation under discussion on Capitol Hill. Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, recently visited North Carolina to offer his best assessment of the current proposals. He’ll share details of his analysis. Next is a look at the future of North Carolina’s heritage industry: tobacco. In more than a decade of operations, the Golden LEAF group has used North Carolina’s proceeds from a national tobacco lawsuit settlement to fund hundreds of projects totaling more than $400 million. The projects are designed to help tobacco-dependent communities cope with the economic hit tied to tobacco’s decline. At least one state lawmaker, Rep. Earl Jones, D-Guilford, wants to know what Golden LEAF is doing to help find an agricultural replacement for tobacco. You’ll hear a recent exchange between Jones and Golden LEAF President Dan Gerlach. That’s followed by a look at presidential politics. When Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, some supporters seemed to revere him as an idol who could do no wrong. Now, after more than a year in office, the president has lost some of his luster. Mary Katharine Ham, staff writer for The Weekly Standard and analyst for Fox News, offers her insights about the changing perceptions of our 44th president. And finally, John Locke Foundation vice president for research Roy Cordato refutes claims that the state’s Clean Smokestacks bill has improved North Carolina’s air quality. Cordato studied air quality levels of surrounding states that don’t have similar regulations and then compared the data to North Carolina. His conclusion is that there is no evidence to support the claim that the law is a success. He adds that the bill will, in fact, cost much more than projected.