Political Class Adjusts to Reality
They had resisted the notion that North Carolina politics might take an unmistakable turn to the right. Now they have no choice but to adjust to it.
If the Republican legislature can lift both the budget and redistricting barbells over their heads next year, the rest of the session ought to be no sweat.
The vulnerable Democratic congressmen who voted against ObamaCare won reelection. The vulnerable Democrat who voted for it was defeated. Pretty clear message there.
Republicans will achieve net gains of 60 seats in the U.S. House, eight seats in the U.S. Senate, seven governorships, and 12 to 15 legislative chambers.
In the NC Senate, generic polling has been a fairly good predictor of the share of votes cast for GOP candidates – but has tended to overestimate the number of seats won.
If you measure the gains across seven wave elections, you will find average gains of two congressional seats, seven state senate seats, and 14 state house seats.
Republicans seem poised to have their best off-year election since 1994. It’s possible this year’s performance will exceed their historic gains that year.
Strengthening the state’s laws on public corruption is a necessary but insufficient condition for cleaning up the mess.
In 2011, some $3 billion in short-term federal bailout funds and temporary taxes are scheduled to disappear from the state’s revenue availability
For members of the North Carolina General Assembly to consider expanding an illegal program – and in the name of “ethics,” no less – is outrageous and shameful.
Describing the difference between a $20.6 billion Senate budget and a $20.5 billion House budget as “dramatic” is rather melodramatic.
Whether it would be the result of an encroachment by Washington or a self-inflicted wound by the General Assembly, public-sector unionism would be a calamity for our state.