Beverly Perdue is the luckiest Democrat in North Carolina. And Jim Harrell is the unluckiest one.
RALEIGH — The chances for a statewide vote on property rights protection dimmed this summer, when the N.C. Senate refused to endorse a constitutional amendment targeting eminent domain abuse. Voters will not address the issue before 2008.
RALEIGH — Eighty percent of the members of the N.C. House are cosponsors of a bill that would allow a public vote on a constitutional amendment limiting the powers of governments to seize private property, but that doesn’t mean it will ever come up for a vote.
The fact that Republicans are mostly playing defense in N.C. House races, and may not gain what they hoped for in the N.C. Senate, is striking — given some Democratic vulnerabilities.
Labor Day is past. That marks the point at which the job of political pundit starts to get laborious. Today's labor is an NC House preview.
RALEIGH — A proposed Alleghany County museum that would display 6,000 teapots worth more than $5 million has become the poster child for pork barrel spending in the recently passed state budget. A $400,000 earmark for the Sparta Teapot Museum was frequently mocked in the media in the past week, and by Republicans in the legislative minority. But Rep. Jim Harrell III, an Elkin Democrat who sought the funding in the state budget, said the museum's critics don't know enough about the project to evaluate its worth.
Lost track of the partisan fight for control of the 120-seat NC House in 2004? Join the club. Here’s a list of 19 races worth keeping an eye on when the Tuesday election returns come in.
Further analysis of the new House and Senate maps reveals some interesting twists and scenarios for Democratic or Republican control in Raleigh -- after some litigation.
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.
Somewhat under the political radar screen, Democrats and Republicans will slug it out in a dozen counties where control of the board of commissioners may shift on Nov. 5. These include several large, urban counties with interesting races.
