POLITICAL WRAP: Coronavirus Impact on Presidential Campaigns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The coronavirus pandemic is impacting the race for the White House. Georgia and Louisiana have postponed their primaries, while other states still plan on voting Tuesday. But they will make adjustments, such as moving voting locations in or near senior living centers.

Sunday night’s democratic primary debate did not have an audience. Both candidates had a lot on the line, especially since they’re not able to hold campaign rallies right now.

Click above for more with WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.

POLITICAL WRAP: Mayor Pete Drops Out; Biden Momentum; Trump Rally in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – According to AP sources, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is suspending his presidential campaign.

And Joe Biden is playing the role of “Comeback Kid” after a big win in the Palmetto State on Saturday.

And President Trump returns to Charlotte for a campaign rally, one day before Super Tuesday.

Click above for more with WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.

Takeaways from the Democratic Debate

CHARLOTTE, NC —  With the Iowa caucuses less than three weeks away, six of the democratic candidates battled it out on a debate stage Tuesday night. Political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses the biggest takeaways.

First Night of Democratic Debate

CHARLOTTE, NC — For the large field of candidates, Democratic debates are crucial. This week’s debates are make-or-break for Democratic presidential hopefuls, especially those polling in single digits. During night one of the debate in Detroit, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were the primary targets of moderates on the stage. Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses how the candidates performed and what to expect for round two.

Public Hearing Ends In 6-5 Vote to Accept Contracts for 2020 RNC

“It’s not a convention like any other because Donald Trump is not a president like any other,” says WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis.

Opinion: African-American Women Call Out the Democratic National Committee

We crave the hard-to-get while ignoring the one who has stuck with us through thick and thin. In a letter to the DNC chair, a group of black women — activists, community leaders and elected officials — has accused the Democratic Party of falling into that too-often-true cliche. Who can blame them?

Shades of “Moby-Dick” in the narrative that took hold after the party’s 2016 losses, with white working-class males replacing the elusive white whale of Melville’s imagination. Will the results for the Democrats be just as tragic as Captain Ahab’s if the party doubles down on that strategy for election cycles to come?

 

Is There a Reward at the End of the Democrats’ Long Slog?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The HKonJ protest this past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, may have been the largest such event, but it wasn’t the first time that thousands, with causes as diverse as the citizen-marchers themselves, showed up. For 11 years, with messages for both Republicans and Democrats, the faithful gathering at Historic Thousands on Jones Street have persisted.

There is a lesson for the dissatisfied, new to activism, who are now crowding town halls and filling the streets: Victories may never come, or may be incremental, at best. Each goal accomplished could be followed by a setback.

Are the protesters of 2017 in it for the long haul?

Fact-Check the Political Ads in NC Senate Race


 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Senator Kay Hagan and Republican challenger Thom Tillis are ironing out key points of their argument ahead of their next debate Tuesday, October 6. The race is heating up with more political ads, but WCCB’s political contributor Mary C. Curtis says fact-check when you see them.

Artur Davis – Democrat turned GOP stalwart – has a plan for Republicans

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On the announcement, his picture was squeezed between images of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, former presidents the GOP can get behind. Artur Davis was in North Carolina, where Republicans rule in the state house and legislature. It’s a place where the party that is suffering setbacks elsewhere could relax for a triumphant evening. At least, that’s what I think the folks at the 2013 MeckGOP Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner were doing Saturday night. Luckily, before the closed-press event, featured speaker Davis previewed his remarks and why his inclusive message matters to the GOP’s future.

“I think the conservatives have to understand that we’ve got to talk about not just the government we want to repeal but how we’re going to make the government that exists work better,” Davis told me. As the parties spar over sequester, appointments and more, it seemed a timely message.

Will the Democratic South rise again?

It was almost but not quite like being in the middle of the action on Inauguration Day. If you opened the door of the restaurant on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, you could practically hear echoes of President Obama’s speech and Beyonce’s rendition of the National Anthem, real or lip-synched. But it was all a little muddled. You could say the same about the state of the Democratic Party in the South.

I watched the inauguration ceremonies on big screens in the eatery, surrounded by Southern Democrats with a plan. I listened to strategies designed to re-establish the party’s dominance in the region it once owned. Because of issues of race, social issues and habit, for starters, it won’t be easy.