Award-winning columnist, writer, speaker and editor
nbsp;
Charlotte, N.C.- Former Congressman Mel Watt is now heading the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but his promotion leaves voters in the 12th Congressional District with no one to speak on their behalf. Mary Curtis joined Rising today to talk about the politics of choosing Watt’s successor.
North Carolina is determined to make you look.
The state is not merely content to give observers whiplash by turning from a narrow vote for Barack Obama in 2008 to installing a Republican-controlled legislature in 2010 whose laws over the past year – on everything from voting restrictions to education cuts — have protesters marching.
Now a sprinkling of show business has added razzle-dazzle to the political mix.
Last week, the big news was a report that well-known 2003 “American Idol” runner-up and North Carolinian Clay Aiken, 35, is considering a run for Congress. Compared to that headline, the Indian Trail (N.C.) Town Council member who wrote portions of his resignation letter in “Klingon” was just a distraction.
Tim Scott, the junior senator from South Carolina, is a reliably conservative vote, most recently his “no” on Wednesday’s bipartisan budget agreement. But while the Republican’s record mirrors that of other tea party-backed members of Congress, his rhetoric is noticeably cooler.
That much was clear during his recent conversation with members of the Trotter Group, a national association of African-American columnists, who spent a few days in Washington meeting with policymakers from various parties and persuasions.
CHARLOTTE — U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan this week congratulated former UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach Dean Smith on receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a move she had urged President Obama to make. Besides establishing her Tar Heel bona fides, it was one thing the North Carolina Democrat could do without anyone objecting.
A year before her re-election bid, Hagan’s face is all over TV, in ads made to attack and — from the other side — bolster her record. But the effort to doom her chances by defining her as an Obama clone is complicated by her own record, by a state that isn’t quite as deep red as its Southern cousins and by a GOP opposition that disagrees on the candidate that would have the best chance against her.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — N.C .Sen. Kay Hagan is one of a dozen senators being targeted by Republicans in this upcoming election.
Each voted for the new health care law. Mary C. Curtis is taking a look at the challenges ahead for Hagan, how much of an Achilles heal the Affordable Care Act might be and if the GOP has to offer not just opposition but an alternative.
The film “12 Years a Slave” is one of great beauty about a great horror. Director Steve McQueen’s account of the American slave business – and it was an American economic institution that trafficked in flesh, blood and human suffering – is not particularly easy viewing, though you can’t look away. I saw it a few days ago, and once was plenty. But I would gladly see it again if politicians who can’t quit their slavery metaphors agreed to a movie date.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Washington Post columnist Mary C. Curtis is examining the election results. She was there when Mayor Patrick Cannon declared victory.
Democrats now hold a 9-2 majority in the City Council. Is Charlotte becoming a Democratic city?
And did dissatisfaction with GOP Governor Pat McCrory hurt Edwin Peacock’s campaign?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Election Day is less than a week away. We’re talking with Mary C. Curtis on her thoughts regarding the race for mayor.
She’s got all you need to know on the race and the candidates.
Curtis says there’s no clear winner at this point.
CHARLOTTE — Republicans were busy in North Carolina and Washington on Monday. Did the activity in the courts and on a conservative stage have the effect of muddying the welcome mat the GOP rolled out for minority voters in the state?
Earlier in the day, Republican state officials filed to urge a federal court to dismiss two lawsuits challenging changes in North Carolina’s voting laws, changes opponents contend disproportionately harm African American voters. A third challenge by the U.S. Department of Justice is waiting in the wings.
Monday evening in Charlotte, at the opening of the Republican National Committee’s African American engagement office in North Carolina, Earl Philip, North Carolina African American state director, said he believed in the message he has been taking to churches, schools and community groups.
Roy Cooper wants everyone to know how he really feels. That must be why he wrote a column lamenting why and how he thinks his home state of North Carolina is moving in the wrong direction – that, and perhaps he’s trying out for a gubernatorial run in 2016.
