A state religion? What’s next, North Carolina, secession?

Featured at The Washington Post

As a North Carolina resident also proud to be a United States citizen, I’m starting to worry.

Since Republicans swept the North Carolina state government, from the statehouse to the House and Senate, the tilt right has been unmistakable. But the latest move out of Raleigh has even a lot of die-hard conservatives shaking their heads. Two representatives from Rowan County have filed legislation that would give North Carolina, its counties and towns  the right to establish an official religion.

You know you’ve stepped over religious and constitutional boundaries when evangelist Franklin Graham thinks you’ve gone too far.

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Apr042013 TAGS: , , ,

What kind of state is North Carolina? Democrats and GOP make high-stakes bets

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Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina are in an ideological standoff, with future elections in the balance. That explains why Kay Hagan, a Democratic senator facing a tough 2014 reelection race, endorsed same-sex marriage, and Republicans in control of the statehouse made moves to tighten voting restrictions – all in one week.

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Apr012013 TAGS: , , , , , , , , ,

A ‘military spouse of the year’ closely watches the Supreme Court

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This week, Ashley Broadway is paying close attention to the Supreme Court as it hears two cases on the politically charged issue of same-sex marriage. For her, it’s about family: her spouse, Army Lt. Col. Heather Mack, their son, two weeks’ shy of 3 years, and two-month-old daughter.

“Regardless of how someone feels about same-sex marriage or their religious convictions, we can’t have second-class citizens, especially people defending our country and our constitution,” she said.

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Mar272013 TAGS: , , , , ,

A voter ID battle in North Carolina

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Elections have consequences. In North Carolina, which elected Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and a GOP super-majority in both the state House and Senate in 2012, legislation to institute photo identification as a prerequisite for voting is again on the table.

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Mar132013 TAGS: , , , ,

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

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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.

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Mar052013 TAGS: , , , , ,

In North Carolina, a civilized gun debate fails to change minds

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a mostly blue city in a mostly red state, a crowd of several hundred filled a theater for a community conversation called “Voices in the Gun Debate.” It was cordial, which is more than you can say for much of the national dialogue that has NRA leadership and gun control advocates giving little ground in language or policy. But at evening’s end, there weren’t many conversions, either.

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Feb212013 TAGS: , , , ,

Why Obama always returns to North Carolina

Featured at The Washington Post

President Obama just can’t stay away from North Carolina, though after giving him hope and a victory in 2008, the fickle state cozied back up to the GOP in 2012. Being wooed with a national convention and a stream of visits from surrogates wasn’t quite enough to stem a statewide swing from blue to red. Yet there the president was on Wednesday, the day after his State of the Union speech, selling his ideas on manufacturing and the economy at the Linamar engine factory near Asheville, N.C.

Playing hard to get is irresistible.

 

 

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Feb152013 TAGS: , , , ,

N.C. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has a task ahead in 2014 reelection campaign

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In a state where Republicans did well in 2012 and have high hopes for the next election, she carves out her own path on issues from guns to energy.

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Jan252013 TAGS: , , , , , ,

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory balances hometown expectations, GOP austerity

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“He’s got a very difficult balance to strike,’ said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx. ‘The expectations that are there within his party may not mesh well with the expectations people in this state have.”

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Jan102013 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bev Perdue, North Carolina’s ‘thin blue line,’ makes way for a GOP wave

Featured at The Washington Post

Gov. Bev Perdue of North Carolina won’t have that title much longer, but she is making the most of her last few days in office. To end 2012, Perdue issued a full pardon of innocence for the Wilmington 10, nine black men and one white woman accused of firebombing a white-owned grocery store in Wilmington, N.C., in 1971, a time of racial unrest in the region.

Perdue, a Democrat, made history when she was elected North Carolina’s first female governor in the Obama 2008 wave. But she saw her popularity drop and Republicans gain control of the state legislature in the 2010 mid-term elections. She decided in early 2012 not to run for a second term, and former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican opponent Perdue narrowly defeated in 2008, handily defeated Democrat Walter Dalton in November to win the governorship. President Obama also lost North Carolina in November, a state he won by 14,000 votes in 2008.

While Democrats celebrated a national win in this election cycle, including a strengthened Senate majority and pickups in the GOP-controlled House, North Carolina trended from purple to red, with Perdue’s one term being emblematic of the shift.

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Jan032013 TAGS: , , , , , ,
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