Posted on 07/16/2004 9:46:31 AM PDT by Prospero
RALEIGH – North Carolina now has a rollicking, revealing, and interesting Republican nomination fight for governor.
Of course, the primary is on Tuesday, so the arrival of this compelling campaign might be considered a bit late. On the other hand, here we are in the middle of summer holding what is likely to be a low-turnout primary, so who’s to say anyone would have been paying attention until now?
(Excerpt) Read more at carolinajournal.com ...
GO, BALLANTINE, GO! We need the BBB Team (Bush, Burr and Ballantine) to take NC by storm in November.
Ballantine's been endorsed by Grass Roots of NC as the best candidate supporting 2A. Heard him on Jerry Agar show yesterday - he's smart.
I'll vote for him in the runoff and general if it comes to that, but my view is he has as many principles as a self-centered career climber lawyer-politician (which he is) typically does.
There is a prairie Vinroot needs to go to...get out of the way. You've lost statewide too many times...get Ballentine in there. Cobey sounds good...but a fresh face is what we need.
Very good ~ "BBBTEAM" ~ I love it
At a party for the President last night Vinroot was the topic of a good amount of discussion and how people can not stand him and will not vote for him on Tuesday or in Nov.
As a non NC'er, which one will run the best campaign, and thus, presumibly, help Burr cross the finish line first?
Not Vinroot.
IMHO, Patrick Ballantine
"I'll vote for him in the runoff and general if it comes to that"
Sure, B, as in BillCobey :)
I really like Ballantine. I plan to vote for him. Honestly, I do not think that Vinroot has a chance to win in the general election. He has good ideas, but there is something about him that turns people off. Ballantine is a fresh face and has a positive spirit. Either way, NC really needs a NEW governor and FAST!
Go, Ballantine!!!!!!
All the candidates have feet of clay. I'm very fond of Fern Shubert, for example, and I think she would make a great governor. She has a better grasp on the witless educational orthodoxy. But, having talked with PJB, he has as firm a grasp on the state's budgetary corruption and, frankly, a better chance of beating Easley. The GOP in NC can't achieve parity with the D's in charge of state government in the sausage factory that is the General Assembly, and real reform can't begin, until we elect a Governor willing to take the power of the pulpit to the People to wage successful warfare with the entrenched Democrat majority.
Patrick is a natural.
We've become pretty cynical so it's hard to believe PJB's optimism and charm is genuine and, if so, able then to wage the tough fights it will take to return NC to it's Constitutional roots.
Patrick passed my tests for these criteria. It's no accident he's authorized to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.
When the voters (IF the voters) are allowed to get to know this guy, they will get to like him, and some of the us in the "conservative base" will get past our natural suspicion that conservatives can't possibly appeal to the 55 percent of the voters in NC who are women.
Patrick is the real deal.
Bush, Burr (Cough, choke, cough), and Ballantine
(Sigh)
Lord know, I like Congressman Cobey. I think he's a genuinely fine fellow, even if he won't admit that he did, indeed, vote to raise taxes as a matter of record, his claims to the contrary becoming tedious
I respect Bill Cobey, and if the political ecosystem of NC, the struggle to boil our message through the post-modern media, were different, I think he'd have a chance to beat Mike Easley and make a respectable, but not spectacular, Jim Martin-like 'moderate' Governor.
But that's not the universe we live in, here in 2004.
The enemy we face is without restraint, and even local and state politics are being driven by the national agenda and the national Circus Center Ring.
Like or not (and I don't) Entertainment is the Coin of the Rhelm.
I give Congressman Cobey credit for having overturned and cleaned up the slime and corruption in the pot-bellied NCGOP while he was chairman. He should have remained in that post and taken care of candidate reqruitment this year, which is a disasterous situation - George W. Bush deserves a STRONG ticket down ballot. Vinroot boasts of riding GW's coattails, and now he will need us to help him.
Ballantine is a better choice, with ten years in the NC Senate, energy, and because he increased and held his Caucus together on the important votes while the House remained in neverending Chaos. And if Bill Cobey can be credited with holding "David Price's seat" in Congress briefly, then why doesn't he return to Congress?
Why did he decided to run less than a month after he was re-elected chairman of the NCGOP, and after he promised the White House he would maintain solid control of the Party through this election cycle?
The time is now. Ballantine for Governor.
Yes, he surely is!
Go Patrick Go!
That was the one thing that turned me against Cobey; he's NOT a man of his word.
When a "natural" is introduced to someone, does he look at them, smile, and say nice to meet you, or does he stick his hand in the person's direction without even looking, and then weeks later -- AFTER he finds out they're important -- comes around smiling and sucking up to them?
We've become pretty cynical so it's hard to believe PJB's optimism and charm is genuine
I sincerely doubt that it is.
A lot of people find him off-putting, and my theory is that he cares about Patrick's career first, anyone who can help further Patrick's career second, Patrick's family third, then Patrick's career again, Patrick becoming famous and powerful, and somewhere way down the list the state of NC. I can see how his obsession with himself could be to the NCGOP's advantage, but I prefer to support someone who doesn't split the world into "important people" and "little people".
Very important, but just as important to me is 10 RECENT years in the Senate. He's up to date on all of the BS that is going on currently in the Legislature in this state, as well as who the players are. I may be wrong but I don't believe that anyone else that is running has any recent experience.
I distributed door hangers for Ballantine last week. I wasn't crazy about doing it but felt it was my duty. Turns out, I had a great time. I talked to some really nice people working out in their yards yesterday.
All of them guaranteed me they were mostly definately voting for Patrick. Granted, I was preaching to the choir somewhat. The list I was given were all voters that have voted as R's in the past 3 elections. However, they do have quite a few candidates to choose from and all said Ballantine had their vote.
I even had a contractor working in a neighborhood where I was, strike up a conversation stating that he'd been studying the candidates and he felt PB was the best man for the job.
I've also had several friends ask me, because they know I keep up with this stuff, who to vote for. They don't usually bother to vote in primaries but felt that this one was SO importatant.
I'm also trying to do my part with my Ballantine yard signs and my BBB bumper stickers.
MKM
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