Free Republic

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? Here’s the latest:

Raleigh, NC. Today, results were released showing Patrick Ballantine easily winning a recent GOPUSA on-line poll of the 2004 race for Governor. Ballantine received 49.4% of votes in the poll. The results can be viewed seen here. "I'm very proud of the support my campaign has received this early in the race. This shows that the hard work we re putting in by traveling the state and meeting with voters is paying off, and I hope that we'll see this same result in the GOP Primary next May," Ballantine said. In an interesting twist, GOPUSA North Carolina Editor Robynn Rutledge...

Fellow Republicans: Thank you for your posts regarding my campaign. I will try to check the forum as often as possible and reply when I can. As you can imagine, I have a very busy schedule with the campaign. I decided to run for Governor because something must be done to address our state's fiscal crisis. If we continue to borrow to spend more than we can afford, we will end up like California. I’m told their deficit is so big that if they fired every state employee (Teachers, Highway Patrol, Prison Guards, etc…) they would still have a deficit!...

People Who Want Better Government announces that at the 7 p.m., August 26th, 2003, joint meeting of Sweet Union Republican Women’s Club and Mecklenburg Evening Republican Women’s Club, at the Captain’s Galley Restaurant on Hwy 74 in Matthews, Senator Fern Shubert will officially announce she will seek the office of Governor of North Carolina. Senator Fern Shubert of Marshville (Union County), NC, will seek to be the first female Governor of North Carolina, focusing her campaign on jobs, education, and transportation. Sen. Shubert believes she is the candidate that can do the best job in bringing jobs to this state...

The Associated PressRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms has endorsed Bill Cobey for governor, calling the former state Republican Party head "an honorable, capable and vigorous leader."In a letter to "Republican Friends Everywhere," Helms credited Cobey with helping in the GOP's rise in North Carolina."I have seen how tirelessly Bill Cobey has worked for sound, conservative Republican principles in our state - and across America. He is a fine, capable and decent family man with a head full of common sense," Helms wrote.Cobey, 64, announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination for governor last week. Other Republicans...

Appearing together on television for the first time in the governor's race, Republicans Patrick Ballantine and Bill Cobey faulted Easley for not working effectively with the legislature, for not cutting the size of government and for not doing more to attract new industries and jobs.

Memo to (NCGOP) Executive and Central Committee From: Thomas Farr [mailto:taf@ral.haynsworth.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 3:52 PM Steve: I am writing you as lead counsel for the Chair of the Republican Party and other plaintiffs in the legislative re-districting case of Stephenson v. Bartlett. I urgently request that this memo be conveyed to all members of the NCGOP central and executive committees. To date, we have prevailed in all major rulings in this case including two decisions on the merits by the North Carolina Supreme Court. Because the courts ordered the state to use constitutional and fair districting plans...

This is an email alert received today from the NC GOP: (Raleigh) - Bill Cobey, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, today released to the N.C. media the text of a letter from Al Cardenas, the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party: September 12, 2002 Dear Bill: It is my understanding that a fellow by the name of Scott Falmlen is now in North Carolina running the Democrat Party and doing his best to help Erskine Bowles. I wanted to make sure you know a bit about his background so you can be prepared for some of the most...