Rep. Patrick McHenry (R) pre-empted an embarrassing cash-on-hand tie with his unknown general election opponent late last month, loaning his campaign $175,000 on June 30, the last day of the quarter.

He might not be running for election this cycle, but Richard Burr is already getting a look at the work he has ahead of him for his 2010 re-election bid. A recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling showed that Burr is not only enjoying devastatingly low approval ratings (27%), most voters(46%) don't really know how they feel about him.

Wow. He's been in office four years and he hasn't made enough of an impact on the voters in North Carolina for them to know how they feel about him. Ouch.

Will Pat McCrory benefit from corporate money spent on his behalf by the Republican Governor's Association? Chances are, if they can get away with spending it, McCrory isn't going to turn it down.

(with apologies to Louis Malle)

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of lunch with Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Michael Munger. Since he openly invited me to that lunch here on BlueNC, and I accepted, I reckon he won't mind if I share some of my thoughts on the experience with my fellow wild-eyed progressives.

If you were one of the Granville County voters who had trouble voting in the May Primary because of registration issues - please read.

Regarding the Blue NC Post

"The fix is in already!!"
by Jim Sheaves on Tue, 05/06/2008

I was just contacted by a good friend in Granville County about what is turning into, at best a problem, but most likely IMO, a concerted effort...

What happened? Registered voters went to the polls in Granville County and their names were NOT in the poll books.

Of all the assaults on decency perpetrated by Republicans in the name of country, none compares to their blithe use of torture to extract information from god-forsaken prisoners. In a chilling article in the August edition of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens writes about his decision to choose to experience waterboarding in an undisclosed location in western North Carolina. Toward the end of the article, he says:

I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

Well, this is the week when the ElectriCities board meets in Raleigh. Friday at 9 am. In all likelihood, board members will gloss over the damning record of management incompetence, and once again assure customers they're doing all they can in a tough environment. Hey, everybody makes multi-million-dollar mistakes, right? Poor CEO, it's not really his fault.

Let's say you're a big deal mayor in a company town who's looking for campaign advisers in your bid for governor? Would you turn to these guys?.

A good story by Rob Christensen with a great quote from Ferrell Blount: "If McCain has to play a serious game in North Carolina," said Blount, "then something is going on that is not very good for John McCain." (Note to Blount: The thing that is going on that is not very good for John McCain is John McCain.)

Some say the military is a model of racial equity. Not.

Even good ol' boy insiders sometimes get it right when it comes to the North Carolina Senate's shady operations.

Time to get ready for Shock Week.

At some point this video will come in handy.

hat tip nctodc via twitter