BlueNC Women

What do these NC General Assembly members have in common?

Lucy Allen, Julia Boseman, Linda Coleman, Janet Cowell, Margaret Dickson, Katie Dorsett, Susan Fisher, Alice Graham Underhill, Pricey Harrison, Maggie Jeffus

Yep. They're all women. Very good!!! :)
Yep. They're all relative newcomers to the GA. You know your stuff!!
Yep. They're all well respected progressive Legislators.

But there's something else that links them.

The NC General Assembly presented two bills to the Governor's office yesterday, 03 April 2007. They are important for everyone, though unlike other Legislative actions, one wishes that the special interest group these laws serve were much smaller than it is.

In 2006, Henderson County Democrats, on their way to total defeat, trimmed 5000 votes off their usual Congressional vote deficit. They so drastically decreased Charles Taylor's lead in this heavily Republican County, their numbers are widely cited as the key to Heath Shuler's impressive victory.

In 2002 and 2004, the Democratic congressional candidate received 35 and 38 percent of the Henderson County vote. In 2006, Henderson Democrats delivered a comparatively whopping 45% to Shuler.

Eva talks about the keys to her county's success, what she calls "becoming a value-added party."

Wednesday at noon, we will have Polk County Democratic Party Chair Margaret Johnson live-blogging on BlueNC as part of our Women on Wednesdays series. A profile with videos and text will be posted at 9 a.m.

Please use this thread to discuss questions for her. If you can't be with us Wednesday, leave your questions here and we'll see that they get asked.

To get you thinkin', here's the gist of her story:

Two elections after instituting an extensive strategic planning process, Polk County Democrats went from a dismal electoral record (only a clerk of court in office) to two Democratic County Commissioners and the Sheriff. For Congress, they turned a 2004 700-vote deficit into a 2006 1200-vote margin of victory for Heath Shuler.

To add some excitement to their election season, the Democratic sheriff's candidate was "investigated" on 20-year-old charges by the incumbent Republican sheriff. Even though he was indicted during the campaign, the tactic so angered residents the Democrat won anyway. (During the campaign he was offered a plea bargain if he would withdraw from the race.)

Evades question on alternatives,

health consequences, lack of public input;

Calls the Woodfin power plant "a good decision"

{Carol agreed to the interview as part of my "Women in Power" series for BlueNC's Women on Wednesdays. The videos were uploaded Saturday. On Sunday, she called to ask me to "pull" the ones referring to the Progress Energy Woodfin plant. I offered to correct any inaccuracies either in print or by video. She has not responded.}

In her courthouse office last Tuesday, Buncombe County Commission Vice Chair Carol Peterson insisted she and fellow commissioners did not meet secretly with Progress Energy before unanimously approving a $72 million diesel-fired power plant.

Click on the video below the fold to hear her comments.

This all started when I receive a summons for jury duty a few weeks before I am to report. On the back it says to be sure to call after 6:00 on the evening before I am to report just in case they don’t need me. I called right at 6:00 and the message is that all jurors are to report the next day. Well, that could be wrong, so I called again in an hour and got the same message. Of course, I have to try one more time just to be sure. I’m not sure what this says about me. Almost everybody that has been summoned to jury duty assured me that I would probably sit there all day and never get called. That’s okay with me, so I take a book.

Find out what happened on the flip...

Outnumbered by Republicans, North Carolina's Watauga County Democratic Party swept the ticket in 2006. Watauga was the only 5th-district county where Roger Sharpe defeated incumbent Representative Virginia Foxx. The irony: Representative Foxx calls Watauga home.

County Chair Diane Tilson attributes her party's success to many things. But she is most proud, not of their victories at the polls, but of their efforts to improve their community. Click on the one-minute video below to hear her explain how she wants her party's actions to speak louder than words:

This is the sweet face who usually gets me out of bed every morning.

But, once out of bed, stronger medicine is required. My habit for the last several years has been to drink many warm cups of coffee while doing morning chores; dishes, reading, lunches, writing, taking to school, commenting, getting ready for work, etc. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that when one so set in her ways as I is denied a morning habit, the world -- in that home, anyway -- goes still on its axis. It is Tragedy. There is no other way to describe it. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth. It was a rip in my personal space/time continuum, that moment of realization; today, Leslie H, you will not, can not, have that wonderful creation from Nature’s God, caffeine.

I had so many story ideas running through my head to introduce today's writers. I've had a sneak preview at four of the articles and they speak for themselves. There is nothing I need to add. I will have a post for tonight. You can use this open thread while you wait for our first post at 10:00am.

Thought you might enjoy these:

Do you think this woman was heckled or jeered? Of course, why do you think there was a crowd of men around her? Do you think they were the welcoming committee?

In this petty little place deep in my heart I'm hoping their dinners were cold when they got home to them.

As many of you have heard or read via Pam's House Blend, cskendrick, Anglico, Matt Stoller, Screwy Hoolie and Matt Hill Comer, in January there was a gathering in Raleigh at the Democratic Party Headquarters of a small group of North Carolina Bloggers. We met with NCDP Chair, Jerry Meek, Schorr Johnson(NCDP Communications Director), Matt Stoller(MyDD.com), Tim Cullen (Dodd for President), NC Senator Jim Harrell, III and Congressman Brad Miller to discuss the role of blogs in politics, how we do or might influence news in the corporate media and how we can help further the cause of progressive politics in North Carolina.

At one point during the meeting, Matt Stoller asked why there are so few minorities using blogs to reach their audiences. He posed the question to the group, but directed it particularly to Pam Spaulding, the only minority in the room and one of only three women. Pam responded that he was asking the wrong person. Pam is a professional. Her African American peers have computers and use the internet. The conversation hovered around the men at the front of the room and I don't believe the question was ever fully answered, if answered at all.

Seeking a solution to what many see as a problem is not as simple as you might think. There is no band-aid fix as people like Francis Holland would have you believe. Simply adding a link to your blogroll or a face to your front page isn't going to provide long-term solutions.

Find out more below the fold....