robert orr

My 48th birthday was on Monday, Feb. 25th. I work for a non-profit agency that gets most of its funding from the state, so budgets are tight. One year, we weren't able to give cost of living increases, so the board voted to give our birthdays as a personal holiday. What do you choose to do with a personal holiday? Get a manicure, a massage? Maybe some people would. Not me. I chose to haul my butt out of bed early, get stuck in construction, and fight traffic to get to a Forum on Mental Health so that I could listen to most of the candidates for Governor and Lt.Governor talk about the crisis in North Carolina's Mental Health System. As some of you might have realized by now, I am a political geek, but what you might not know is that I've had two family members struggle with mental illness and fall through cracks - one in NJ, and one in NC. So this was a very important day for me.

Former Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr is going to run for governor.
Via the AP:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice who has filed legal challenges to North Carolina's tax incentive programs and the state's new lottery since leaving the bench, said Tuesday he will run for governor in 2008.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Orr said in the next week he will file paperwork creating the campaign committee that will allow him to start raising money for a gubernatorial bid. Orr is the first Republican to formally announce his intention to replace Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, who is barred by state law from seeking a third consecutive term.

Some quick advice: with the Canes and all the transplants, skip Bob and go straight to Bobby.