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Sunday Roundup
posted at 2008-08-17 12:45 | Last modified 2008-08-17 18:38
What, again?
Barack's back in NC Tuesday night for an event at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. It’s open to the public, but tickets are limited. Details are in this release.
The Obama campaign is tying his visit to NC’s latest unemployment numbers, and granted, Friday’s report was pretty grim. Still, his appearance in NC in the busy week before the convention is...well, kind of surprising.
Recent polling numbers from SurveyUSA, Rasmussen, and the Charlotte Observer all show a close race, but they also all seem to point to an underlying advantage for McCain. Obama’s visit is a pretty clear message he thinks he can turn that around.
Veto watch
As of noon Sunday, Governor Mike Easley still has a handful of bills on his desk. One of them – the boat towing bill -- is widely expected to earn a big red stamp. If Easley's planning to veto, he'd better get a move on: at midnight tonight, anything he hasn’t vetoed becomes law.
Update: He made his veto deadline. More here.
Ink and pixels
The N&O’s Ryan Beckwith takes a look at the outside money pouring into NC's elections. Bonus: a list of the five top 527s involved, who’s behind them, and what they could spend.
The N&O's Rob Christensen gets called “sir” by the “new blood” NC Dems are sending to the DNC.
Charlotte’s Jack Betts sends a shout-out to Carter Wrenn and Gary Pearce over at Talking About Politics.
Just in time for tomorrow’s Utilities Commission hearing on a fee increase for Duke Energy: The AP reports Duke is facing lawsuits in Ohio for kickbacks to big corporate customers who (in turn?) dropped their opposition to rate hikes there.
Chowan County commissioners passed a nine-cent tax increase this week that’ll stave off the county’s impending bankruptcy. But the Virginian-Pilot’s Connie Sage says a lot of questions and tensions remain.
On the tube
I joined Rob Christensen, and NC Dem chair Jerry Meek on Headline Saturday yesterday with David Crabtree and John Drescher. Metro magazine publisher Bernie Reeves also weighed in. If you missed it, it’s here.
Edwards: the latest
Salon’s Justin Jouvenal has an in-depth profile of Rielle Hunter.
The NY Post’s Lorena Mongelli reports the mother of Edwards aide Andrew Young is joining the chorus of voices calling for a DNA test:
"Jacquelyn Aldridge made clear she deeply doubts her married son - Edwards campaign official Andrew Young - cheated on his beautiful wife and impregnated Edwards' paramour, Rielle Hunter, last year. "I wish, very deeply, that both of them - John Edwards and Rielle Hunter - would have the DNA test," Aldridge, 73, told The Post."
The Austin-American Statesman’s Jason Embry says Fred Baron is a big party honcho who sank $3.5M into a fund that “played a pivotal role in the recent mini-revival of the Texas Democratic Party.”
AJC’s Jim Tharpe reports a Democratic state lawmaker from Atlanta wants a refund for her campaign donation to Edwards.
Deceiver.com gets an email from Pigeon O’Brien.
Other interesting stuff
- State Rep. Dewey Hill opposed the lottery for a decade before he changed his mind in 2005. Good thing for his son - he just won a new truck, according to the Fay-O’s Paul Woolverton.
- Is the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart the most trusted man in America? The NYT’s Michiko Kakutani says maybe so.
- NBC-17’s Liz Kravitz reports yesterday’s first-ever pet-food pantry at the Wake SPCA was a big success.
- And what the heck is wrong with someone in Pinehurst?
Comments? Drop me a line.
