Document Actions
Tuesday WrapUp
posted at 2007-12-18 22:42 | Last modified 2007-12-18 22:50
Poll-sitters
A new poll from PPP shows the frontrunner for ’08 Gov is….well, nobody. PPP surveyed general election voters on hypothetical head-to-heads between the two top Dems and the three top Republicans - and they threw in Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, too.
NC may have a habit of electing Ds to the mansion, but you’d never know it from today’s results. Every matchup except one (Moore-Smith) fell within the 4.5 (times 2, remember) margin of error, which means it’s a statistical draw.
McCrory and Graham got higher numbers than Moore in their match-ups against him, although with the MOE, it’s a tie all 'round. Full results are here.
The biggest surprise was McCrory’s strong showing. Sure, he had Charlotte support, as you’d expect – but he had decent support in a lot of other places, too, even though he isn’t formally running yet. He actually matched or bettered the rest of the Republican field.
McCrory remains cagey about his plans. But when I talked to him today, he sure sounded like he was headed for the stump: “People are looking for leadership.”
He’s taking the holiday season to do a “gut check,” but he insists there’s plenty of time to throw his hat in. He's right insofar as the filing deadline isn't till February -- but the money race started a looooong time ago, and the real question is whether McCrory could catch up.
Save the Date
The House Select Ethics Panel on Thomas Wright (still waiting for an acronym, people – anyone?) has set January 3rd as the date for a probable cause hearing. It’s the first step in the process, kind of like a grand jury, according to Chair Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland) and Vice-Chair Paul Stam (R-Wake).
If the panel finds probable cause to look for illegal or unethical behavior (and with six indictments, it's hard to imagine they won't), the next step is an evidentiary hearing, which would yield some recommendation for House action (or not, as the case may be).
Some bites from Glazier:
- on the panel’s mission
- on the next step
- on why this matters
Trivia fix:
Today’s Wright Ethics meeting was a teleconference: Reps Edith Warren and Bill McGee attended via conference call. That’s a really rare occurrence at the legislature– in fact, one staffer says the last time it happened was during Rep. Ken Miller’s censure hearings, back in 1995.
Glazier said it was strictly for the sake of expediency: the committee wanted to get through the groundwork and set a schedule before the holidays, and this was the only way to make it happen. But he also promised Skip Stam today that there would be no teleconferencing allowed in evidentiary hearings.
Over at Dome, Ryan has more fun facts on the GA’s expulsion history and the Ethics Panel’s standards for the burden of proof.
Comments? Drop me a line.
