Reading Thom Tillis

The contest for the new Republican Speaker of the NC House was mainly between a far-right conservative, Paul "Skip" Stam, and a smooth corporate type from Mecklenburg County, Thom Tillis. Tillis won. The secret vote was said (by Tillis, incidentally) to have been very close.

We come on these sentences in the coverage of his election this a.m. in the Charlotte Observer:

"...Tillis' selection as speaker may mean that some social issues won't have the same priority they might have under Stam who, for instance, is a dogged abortion opponent. Wake County government temporarily removed abortion coverage from its health plan earlier this year after he questioned it.

"Tillis, a 50-year-old management consultant who has worked for Fortune 500 companies, is congenial and polished, and he has the reputation for focusing on the big priorities...."

Hmmm. Do "big priorities" include an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state Constitution? Dunno, but the article also quotes -- or paraphrases "political consultant" John Davis:

It's important to keep the party committed to social issues, Davis said, but if Republicans are seen as too preoccupied with those issues, they lose the independent voters they need to win elections.