Josh Stein Needs To Get Out More

 

Headline in today's News and Observer: "Outspoken vs. Unknown: What Some Rural Voters Think of NC Gubernatorial Candidates." Guess who's the unknown one. Reading the article one realizes how counter-productive Stein's very limited campaign-in-public strategy has been. He only attends carefully controlled events and fundraisers where the crowds are mainly friendly or at least house-broken.

Those of us who follow North Carolina government obsessively know our Attorney General Josh Stein well. Stein led other states' attorneys general in establishing a framework for exacting payment from the nation's drug companies and distributors for the opioid epidemic. He was the first attorney general in the country to sue e-cigarette manufacturer Juul for unlawful marketing to minors. He's been a champion for consumers and a hawk pursuing price-gougers, especially like the tow company in Charlotte that hiked prices and fees during COVID. He has at times refused to defend the Republican General Assembly's unconstitutional laws, and he's been a champion of women's rights.

But as the McClatchy reporters found out, too many people have no idea who he is. Meanwhile his opponent for governor, the robust Mark Robinson, struts his bully stuff in all kinds of rural churches, which delights the vengeful Christians in the pews. Maybe Josh lacks "the common touch" and that's why his handlers keep him sequestered, but he's either gonna have to get out more or his tv budget is going to have to lower Robinson's approval rating much more definitively.