Remarkable Numbers

Bald Mountain precinct still outstanding, but it's clear that at least 1,000 more Republican ballots were voted today than Democratic in Watauga, yet the three progressive School Board candidates finished first, second, and fourth among the six who are surviving the primary.

Those numbers have got to put some people back on their heels ... like me!

In other similarly amazing news, Supreme Court Associate Justice Robin Hudson appears to be leading state-wide in that outside-money-bashing judicial race.

Karen Lerch is leading Matt Klutz by a very slim margin in that Republican County Commission primary, which says something about the weakness in the mainstream Republican Party in Watauga.

On the other hand, Miller is leading Springer in Watauga in the district attorney race, but Springer appears to be way ahead in the whole district.

Seth Banks!

Republican District Attorney candidate Seth Banks currently in the lead, but too few precincts reporting across the 24th Prosecutorial District to establish a trend.

Watauga County may end up being irrelevant in that race.

At the Republican District Attorney Forum Last Night

Both Nathan Miller of Watauga County and Seth Banks of Burnsville treated Watauga Countian Britt Springer like the incumbent in the candidate forum last night hosted by the local bar association. They treated Springer like the incumbent because she's been a prosecutor in the DA's office for more than a decade and has vastly more experience with trial work than either Miller or Banks.

Springer is a very tall person. The two men in comparison seemed like small-breed dogs trying to bring down an elephant. They didn't make much headway.

The fiercest feist dog was Nathan Miller. He listed as his "seminal experience" in preparing for this race his last four years on the Watauga County Commission. During the last two years, he's been chair of the County Commission. He said he was distinguished in that role by making so many people mad at him, proving in his own mind that he's some kind of paragon of fixed values. Others might suggest that he's been a paragon of vindictiveness, prepared to take revenge, belittle people he considers beneath himself, mean to a fault, and assertive of a rank partisanship not prone to take prisoners.

A question, "Do you believe in capital punishment?" brought from Miller a "yes! but it's not carried out swiftly enough." Then he quickly added that he wasn't talking about hauling a prisoner from the courtroom outside and stringing him up, which made me think that was precisely what he was talking about. It fits his profile.

Miller also said he wasn't going to leave his conservative Christian beliefs outside the courtroom if he becomes District Attorney. He said that in response to a question, "What place does religion have in the courtroom?" What exactly Miller meant to imply by that was very unclear ... that a member of the Muslim religion better watch out?

Near the end of the forum the candidates were allowed to ask each other a question. Both Banks and Miller went after Springer with aggressive questions about her record as an assistant district attorney, questions which Springer struggled with a little in Banks's case and easily batted down in Miller's. When it came her turn to ask a question, Springer declined to do so, saying the exercise seemed to breed mainly hostility. Then she delivered the Line of the Evening: "I would just like to thank Seth Banks for running a clean campaign."

OMG!

What that comment implied about Miller was left hanging, unaddressed. Perhaps others in that courtroom knew what was being referred to. Perhaps others were as much in the dark as I was. But I suspect Nathan Miller knew what she was referencing.

District Attorney Candidate Forum

Should be interesting:

What: DA Candidate Forum
Location: Watauga County Courthouse (Superior Courtroom)
Date: Monday April 28, 2014
Time: 5:30-7:30pm

Inside the Watauga GOP

The local Republican Party held an event last night at the Fairway Cafe on the Boone golf course, and Jimmy Hodges stood up and said he was changing his party affiliation and will run for County Commissioner in 2014 from Nathan Miller's Meat Camp district.

Jimmy Hodges was a registered Democrat when he sat on the County Commission from 1996-2004. He retired from the real estate business in 2009.

Our snitch said that all three Republican Boone Town Council candidates -- Mark Templeton, Matt Long, and James Milner -- were there, and they spoke. Candidate for Boone Mayor John Mena was not there, even though he's been publicly endorsed by the party chair Anne Marie Yates. County Commissioner David Blust announced that he will be running for reelection in 2014. Current County Commission Chair Nathan Miller spoke about his candidacy for District Attorney. According to my source, "He trashed the local DA's office." Britt Springer, a Republican member of that office and also a candidate for DA, was there, and at first party chair Anne Marie Yates was not going to allow her to speak, but Springer insisted. Snitch sez, "Springer knocked it out of the park."

No word on how many ASU College Republicans made it out to the golf course, but the local party was offering free tickets to any member of that club who wrote an email to the State Board of Elections supporting the selection of Legends nightclub for the Boone 2 polling place. Caroline Hartman is the president of the ASU College Republicans, and she's a good soldier:

Meanwhile, Republican insurgents are calling for the removal of Anne Marie Yates from her position as chair of the local party and spilling certain beans about a now notorious August 29 meeting (about which we had already heard from party insurgent and perennial pariah, Deborah Greene).

Wilson Slaps at Miller

District Attorney Jerry Wilson publicly (very!) endorsed Britt Springer to follow him into that office with a statement obviously aimed at County Commission Chair Nathan Miller, who had already announced he would run for the office.

"I strongly support and endorse Mrs. Springer as my successor because our community cannot afford an inexperienced District Attorney," Wilson said in a written statement, signaling what he thought of Nathan Miller without actually naming him. The rest of Wilson's statement gets more specific about how he thinks Miller isn't the man for the job.

Thunderdome! Two Republicans enter. One Republican leaves.