Republican Civil War

According to Joe Killian in the Greensboro News&Record, Conservatives for Guilford County, a tea party-inspired political action committee, has been "a divisive presence in Guilford County Republican circles for several years. The group has supported primary challengers against sitting Republicans that it said aren’t real conservatives, butted heads with Republican Party leadership, and traded barbs with Republican stalwarts like Greensboro City Councilman Tony Wilkins, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes and former Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow."

Therefore, Conservatives for Guilford County is holding its own candidate forum on Monday to which not-conservative-enough Republicans running for U.S. Senate or U.S. House in the 6th Congressional District are either not invited or were invited but declined to come.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, the leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, ain't coming. Neither is the leading candidate for Congress, Phil Berger Jr., who's running to replace Congressman Howard Coble along with a sizable collection of ... also rans.

Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny, Berger's most credible rival for the 6th Congressional seat nomination, was blunt in his refusal to attend the Tea Party dust-up: “That group has made it a point that they don’t support me. Some of their members say and write bad things about me constantly. So even if I didn’t have another event, I doubt my team would recommend I attend anyway.”

Jesse Helms's old operative Carter Wrenn is working for Bruce VonCannon, another rival to Phil Berger. VonCannon feigned ignorance about the candidate forum: I know nothing about it, VonCannon claimed, which means, we guess, that he ain't courting the Far Right (which also raises the question about what sort of campaign advice he's getting from Wrenn, who is fully capable of surprising us on a fairly regular basis).

Wrenn told Joe Killian that he thought a primary death-match between the Tea Party and the Republican establishment was salutary for the future of the party.

Maybe. Whether a chair-flinging, bare-knuckled, eye-gouging, balls-to-the-walls primary helps or hurts November turn-out for Republicans remains to be seen. And whether Carter Wrenn thought it was a good idea or not, he's got it coming straight at him.

Fun times!

Things Just Got Better for Thom Tillis

Another day, another conservative (RWNJ) challenger for Thom Tillis in next year's Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Bill Flynn has joined a growing congregation of very conservative rivals for Tillis, all of whom help guarantee that Tillis wins the primary going away.

Flynn is a right-wing radio gabber with "The Morning Wake Up Show" on AM 980 ("The Eagle") out of Winston-Salem.

Flynn ran from out of district in the 2012 Republican primary for the Sixth Congressional District seat against Howard Coble. Coble's safe seat had been redistricted, and he had toyed with the idea of not running again. But Coble did run, and he easily won his primary against two challengers, one of whom was Flynn. During that primary campaign, Flynn bragged that he was "the firebrand" that the Sixth District needed in Washington. (Yeah, that's the ticket! Burn the place down. That'll fix everything.)

Coble has recently announced that he will not run for another term, but a Congressional seat has grown too small for an ego of Flynn's size. He wants to be a U.S. Senator.

How They Voted in the NC Delegation

On the Billionaire Coup Act of 2011, a.k.a., Debt Ceiling and Deficit Reduction Surrender:

Democrat Heath Shuler voted yes
Republican Howard Coble voted yes
Republican Renee Ellmers voted yes
Republican Virginia Foxx voted yes
Republican Patrick McHenry voted yes
Republican Sue Myrick voted yes

Republican Walter Jones voted no
Democrat G.K. Butterfield voted no
Democrat Larry Kissell voted no
"Democrat" Mike McIntyre voted no
Democrat Brad Miller voted no
Democrat David Price voted no
Democrat Mel Watt voted no

Foxx Voted Against Another Jobs Bill

On July 21st, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010 on a vote of 378 to 43. Guess which tiny minority Congresswoman Virginia Foxx allied herself to?

The bill was specifically designed to ease tariff restrictions on North Carolina textile makers. That sector of our industrial economy has lost some 163,000 jobs since 2005, and about one in five of those losses occurred in North Carolina. Many provisions in this law were written by Republicans Howard Coble and Richard Burr of North Carolina, specifically to help the textile jobs situation in the state. And according to this McClatchy article, textile companies did immediately begin rehiring laid-off workers based on it.

Most Republican lawmakers supported the bill. All members of the North Carolina delegation of both parties voted for it ... except for Madam Foxx.

A major piece (but little noticed) piece of legislation that helped the unemployment problem in North Carolina, and out of some warped sense of conservative ideology, Madam Foxx voted (again) against her own constituents.

Totally in keeping with Foxx's grades on help for the middle-class:

2009 F
2008 F
2007 F
2006 F
2005 F

North Carolina's Blue Dogs

On passage of H.R.3590 (219-212), North Carolina Democrats Mike McIntyre, Heath Shuler, and Larry Kissell all voted with the Republicans. Those no votes won't earn them any support from Republicans come November, while driving away their own base.

Kissell, particularly, can ill afford losing his base ... unless, of course, the Republicans actually nominate Machine Gun Tim D'Annunzio to run against him.

Shuler ... who knows? Haven't seen any Republican challenger among those running in the primary who looks like a winner.

McIntyre ... he's been voting with the Republicans so long he's barely indistinguishable from ... Howard Coble.

Elections Filing Update

Filing to run on the ballots of 2010 ended today at noon. Billy Kennedy does not have a Democratic primary, but Virginia Foxx has one on the Republican side.

Someone else filed to run in the Republican primary against Little Patty McHenry in the NC-10 ... David Michael Boldon. Two will be vying on the Democratic side to oppose the eventual winner of the Republican contest (who will be McHenry, we've said all along). We'll be trying to find out about these Democrats: Jeff Gregory and Anne Fischer.

Heath Shuler in the NC-11 has a Democratic primary opponent -- Aixa Wilson. Whole bunch of panic-stricken extras running in the 11th Dist. in the Republican primary.

Previously noted: Larry Kissell has a primary in the NC-8.

What's going on among Republicans in the NC-6? Poor old thousand-year-old Howard Coble has five primary opponents, which, as in the 10th, means he wins.

Another Tea Partier to Challenge an NC Republican Incumbent

Howard Coble, who has been in the U.S. Congress since 1984, currently representing the NC-6, is going to be challenged in the Republican primary by Cathy Brewer Hinson, who, according to Mark Binker, does not self-identify with the tea party movement but who by all other appearances is very much a part of the tea party movement. Her great qualification appears to be that she's prayed about it.

That makes two Republican conservative incumbents in North Carolina (that we know of) who've attracted tea party oppo.

Foxx Will Attend Republican Convention

...according to Lisa Zagaroli, while Liddy Dole, Sue Myrick, Robin Hayes, and Howard Coble are staying far away.

Perhaps the Madam figgers she'll have a cleared aisle for getting El Presidente in one of her arm-locks, in order to swap saliva with him, since so many of her fellow Republicans have decided to avoid him. At least in public.

FOOTNOTE
Yes, this is what we're talking about.