Friday, May 09, 2014
Thursday, May 08, 2014
Bad Juju
Jonathan Jordan's wife Tracie came in dead last, in a field of five candidates, in the race for a district court judgeship (Dist. 23):
| Robert (Rob) Crumpton | 5,038 | 26.96 % | |
| Donna L. Shumate | 4,569 | 24.45 % | |
| Fred Bauer | 3,783 | 20.25 % | |
| Regina Gillespie | 3,427 | 18.34 % | |
| Tracie McMillan Jordan | 1,869 | 10.00 % |
Ouch.
Mr. Jordan faces his own Waterloo in November with a candidate who's out-raising him and definitely out-campaigning him.
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Primary Campaign Hangover
2. The State Board of Elections website last night was error-ridden and prone to crashing. News outlets in major cities were reduced to calling local county boards of elections to get accurate polling results. Heck of a job, SBOE.
3. In the 24th Prosecutorial District Attorney primary, also-ran third-place finished Nathan Miller (who got 19% of the vote district-wide) told the Watauga Democrat, "I'm disappointed that Watauga County Republicans did not show up at the polls." Well, they did show up in what may well turn out to be record numbers, eclipsing the Republican primary turnout of 2010. But unaffiliated voters also showed up, and the majority of them chose a Republican ballot to vote:
Republican ballots pulled: 3,832 (59.12%)
Democratic ballots pulled: 2,547 (39.29%)
Unaffiliated ballots pulled: 81 (1.25%)
Libertarian ballots pulled: 22 (.34%)
We don't yet have the total number of unaffiliated voters who showed up, but anecdotally we can conclude that they were not coming in to vote for Mr. Miller. Although he carried Watauga by -- what? -- some 46%, more votes were cast against him in Watauga than for him. #NathanMillerismFail
4. Before we leave the statistics directly above, and even without knowing how many total unaffiliated voters went to the polls in this primary, one thing is pretty clear: the local Republican Party has a big problem with independent voters. Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson won Watauga County easily, Nathan Miller lost, and three progressive School Board candidates were in the top four finishers in that race. Unaffiliated voters don't tend to like the direction that the local GOP has been heading, especially perhaps in the matters of cronyism, voting rights, and the mismanagement of the local Board of Elections. #FourEggersismFail
5. The turnout of Appalachian State University students was de minimis. The local conservatives dependably blame student voters for their electoral failures, but they can't hide behind that lame excuse in this present case. #AnneMarieYatesismFail
Tuesday, May 06, 2014
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.
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.
Who's Being Eliminated from School Board Eight?
Meat Camp could change things, but looks as though Tiffany Christian and Josh Kanoy will be knocked off the School Board ballot for November.
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.
Watauga County may end up being irrelevant in that race.
Early School Board Numbers
Jay Fenwick, Ronny Holste, and Kurt Michael leading in Early Voting by substantial margins.
The three conservative school board candidates trailing Henries.
The three conservative school board candidates trailing Henries.
Ole Dragon Breath
I'm loving me some Rand Paul, from yesterday in Charlotte, talking about Republican senatorial contender Greg Brannon:
North Carolina needs “a dragon slayer, and that dragon slayer is Dr. Greg Brannon,” Paul told 250 people downtown near the NASCAR Hall of Fame, suggesting Brannon’s strong conservative beliefs would shake up the status quo in Washington. “I’m here today because Greg Brannon is a true believer and we need true believers in Congress,” Paul added.
Meanwhile, turnout in this primary suggests that people who truly believe in dragons (and fairies and the Lollipop Guild) are perhaps not as numerous as one might hope.
Monday, May 05, 2014
The 'Establishment' Strikes Back?
North Carolina Republicans appear poised to reject Tea Party Republicanism tomorrow and nominate Thom Tillis, the epitome of "country-club Republicanism," to run for Senate.
The pursuit of money and influence, as opposed to the pursuit of purified conservative values, appears to be the new tide across North Carolina.
We'll know if that tide is rolling in Watauga County if former County Commissioner Jimmy Hodges defeats former County Commissioner Allen Trivette for the District 5 commissioner seat. Mr. Trivette's campaign signs signal that he's the real conservative, not to mention a "life-long Republican," something the once-upon-a-time Democrat Mr. Hodges can't claim. But Mr. Hodges will be more appealing to big-money developers and to the Chamber of Commerce.
The last time Mr. Hodges was serving as a county commissioner, a decade ago, he became momentarily an advocate for county zoning authority. He did so only when it became safe to do so, that is, once the zoning of "high-impact" land-uses had been decisively defeated. He was the lone vote on the Board of Commissioners to employ zoning authority to regulate polluting industries.
Hmmm. Soft on zoning, eh? You'd never find Mr. Trivette waffling on that issue.
"Establishment" Republicans have far more flexibility when it comes to "pragmatic" values. If the trend holds tomorrow, perhaps the Republican establishment will decide to start rebuilding public education, the edifice they've been busily bombing into rubble.
The pursuit of money and influence, as opposed to the pursuit of purified conservative values, appears to be the new tide across North Carolina.
We'll know if that tide is rolling in Watauga County if former County Commissioner Jimmy Hodges defeats former County Commissioner Allen Trivette for the District 5 commissioner seat. Mr. Trivette's campaign signs signal that he's the real conservative, not to mention a "life-long Republican," something the once-upon-a-time Democrat Mr. Hodges can't claim. But Mr. Hodges will be more appealing to big-money developers and to the Chamber of Commerce.
The last time Mr. Hodges was serving as a county commissioner, a decade ago, he became momentarily an advocate for county zoning authority. He did so only when it became safe to do so, that is, once the zoning of "high-impact" land-uses had been decisively defeated. He was the lone vote on the Board of Commissioners to employ zoning authority to regulate polluting industries.
Hmmm. Soft on zoning, eh? You'd never find Mr. Trivette waffling on that issue.
"Establishment" Republicans have far more flexibility when it comes to "pragmatic" values. If the trend holds tomorrow, perhaps the Republican establishment will decide to start rebuilding public education, the edifice they've been busily bombing into rubble.
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