NC 2016 Gubernatorial Discussion Thread

[Miles]

NC's 'Hilariously incompetent' Governor in 15 quotes.

[Miles]

PPP has McCrory up to 42/47. A bit higher approval than I'd like, but I guess it could be 'worse'!

The General Assembly is at 20/53, which has been pretty much par for the course. Democrats keep a slight 45/43 generic ballot edge.

[Miles]

FWIW, Democracy NC has a study on the changing electorate of NC.

The electorate is getting less white and more Independent.

Since 1993, registration has gone from 60D/32R/8I to 43D/31R/26I. The good news for Democrats is that the share of white voters has dropped to 71% from 81%.

[Miles]

Civitas has slighty rosier numbers for McCrory than PPP; they have his approval at 45/45.

[henster]

Looks like it was too early to write off McCrory, obviously the legislature not being in session has helped him let's see what happens when it comes back.

[TarHeelDem]

He may not go down as a total disaster but he's not getting reelected. NC is quite possibly going for the Democrats presidentially in 2016 and I think that will be reflected in the gubernatorial race, especially if you've got a Roy Cooper running against McCrory.

[TX Conservative Dem]

With Hillary as the Democratic nominee for President in 2016, would she help Cooper's odds in the governor's race against McCrory or hurt him ?

It's too early to write off McCrory just yet. Have to see how the next legislative session turns out.

[Dancing with Myself]

How he does in the next year will make or break him. The State congress will take a majority of the blame next year if things don't go well, and McCory will have to step his game up the final two years.

I always liked the guy but his decisions have been out there so far.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Dems win the state house though, or at least the Republicans keep their edge but have to shape themselves to the middle. I can dream anyways!

The only real statewide Democrat I like is Cooper. Have been a fan of his since I was a kid.

[illegaloperation]

McCrory's approval rating is going up mostly as a result of the general assembly not being in session. There's little doubt that his approval rating will drop again once the general assembly reconvene and push through more far right wing legislations.

The percent of registered Democrat is dropping, but I am guessing that's because of Jessecrats either dying out or leaving the Democratic Party.

[JacobNC]

Lieutenant Gov. Dan Forest is pretending to be relevant, how cute:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/25/3485327/dan-forest-looks-to-make-good.html

He says he has a plan to raise teacher's salaries to the highest in the nation; I skimmed the article twice, but couldn't find what it was.  I assume it involves partial or full privatization of the state school system.

[TX Conservative Dem]

North Carolina should consider making the Lieutenant Governor's office more influential and powerful like we do here in my home state of Texas.

[Miles]

North Carolina should consider making the Lieutenant Governor's office more influential and powerful like we do here in my home state of Texas.

NC has always had one of the weakest executive branches in the country, similar to the TX Governor.

[Miles]

This goes with the NC demographics study I posted. In two counties, Currituck and Watauga, a majority of voters are Independent. Independents outnumber at least 1 of the major parties in 42 other counties.

[Miles]

This isn't really relevant to this race, but here's a good WATN on Gonva Perdue:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I'm glad she's still working on education issues. When she did a semester visiting at Harvard, one of my Crimson friends got to meet her; she did an event with the NC students there.

[Miles]

Bill Moyers has a documentary on the upheaval in NC these past few years. If you have about 45 minutes, its pretty good.

[Zioneer]

Bill Moyers has a documentary on the upheaval in NC these past few years. If you have about 45 minutes, its pretty good.

Link doesn't work.

[Miles]

Bill Moyers has a documentary on the upheaval in NC these past few years. If you have about 45 minutes, its pretty good.

Link doesn't work.

Here we go.

[StateBoiler]

This goes with the NC demographics study I posted. In two counties, Currituck and Watauga, a majority of voters are Independent. Independents outnumber at least 1 of the major parties in 42 other counties.

Neither are major places in the state. Currituck is up in the isolated northeastern corner and Watauga is Boone in the northwestern corner surrounded by mountains. The three major areas are Charlotte, the Triad, and the Triangle.

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**** that bitch. She can go rot in hell. For people that are upset McCrory got elected, it's entirely down to people like her and Mike Easley because "General Democrat" has always beaten "General Republican" in North Carolina since the end of Reconstruction.

Perdue is from my hometown of New Bern and it absolutely appalls me she got to governor. She ran on she was good for education when she intentionally killed educational opportunities for kids in her county that if they pursued it they were ensured a middle-class living without even leaving the area. We're not talking a handful of jobs, we're talking more than a thousand. Now there's a shortage of people to work at a major government employer in the area and none of the kids know how to do that work because Perdue actively sought to kill technical education programs. She actually went to my school I was attending when she was a state senator to push this.

This in a part of the state that's not prosperous to begin with and where the people in Raleigh appear to not care about the living situation of anyone east of 95.  

Eastern North Carolina is suffering, and it is because of people like Beverly Perdue.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

How's that rebrand going?

[Miles]

Thanks, StateBoiler. Its always good to have local perspective on this stuff!

How's that rebrand going?

I'll have a more substantive post on that in a while

From the signs so far, though, McCrory isn't likely to make an substantial changes to the general tone/image/style of his tenure.

[Miles]

One of the candidates I'll be most excited to support in 2016 is State Sen. Josh Stein, who's running for AG.

In a floor speech during this last session, he ripped the Republicans to shreds over the voter ID bill.

[Miles]

PPP's latest is a mixed bag.

McCrory is back down to 37/47 approvals.

The Assembly is at 17/53, which has been more or less constant.

The good news for Republicans is that they're now leading 43-42 on the generic Assembly ballot, despite their 35/51 approvals.

[TX Conservative Dem]

So in other words, the General Assembly stays in Republican hands this year

[Miles]

So in other words, the General Assembly stays in Republican hands thisyear decade

[TX Conservative Dem]

If then-State Treasurer Richard Moore (D) had been the Dems nominee for NC Governor in 2008 and not Perdue, would he have done better ?