Myrick supporter's 'Super PAC' boosts her son's candidacy

In the lieutenant governor’s race, a super PAC funded by a supporter of U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick is sponsoring TV ads on behalf of her son, Republican Dan Forest.

Citizens for Accountability started just this month by Charlotte lawyer John Snyder. He funded it with $75,000 from Charlotte businessman David Longo.

This week the PAC spent $61,800 on cable TV ads across the state for Forest, who faces Democrat Linda Coleman.

Longo, president of Carolina Business Interiors, has given Myrick’s campaigns at least $10,800 since 2007. Longo could not be reached.

McCrory raises 3 times as much as Dalton

New reports in North Carolina's governor's race show Republican Pat McCrory has raised $11.6 million, nearly three times as much as Democrat Walter Dalton.

Dalton has raised $3.9 million.

McCrory was boosted by a strong 3rd Quarter, when he raised $5 million. He was boosted by high-profile fundraisers with the likes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Dalton raised $1.4 million in the quarter.

Dalton had $268,000 on hand on Oct. 20. McCrory had $1.7 million.

Polls have shown McCrory with a double-digit lead in the race to succeed Democrat Bev Perdue.

Obama backer Rogers raising money for Tillis

As co-chair the Charlotte Host Committee, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers was in some ways a face of the Democratic National Convention. He also arranged Duke's $10 million line of credit and gave $10,000 to Barack Obama's campaign.

Now he's helping one of North Carolina's top Republicans.

Rogers is hosting a fundraiser at his Eastover home for House Speaker Thom Tillis of Cornelius.

Tillis expects to use the money to help elect other Republicans to the state House, where he's trying to build a "super-majority."

N.C. Republicans set to ride mcCrory's coattails

Two weeks before the election, Republicans are confident of Pat McCrory's chances to be elected North Carolina's governor. So confident they're already trying to ride his coattails.

McCrory has made robo-calls on behalf of Dan Forest, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor. Forest is the son of one of McCrory's predecessors as Charlotte mayor, now-U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick.

The call, sponsored by the state Republican Party, has gone to voters across the state (and at least one from out of state whose name is still on the N.C. voting rolls.)

"Please give me the lieutenant governor I need to get the job done," McCrory says in the call. "Dan and I have a great working relationship and we share a similar vision for getting North Carolina back to work."

Dan Forest brings undercard race to Charlotte

The race for lieutenant governor rarely gets much attention in North Carolina. In a year when the state that is a presidential battleground and has an open gubernatorial seat, this year is no exception.

But the low profile race would be interesting for a couple reasons.

Republican Dan Forest, 45, is the son of U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte. He spent part of his growing up years in Charlotte public schools.

After graduating from high school in Columbia and starting college at USC, he returned to Charlotte and graduated from UNCC. He's now a retired architect in Raleigh. If former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory wins the gubernatorial race, the state's two top jobs would be in the hands of Republicans with Charlotte ties.

Forest's opponent, Democrat Linda Coleman, 63, would be the first African American woman to hold statewide office in North Carolina.

On Monday Forest spoke to the N.C. League of Municipalities at the Charlotte Convention Center. Coleman, citing scheduling conflicts, did not attend. She'll return Thursday night for a fundraiser in Dilworth.

Forest told the municipal leaders he would focus on tax and regulatory reform as well as education.

But while the lieutenant governor presides over the N.C. Senate, he or she has little concrete power. Forest said he would be "a loud voice for education" and work with what he expects to be GOP majorities in the legislature and a Republican in the governor's office.

"Part of the lieutenant governor's role is to make the governor look good," he said.

Waiting for Obama? Don't count on it

When the threat of rain forced Democratic National Convention organizers to move President Obama's acceptance speech from Bank of America Stadium to Time Warner Cable Arena last month, 65,000 people lost a chance to see history.

Campaign officials promised to try to arrange an event at which the president would meet with the ticket holders before the election.

With less than four weeks left, time is running out. And Thursday, campaign officials wouldn't commit to a presidential visit.

"We don't have any announcements," Obama communications director Brent Colburn said in a conference call with N.C. reporters. "Especially with 26 days we’re fluid about scheduling. There will be more travel to the state, but no specific announcements to make at this time."

Obama national field director Jeremy Bird said the campaign has committed to "principal visits." That's generally understood to include the candidates or their wives.

 

Obama campaign touts N.C. registration numbers

In a memo this morning, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is touting absentee voting and registration numbers in North Carolina and six other battlegrounds.

It says:

-- Republicans are leading in absentee ballot requests, but not by as much as in 2008. This year they lead by 34,000. Four years ago it was 39,000.

-- Democratic registrations have outpaced Republicans by more than 29,000 in the last three months.

-- Latino registration is up 55 percent in four years, to 106,000. Democratic registration among Latinos outnumbers Republicans by nearly 2-1.

The state board of elections could not immediately verify the numbers.

Black caucus backs Democrats -- except one

Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Black Political Caucus has endorsed a long list of Democratic candidates from president to county register of deeds. Every Democrat, that is, but one: U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell.

Kissell has angered some African Americans this year for several reasons. He not only voted against President Obama's health care law but voted to repeal it, voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt and said he wouldn't endorse Obama of attend his convention in nearby Charlotte.

Kissell's own 8th District Black Caucus withdrew its support and many of its members are supporting an African American write-in. The two Democrats face Republican Richard Hudson.

A spokeswoman for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Caucus said Kissell just didn't get the votes required for an endorsement.

Poll: Obama ahead among N.C. registered voters

A new N.C. poll conducted by High Point University found that President Barack Obama has a slight lead among the state's registered voters.

The survey, released Thursday, found that 46 percent of N.C. registered voters said they would now vote for Democrat Obama. Those favoring Republican Mitt Romney: 43 percent.

That's a reversal of the previous High Point University Poll, in early September, which found Romney ahead of Obama, 46 percent to 43 percent.

In the new poll, participants were also asked whether they approved or disapproved of the way Obama is handling his job as president. Forty-nine percent said they approved; 47 said they disapproved.

The margin of error in the latest poll: 4.7 percent.

-- Tim Funk  

McCrory 101: Chris Christie's homework

So what does a candidate give a Big Name surrogate who comes to town to campaign for him? How about a crash course on his campaign?

That's what Pat McCrory's campaign is doing for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie, fresh off his star turn as keynoter at the Republican convention, comes to the Charlotte area Thursday for a pair of events. He'll headline an afternoon rally in Salisbury and attend a Charlotte fundraiser for McCrory that night.

According to a draft "talking points" memo, the McCrory campaign wants to make sure Christie knows:

-- McCrory was Charlotte's longest-serving mayor "helped build the arena where the Democrats are holding.... their convention."

--The man who "worked with leaders of both parties to turn Charlotte into an economic powerhouse" wants to reform taxes and reduce regulations to bring jobs.

-- His opponent, Democrat Walter Dalton, "doesn't believe NC's government is broken.... how can he be part of the solution?" Dalton, it says, raised taxes as a state senator and would raise the sales tax. (Dalton has said he would not include a sales tax hike in his first budget, but didn't rule out an eventual hike.)

McCrory's campaign also would offer Christie advice on tax returns. Dalton has pushed for McCrory to release his.

"Pat McCrory's opponent is trying to distract from his record ... by demanding Pat release his personal income tax returns," the memo said. "The only taxes voters are concerned about are the ones Walter Dalton wants to increase on them if elected."

Obama strategist: 'Why pull out?'

A day after Mitt Romney's pollster suggested the Obama campaign is setting the stage for a pullout from North Carolina, an Obama campaign official shot down the idea.

"Put yourself in our shoes," said the official, who asked not to be identified. "Why would you ever pull out of a state where you're tied? A state that is an absolute must-win for Romney."

A poll this week by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm out of Raleigh, showed the race essentially tied in North Carolina. Other polls have given Romney a slight edge.

The Democratic convention helped the Obama campaign sign up thousands of volunteers who put in more than 50,000 hours of volunteer work, the official said. It has 50 field offices in the state. He expects those efforts to pay off.

"We know exactly what we need to do to be successful," he said. "And we have goals every single day to make sure we stay on that roadmap."

Gallup: DNC helped Obama more than RNC helped Romney

New Gallup numbers out today show that President Obama got more support out of last week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte than Republican Mitt Romney did from his convention in Tampa.

According to Gallup, 43 percent of Americans said they were more likely to support Obama because of the convention. That compares to 40 percent who said they were more likely to vote for Romney after the GOP convention.

Thirty-eight percent said they were less likely to vote for each man after their respective conventions.

Democrats shouldn't be too smug.

In 1988, 56 percent of Americans said they were more likely to vote for Democrat Michael Dukakis after his convention. Only 43 percent said the GOP convention made them more likely to vote for Republican George H.W. Bush. Remember who won that race.

Speaking of numbers, Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm out of Raleigh, is out with a new poll that shows Obama leading Romney 49 percent to 48 percent in North Carolina. That's consistent with other PPP surveys, but contrary to polls by Elon University and others that show Romney with a slight edge in the state.

PPP did find that 57 percent of N.C. voters say the convention was a good thing for the state.

The lonely demonstrator

Outside the Charlotte Convention Center, on a street crowded with Democratic delegates, reporters and button vendors, Lew Powell is waging a quiet, one-man campaign.

In his floppy hat and sunglasses, he stands their holding a hand-stenciled sign that says, "Exonerate Edenton 7."

What?

The Edenton 7 were North Carolinians associated with a day care center called Little Rascals in Edenton. They were prosecuted in the early 1990s over sexual abuse charges in a case that was highly publicized. Some charges were dropped, convictions were later overturned.

What concerns Powell, a former editorial page staffer at the Observer, is that the seven have never been pardoned or officially exonerated. He's taken on the cause virtually single-handedly, even starting a web site about the case.

"The in justice of it just got me," he said, holding his sign on the street. The way the system bullied people who were completely innocent... and no one will admit they were wrong."

So Powell will carry his sign during the convention, hoping to raise at least a little awareness of the case.

"I'm almost 68 years old," he says, "And this is the first time I've ever held a protest sign."

Paul Ryan going to Greenville Monday

While Democrats continue gathering in Charlotte Monday, half of the Republican ticket will be on the other side of North Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP's vice presidential nominee, will visit East Carolina University in Greenville, 230 miles away. It will be his third trip to the state since Mitt Romney named him to the ticket last month.

"We're going to make sure the people of North Carolina and America have a response to the fantasyland world that the Democrats will try to portray in Charlotte," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told USA Today.

Spratt, Ryan: Mutual regard has limits

Toward the end of the last meeting of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission in December 2010, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan asked for the floor.

"I think this is the last time I'll be sitting at a table with my friend, John Spratt," he announced. "And you're a great guy, John, and it's been a real privilege to serve in Congress with you. We haven't agreed on everything but you have my respect, and I just want to say thank you for what you've done for our country."

Spratt, a Democrat, represented South Carolina's 5th District for 28 years and chaired the House Budget Committee before losing re-election in 2010. He was replaced on the budget panel by Ryan, who had been ranking minority member.

Spratt calls the Wisconsin congressman "bright, energetic and affable."

"I would regard him as a friend (but) one I disagree with vigorusly," Spratt says. "I was surprised to see (Mitt) Romney pick him because he brings not just Paul Ryan, who is personally attractive, but all his ideology on board."

Spratt was a major player in the negotiations that led to the 1997 balanced budget amendment, the first in generations and still the last. He worked with then budget chairman John Kasich, an Ohio Republican. He says Kasich did something Ryan would not -- compromise.

"He wants to do it his way," Spratt said of Ryan. "He doesn't want anything that can be construed as additional taxes or revenues in the package."

But Spratt, who had a reputation as a moderate, says Ryan's selection means a debate over substance.

"That will be the thing you hear about for the next two months," he says. "They've certainly brought front and center the key fiscal issues of our time: What would you do with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid....

"In the final analysis, the biggest concern is whether Ryan can make the bipartisan moves necessary to put the budget on an even keel. In this respect his vote against Simpson-Bowles is not encouraging, it certainly does not cast him in the role of a bridge builder."

Paul Ryan surprises Sunday morning worshipers at St. Gabe's

Greeting early morning worshippers at St. Gabriel's Catholic Chuch Sunday, Rev. Andre Mangango noticed the strangers with dark glasses and ear phones.

Then he realized the reason they were there: A Secret Service contingent escorting Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's newly named running mate.

Ryan went to the south Charlotte church before he and Romney headed off by bus for rallies in Mooresville and High Point.

In a blog post this afternoon, diosesan spokesman David Hains quoted Mangango:

"He walked up to me and said, 'I am Representative Paul Ryan and this is my son.' I welcomed him to the church, congratulated him on being chosen and told him that we would be praying for him."

Ryan is the first Catholic on GOP ticket since William Miller in 1964. According to the National Journal, his selection also marks the first time that a presidential ticket will not include at least one Protestant. With Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, it also guarantees the first vice presidential debate between two Catholics.

St. Gabe's was still buzzing about the appearance at the 10:45 mass. Parishioner Simon Tsai was in the congregation when the priest anounced that the early service had a surprise visitor.

"The whole parish just applauded sponstaneously," Tsai recalled. "You can tell the enthusiasm.”


Tsai, a businessman, was impressed himself.


"It surprises me that he actually went to mass, especially when it's not a photo op," he said. "It's not just for show.”

Mitt Romney stopping in Mooresville Sunday

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will begin a day-long bus tour of North Carolina Sunday in Mooresville.

The candidate is expected to make other stops in the Piedmont Sunday though no details were available.

It will be the first of two Romney visits to the Charlotte area next week. He's scheduled to appear at a fundraiser Wednesday at Charlotte's Duke Mansion.

GOP chairman calls in cavalry for NC

Who says North Carolina isn't a battleground state?

Republican national Chairman Reince Priebus will appear at GOP headquarters in Cornelius Saturday to announce a coordinated effort in North Carolina with party officials from Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.

The effort is "sure to go a long way toward turning the state red in November," Priebus said in a statement.

The occasion is part of what Republicans are calling their second "Super Saturday," a sort of dress-rehearsal for this fall's get-out-the-vote efforts.

RNC spokeswoman Rachel Adams said hundreds of volunteers across the state, operating from 20 GOP "Victory" offices, will reach thousands of voters through direct visits and phone calls.

The Obama campaign says it has more than 30 offices in North Carolina.

Man who seconded Barack Obama's 2008 nomination stumps in NC for Mitt Romney

When Artur Davis stumped for Democrat Larry Kissell in Charlotte in 2006, he was a rising Democratic star. The Alabama congressman was vice chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. An African American with a law degree from Harvard, he was an up-and-comer.

In 2008, he was the first congressman outside Illinois to publicly back then-Sen. Barack Obama, who would become a confidant. He went on to second the nomination of his fellow Harvard law graduate at the Democratic convention in Denver.

So how did the 44-year-old Davis come to campaign in North Carolina Thursday for Republican Mitt Romney?

After losing a 2010 bid for governor of Alabama, Davis moved to suburban Washington to practice law. Last May, he announced he was switching parties.

"I made a decision that on every single issue we’re debating in the country right now, what Republicans were saying made more sense to me than what Democrats were saying," he said by phone during a swing through eastern North Carolina.

"I saw a Democratic solution that always amounted to 'Let's take more money from people that are successful and grow the footprint of government... That became the two-pronged, all-purpose solution to every economic problem."

When running for governor in 2010, Davis was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against President Obama's health care bill. He joined 33 other Democrats, including Kissell.

Coincidently Thursday, the N.C. Democratic Party launched a new anti-Romney web site: MittAmerica.com.

The flip side for Larry Kissell?

Democratic U.S. Rep Larry Kissell has been getting hammered from both sides lately.

On the one hand, Republicans running for his seat have bashed him. So have African American activists in his 8th District, who went so far last week as to announce a write-in candidate to replace him.

But Kissell also claims the support of a group unlikely to support many Democratic candidates. The campaign features them on a web site called conservativesforkissell.com.

It includes testimonials from registered Republicans like Roddey Dowd Jr., the Charlotte industrialist who recently hosted Mitt Romney at his Charlotte Pipe and Foundry plant. "Principle always trumps convenience," Down says in a blurb on the site.

The list includes CEOs and business owners. And people like Timothy Rowe, a tax accountant from Wingate.

“I am 70 years old and have been a registered Republican my entire life and voted in every election," he says on the site. "Congressman Kissell is the first Democrat I would vote for and support financially.... I appreciate his commitment to our armed services families."

With a lot of Republicans gunning for him, and many Democrats opposing him, Kissell needs all the help he can get.