Abortion moving on stage in N.C. Senate race

It didn't take some Republican U.S. Senate candidates long to criticize Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's decision not to appeal a federal judge's decision throwing out a requirement that women seeking abortions be shown a narrated ultrasound just before having the procedure.

Thom Tillis and Mark Harris responded quickly, asking McCrory to reverse his decision and appeal. Other GOP Senate candidates agreed.

All this signals that abortion is likely to be an issue in the race all year, just as it promises to be in other states.

Last week a New York Times story called it an "unexpectedly animating issue" in elections across the country. Republicans are using it to rev up their base. Democrats think it will fire up women.

The judge's decision involved the so-called Women's Right to Know law passed in 2011 and passed again over then-Gov. Bev Perdue's veto. And Judge Catherine Eagle's ruling puts it smack on the agenda in 2014.

"There's no question the ultrasound provision is a critical part of that law," says Harris. "We know that it gives critical information to women. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to resist the best information a woman could receive before making such a major life decision.”

Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan will be happy to take up that fight.

Says her spokeswoman Sadie Weiner: "Every Republican candidate in this race has advocated to restrict women's access to care, and it's disappointing they want to spend more time on this out-of-touch, irresponsible effort rather than focusing on jobs and the economy like middle-class families need them to."

NAACP's Barber not apologizing for 'ventriloquist's dummy' remark

The quote ran near the end of a story on The State newspaper of Columbia about Rev. William Barber's weekend appearance in South Carolina:

“A ventriloquist can always find a good dummy,” Barber told The State. “The extreme right wing down here (in South Carolina) finds a black guy to be senator and claims he’s the first black senator since Reconstruction and then he goes to Washington, D.C., and articulates the agenda of the Tea Party.”

The comment, aimed at U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's only African American Republican, generated national attention.

Scott told Fox News' Megyn Kelly Tuesday that he was the target of “philosophical bigotry.”

“What we’re hearing is baseless rhetoric about the same old things that have not worked so far," Scott said. “We’ve had a 50-year war led by the government on poverty, and it hasn’t taken people out...  In this country, conservatives, free market capitalism, produces greater success than the government can ever do.”

Barber's remark was picked up across the country. The N.C. GOP released samples of that reaction in a news release headlined, "America meets Rev. William Barber."

Barber made the comments in Columbia when he spoke against what he called the dangers of Republican "right-wing extremism" on issues such as voting, health care, environment and education. He defended his comment before an appearance Tuesday night in Charlotte.

"We believe leaders should not be echoes of the voice of extremism," he said. "The indignation should not be so much about the language. The indignation should be about the actions."

Jesse Jackson to eulogize Franklin McCain

A half century ago the Rev. Jesse Jackson was a classmate of Franklin McCain at N.C. A&T University in Greensboro. On Friday, Jackson will be in Charlotte to remember McCain at his funeral.

McCain, one of the four students whose 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro lunch counter started a movement,  died last week at 73.

"Frank McCain was such a dear friend, a classmate and such a force for change in the America we now live in," Jackson told me today. "God assigned Frank and the other three to history. In so many ways Frank was a cut above the rest of us. He was smarter, more mature, more focused. He was a trailblazer."

 

Jackson will speak at McCain's 2 p.m. service at Charlotte's Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

 

On Thursday morning, McCain will be remembered at a memorial service on the A&T campus.

 

 

 

 

 

GOP Senate hopefuls say 'no' on jobless vote

Six Republicans joined 54 Democratic U.S. senators Tuesday in clearing the way for a vote to extend federal unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans. The 60-37 procedural vote allows final consideration of the extension.

Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who has sparred with North Carolina Republican leaders over the issues this week, voted yes.

Sen. Richard Burr voted no. So would at least three of the five GOP hopefuls who hope to take on Hagan.

Jordan Shaw, a spokesman for House Speaker Thom Tillis, said only that the candidate would have voted against Tuesday's measure.

Mark Harris, a Charlotte pastor, issued a statement: "This is the latest example of the Washington DC establishment supporting policy that is forcing our Nation to pay bills on a credit card that is already maxed out," he said. "This extension of unemployment benefits unfortunately is not paid for and does not include anything to help put people back to work."

Bill Flynn, a Forsyth County broadcaster, said there's a better way to help the jobless.

"We need look no further than to the State of North Carolina to see how to effectively lower unemployment rates in the long term," he said. "Extending  unemployment benefits and increasing the already  burdensome deficits is not the answer. Compassion means rapidly building a better environment for jobs to grow. Specifically, lower taxes and less regulation ... "

Greg Brannon and Heather Grant could not be reached.

House Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans say they want Congress to come up with spending cuts to offset the $6.5 billion cost of extending benefits.

New RNC ads target Hagan

The Republican National Committee today becomes the latest group to blast Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan over the Affordable Care Act.

The RNC launches radio ads in North Carolina and other congressional battlegrounds today accusing Hagan and other Democratic lawmakers of assuring voters they could keep their current health plans under the law known as Obamacare.

"They lied," an announcer says in the ad.

In a statement, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said, "These Democrats repeated the lie that people could keep their healthcare plans under ObamaCare. Cancelled plans and increased premiums prove they cannot be trusted to keep their promises.”

The radio ads are airing in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh and the Greensboro/Winston-Salem market in addition to the one in Grenville/Spartanburg South Carolina.

Similar ads are being run in the home states of seven other senators and four members of the House.

A GOP official declined to say how much the party is spending.

Two 12th District hopefuls get boost

We're still waiting for an announcement of U.S. Rep. Mel Watt's official resignation from Congress, but that hasn't stopped those running for his seat from trying to get a jump on their competitors.

State Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro has picked up two big endorsements.

One is from Emily's List, a national organization that helps fill the coffers of pro-abortion rights, Democratic women. And the retired teacher also is backed by the North Carolina Association of Educators.

And Rep. Marcus Brandon of High Point has won the endorsement of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. The group could supply Brandon, who already led his rivals in fundraising at the end of September, with a national fundraising base.

Brandon, the only openly gay N.C. legislator, would be the first gay Congressman from a Southern state and the first gay African-American.

Six Democrats have announced for Watt's 12th District seat. Watt's resignation will trigger the scheduling of a special election by Gov. Pat McCrory.

GOP Senate hopefuls not crazy about budget deal

Most of North Carolina's Republican U.S. Senate candidates oppose the budget deal hammered out between leaders of the GOP-controlled House and Senate Democratic leaders.

Not even House Speaker Thom Tillis, who's gotten money from the PACs from House leaders including Speaker John Boehner.

The House was voting late Thursday on the bill,  which would reverse some of last year's sequestration cuts. The New York Times reported that spending on defense and domestic programs would rise from $967 billion this fiscal year to over $1 trillion. However over 10 years deficits would go down, due in part to higher fees on air travel.

The bi-partisan compromise would forestall a second government shutdown next year.

Tillis wasn't available, but spokesman Jordan Shaw said he opposes it. "A trillion dollars in spending and debt is not the way to fix Washington's problems," Shaw said.

Other candidates panned the budget compromise.

"This budget deal is terrible," Cary physician Greg Brannon said in a statement. "It's yet another example of the lack of leadership in Washington. This deal won't reduce our $17 trillion debt by one cent, instead it continues to mortgage our children's future by replacing previously agreed to spending cuts with fairy tale cuts in the future."

Bill Flynn, a Forsyth County broadcaster, called his representative, Republican Virginia Foxx, and urged her to oppose the deal.

"Raising the deficit now only to cut it years down the road doesn't really address the issue of overspending  and federal growth that is hurting taxpayers now," he said.

Mark Harris, a Charlotte pastor, said before he can support the deal he wants to know if the defense cuts called for in the sequester would hurt the nation's national security.

"This bill currently being touted as a compromise shouldn't be viewed as a potential victory," he said in a statement, "rather the first of many steps that are desperately needed to fix the out-of-control spending that is pushing our debt and deficit through the roof."

Update 5:20: Heather Grant of Wilkes County said the deal doesn't go far enough.

"All the cuts come from projected spending in years 9 and 10. It does increase the DOD budget, but at the same time cuts military pay for 2014," she said in an email. "To me, this in and of itself is unacceptable. We cannot continue to punish those who volunteer to defend our way of life while refusing to reign in parts of government that are not even authorized under our Constitution."

Pro-Kay Hagan PAC attacks Thom Tillis

A PAC aligned with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attacking Republican Thom Tillis in a new ad -- and Tillis is making the most of it.

The Senate Majority PAC is spending a reported $750,000 on an ad defending Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan on health care while attacking Tillis, one of five announced GOP candidates for her seat.

The PAC is run by former staffers of the Nevada senator. It's the second pro-Hagan ad they've run in North Carolina.

In it they defend Hagan's support of the Affordable Care Act, without ever referring to the act or to the name its commonly known by, Obamacare. Instead they tout her support of legislation that "forced insurance companies to cover cancer and other pre-existing conditions."

 Tillis, it says, "sides with insurance companies."

Tillis tweeted that "It is a badge of honor to be attacked by Harry Reid -- I'll work night and day to beat Kay Hagan and overthrow Reid's majority."

He also emailed a fundraising message to supporters.

"Clearly, North Carolina is ground zero in the effort to get rid of the liberal Reid majority that is keeping Obamacare in place and keeping our country on a path to fiscal disaster," he wrote.

'Nuclear' vote may clear obstacles for Watt

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mel Watt is confident he’ll be confirmed to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency now that Senate Democrats changed the chamber’s filibuster rule.

“I would say that certainly substantially improves the chances,” he says.

President Barack Obama nominated Watt last spring to head the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last month Senate Republicans blocked his confirmation.

But Thursday Senate Democrats triggered the so-called nuclear option. They changed the rules so that most judicial and executive-office appointments can move to confirmation votes with support from a simple majority of senators, not the 60-vote super-majority that had been in effect.

The Senate could vote on Watt’s nomination when it returns to session in early December.

Watt continues to be optimistic.

“I’ve known it’s not been about me,” he says. “Every once in a while they'll make some noises about qualifications. But no one felt they were saying that with a straight face. This has been about politics, and a lot of it has been directed at this president.

“I’ve never taken this personally I’ve been patient ... And I'm still patient.”

GOP spotlight turns to ... Gastonia

Gastonia will be ground zero this week on North Carolina's U.S. Senate race and the Republican fight against Obamacare.

Thursday night, four of the five announced Republican candidates vying for Democrat Kay Hagan's U.S. Senate seat will take part in a town hall forum sponsored by The Tea party of Greater Gaston County.

It will likely mark the first time the four -- Cary physician Greg Brannon, Charlotte pastor Mark Harris, Wilkes County nurse Heather Grant and Forsyth County broadcaster Bill Flynn will be at the same event. It's unclear whether House Speaker Thom Tillis was invited.

Earlier that day Tillis will be at a Charlotte fundraiser with Karl Rove, former advisor to President George W. Bush. The two will headline a noon fundraiser at Bank of America Stadium. There's no love lost between Rove and the tea party.

Earlier this year he created a group called the Conservative Victory Project to try to ensure the party nominate candidates who can win the general election. Rove and other Republicans are trying to avoid situations like those in Missouri and Indiana last year where tea party-backed candidates lost.

And Friday, the House Oversight Committee, with Chairman Darrell Issa will hold a field hearing at the Gaston County Courthouse. The hearing will be the committee's first anywhere on Obamacare, The title of the hearing: "Obamacare Implementation: Sticker Shock of Increased Premiums for Healthcare Coverage."

UPDATE 3:30. A Tillis spokesman said he was invited to the tea party gathering but was unable to make it.  

Tea Party suicide mission in N.C.?

The tea party has named its top 2014 target in North Carolina: U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger.

This week the conservative Charlotte Republican got a letter from the Virginia-based Tea Party Leadership Fund PAC expressing its dismay over his vote last month to end the government shutdown.

Pittenger was one of 87 House Republicans (including two others from North Carolina) who joined House Democrats in voting for the measure that ended the shutdown. Tea party allies in Congress opposed the measure, holding out for changes in Obamacare and concessions in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

"You have failed to honor your commitment to your constituents and the values they entrusted you to uphold," wrote Dan Backer, the group's treasurer and general counsel. "All leaders must face and accept accountability for their choices. You chose to disregard your pledge to these American voters and now must be held accountable."

 

Pittenger included the message in a fund-raising letter to supporters.

 

"I understand and appreciate their concerns regarding Obamacare, I voted against it 15 times," Pittenger told the Observer. "The Democrats just didn't want to cooperate. I just didn't feel like what they (the tea party) were pursuing made sense. I'm fully committed to dismantling Obamacare ...

 

"What I think they didn't understand, maybe still don't, is the political process. They only had 14 votes in the Senate. There's no way it would pass."

 

But Pittenger said he's still concerned about a tea party challenge in an election when turnout is generally down. "Any off-year election is volatile," he said.

 

Though Pittenger is a first-term incumbent, any challenger would face an uphill battle. In 2012, Pittenger, a real estate investor, spent $2.3 million of his own money.

 

 Barker said his organization could muster a national fund-raising base for the right candidate. But he said the election's not about money.

 

"At the end of the day, (Pittenger) voted to continue funding the government at these unsustainable current levels, to increase the debt limit without a single concession, and to fund Obamacare," Barker said. 

 

"Pittenger and the surrender caucus folded like a cheap deck of cards."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Early votes are in and the winner is....

Democrat Patrick Cannon is likely to have a sizable head start heading into Tuesday's mayoral election in Charlotte.

In Mecklenburg County, 22,319 people cast early ballots through Saturday, more than in 2011 but fewer than 2009.

The vast majority of voters were from Charlotte. Of those, 12,528 were Democrats, according to the board of elections. There were 5,556 Republicans and 4,217 Unaffiliated voters who cast ballots.

Russell Peck, campaign manager for Republican mayoral candidate Edwin Peacock, said a GOP analysis of city voters showed the party's share was up 2.5 percent from 2011 while Democrats' share was down 4.8 percent. But that doesn't diminish Democrats' lead going into Election Day.

Since North Carolina started early voting a decade ago, Democrats have outperformed Republicans. That has been true in state races and in Charlotte’s last two city races.

While Democrats won the early vote in state races – including the last two presidential elections – Republicans won the Election Day vote. However that hasn’t been the case in Charlotte, where Foxx won both the early vote and Election Day vote.

Peck knows Cannon will have an edge going into Tuesday. How does he plan to overcome it?

"Have a great turnout tomorrow," he said.

N.C. shutdown costs: Not as much as Democrats claimed

It was a screeching headline on the press release Tuesday from The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Tuesday: "Thom Tillis, Mark Harris, Greg Brannon & Heather Grant’s Reckless & Irresponsible Government Shutdown Cost North Carolina’s Economy Up To $340 Million."

Like its Republican counterpart, the DSCC takes every opportunity to put its opponents in a bad light. And it's true that Tillis, Harris, Brannon and Grant -- the announced GOP Senate candidates -- have said they supported efforts that led to a shutdown. And most if not all opposed this month's compromise that ended it.

But $340 million? According to John Mousseau of Moody's Analytics, the real figure is $95 million.

Why the discrepancy?

According to DSCC spokesman Matt Canter, the larger figure was based on national information provided by Moody's, based on  figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and used by Pew researchers and published by outlets such as USA Today.

But when I called Moody's, Mousseau said the shutdown cost North Carolina $95 million. Still a lot of money, certainly, but not $340 million. Apparently that state information wasn't available to the DSCC at the time it sent its release, which was reported on at least one N.C. media site.

The DSCC used the best information it had at the time.

"What both numbers show is that the GOP shutdown caused unnecessary damage to North Carolina's economy and should never have happened," Canter said.

Another roadblock for Mel Watt?

It was way back in May that President Obama nominated U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat, to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The nomination has been  in limbo ever since, and now may be delayed even further.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said on Fox News Monday that he plans to hold up all Senate appointments until the administration answers more questions about the Benghazi attack in September 2012.

"I'm going to block every appointment in the United States Senate until the survivors (of the attack in Benghazi)  are being made available to the Congress," Graham told Fox. "I'm tired of hearing from people on TV and reading about stuff in books."

Speculation is that Watt, first elected in 1992, won't run for re-election even if he doesn't get the housing post. He only raised $10 last quarter. Several Democrats are already campaigning for the seat.

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest calls Charlotte mayor's race an 'uphill battle'

North Carolina Lt. Gov.  Dan Forest acknowledged Monday that fellow Republican Edwin Peacock faces an uphill battle for mayor of Charlotte. But, he added, so did his mother a quarter-century ago.

Forest was in Charlotte to rally the troops at GOP headquarters, where he was joined by Peacock and state party chairman Claude Pope.

"Some of our races are uphill battles," he told about two dozen party officials and campaign volunteers, a clear reference to the mayoral race in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.

But Forest said his mother, Sue Myrick, also faced an uphill battle when she ran for mayor in 1987. On the eve of the election, a poll showed her trailing incumbent Democrat Harvey Gantt by nine percentage points. She won the first of two terms, and later went to Congress.

Forest urged Republicans to put in the same grassroots effort that helped his mother win.

"She had no chance but she pulled it out," he said. "I think that's a template that really works."

With two weeks to go, Peacock plans to ramp up his campaign against Democrat Patrick Cannon. His TV ads start Wednesday. And in that night's Observer debate, he plans to draw some clear distinctions with Cannon.

Peacock chose not to draw distinctions with Forest. The state Democratic Party Monday issued a release calling Forest North Carolina's "most far-right statewide office holder." Forest, a favorite of many tea-partiers, has taken conservative positions. For example, he even broke with fellow Republican, Gov. Pat McCrory, by opposing Common Core education standards.

Peacock has prided himself on being a moderate Republican. He said he agrees with Forest on the basics, like limited government and the need for jobs. But, he added, "Dan and I don't agree on everything."

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Forest, by the way, wasn't the only second-generation Charlotte Republican at Monday's GOP mini-rally. Peacock's father Ed was on the city council and ran for mayor in 1983, the same year Myrick was first elected to council. And Mindy Moorman, a GOP field organizer in Charlotte, is the daughter of former council member and county commissioner Rod Autry.

GOP Senate candidates against budget deal

It looks like North Carolina’s Republican U.S. Senate primary will be fought on the right -- and set up an even clearer contrast to Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.

The three major GOP Senate candidates all would have voted 'no' on last week’s Congressional measure to end the federal shutdown and avert a deadline to raise the debt limit.

The Senate passed the measure 81-18 on Wednesday. Both N.C. senators -- Republican Richard Burr and Hagan -- voted in the majority. (Only three of the state's nine GOP House members, Robert Pittenger, Howard Coble and Patrick McHenry, voted for the bill, which passed the House on the strength of Democratic votes.) 

But three Republicans vying for Hagan’s seat opposed the bill.

“Kicking the can down the road does not solve any problems, it only creates a bigger mess,” House Speaker Thom Tillis said in a statement. “The President and Congress owe the American people a fiscally responsible budget focused on ensuring a sound economy and a safe America ... I could not have supported this legislation.”

Greg Brannon, a Cary physician, was endorsed by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on the day of the vote. Paul was a vocal opponent of the compromise.

“The deal ... gives President Obama carte blanche authority to increase our national debt and does nothing to address out-of-control federal spending,” Brannon said. “If elected, I will not support a debt ceiling increase unless it includes real spending reform such as the elimination of our economy's biggest threat, Obamacare.”

And Charlotte pastor Mark Harris blamed Democrats for what he called the “Obama/Reid” shutdown, a reference to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

“I could not support a bill to increase the debt limit without a plan to reduce government spending, and lower taxes,” Harris said. “We need real leadership in D.C. and it’s time North Carolina elected a senator that isn't so beholden to the president and the national Democrats.”

Ten dollars explains the 12th District money race

At least four Democrats are already running hard for the Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte, whose nomination to head the federal Housing Finance Agency still awaits Senate confirmation.

But there's a growing sense that Watt, first elected in 19992, won't run even if he doesn't get the federal post.

New reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show Watt raised just $10 in the 3rd quarter. That's not even lunch money in Washington.

By contrast, four people who want his seat have been busy raising money. Leading the field: two-term state Rep. Marcus Brandon of High Point. He raised $90,500 during the quarter and more than $143,000 for the campaign.

Brandon, the legislature's only openly gay member, appears to have a national fundraising base with contributions from New York to California.

Behind him was George Battle III, general counsel for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board. He's raised a total of $109,620.

State Rep. Alma Adams, an 11-term House member from Greensboro, has raised $89,493. And state Sen. Malcolm Graham of Charlotte has raised $57,150.

The 12th District stretches from Charlotte to Greensboro.

Other Democrats who have talked about running for the seat, including Reps. Beverly Earle and Rodney Moore of Charlotte, have yet to file reports.
 

Santorum on debt ceiling and N.C. Senate race

Former -- and possible future -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is glad he's not in Washington these days. But he's still taking a hardline position on the debt ceiling.

The former Pennsylvania senator was in Charlotte Tuesday to promote a new film and headline a fundraiser for Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. That was a day before today's apparent last-minute deal to raise the ceiling and avoid Thursday's deadline.

In an interview, Santorum joined the ranks of Republicans like Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina who say fears of default are overblown.

This month Burr told Slate that "The federal government still has about 85 percent of the revenues we spend coming in, and all they have to do is prioritize that they're gonna pay debt service first."

"There's no reason to default," Santorum told us. "There's plenty of money to pay our debt service....The idea that we're going to default is ridiculous." 

He also dismissed the damage caused by the weeks-old government shutdown. "I don't know to many people facing cataclysmic changes in their lives," he said.

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We asked Santorum is he planned to make an endorsement in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race. We haven't been the only people wondering.

He said he got a call from House Speaker Thom Tillis this month asking if he was endorsing one of Tillis' opponents. Santorum has spoken at Charlotte's First Baptist Church at the invitation of pastor Mark Harris. Harris, like Tillis, is now running for the Senate.

"My general inclination is not to get involved with what a appears to be a good field of candidates," Santorum said.

Rielle Hunter: 'I'm sorry ... I was selfish'

Eight years after the affair that sunk the reputation and political career of John Edwards, Rielle Hunter has finally apologized.

Her apology, which happens to coincide with release of a new book, comes in an article in the Huffington Post.

"I am very sorry for my wrong, selfish behavior," she wrote. "Back in 2006, I did not think about the scope of my actions, how my falling in love with John Edwards, and acting on that love, could hurt so many people. I hurt Elizabeth and her kids. I hurt her family. I hurt John's family. I hurt people that knew Elizabeth."

 Her new book adds two words to the title of her last: "In Hindsight, What Really Happened: The Revised Edition: John Edwards, My Daughter, and Me." As she describes it, it's sort of the corrected version of her first book.

"... (I)nstead of apologizing when I should have, I went on to hurt more people by writing a book," she wrote in the Post. "I truly did not realize at that time how damaged I was and because of that, when I wrote my book I made more mistakes, ones I feel horrible about."

Hunter apparently lives in Charlotte with the daughter she had with Edwards, a former U.S. senator and presidential candidate. Edwards and his daughter Quinn were seen this month shopping in the Cotswold Harris-Teeter.

Birthday party boos for Pat McCrory

Bill Diehl doesn't go small. For his 69th birthday party, the Charlotte attorney rented out The Fillmore at the N.C. Music Factory, hired rockers Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and invited around 400 of his closest friends. Among them: Gov. Pat McCrory.

When the band took a break, Diehl grabbed a mic and introduced McCrory, who was greeted with a loud smattering of boos.

It wasn't the first time the former Charlotte mayor -- elected and re-elected seven times -- has heard boo birds in his hometown. In Charlotte, at least, the popular mayor has been a less popular governor.

This summer he appeared at a concert at the Bechtler Museum. When he was formally  introduced, many in the audience booed.

Some thought Friday's birthday booing was rude.

"I thought it was in poor taste, but it happened," said attorney Ed Hinson. "I sure heard it."