A cringe-worthy moment in the NC-11 race

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Let me start off with this.  I like Jennifer Balkcom.  She strikes me as just the kind of person we need in government.  I hope she wins the 11th district congressional seat in November.

But her recent performance in front of – of all people – Spectrum News is sure not going to help:

State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, struggled to answer a series of questions during a recent interview, repeatedly pausing and admitting she was “not sure” where she stood on key issues.

Spectrum News’ Reuben Jones spoke with the candidate in September, with the network publishing the video on Thursday. Balkcom is running to replace Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who withdrew from his reelection bid in August after the House Ethics Committee recommended censuring him over what it described as “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers. Edwards, who denied wrongdoing, is serving out the remainder of his term. The House ultimately voted 413-2 to formally censure him.

Balkcom did not win a congressional primary; under state law, the 11th District Republican Party’s executive committee selected her to replace Edwards on the November ballot

Jones asked the candidate about Edwards, wondering, “Do you think he should resign from his position, or are you comfortable with where things stand now?”

Hesitating a full 13 seconds before responding, Balkcom finally said, “I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I mean, he, he messed up. Uh, I think he needed to decide to resign. We’ve censured him, and, um, that’s kinda where I would leave it. I’m not sure.” […]

That was not a hard question. Edwards came off as soooooooo creepy in the ethics committee report that he needed to be gone yesterday.  Democrat Jamie Ager jumped on the question with a hearty YES right away.

The Edwards kerfuffle happened so close to the election that the seat would have likely sat empty until after the November vote.

YES was and IS the right answer to that question. Just like Tillis should have quit.  Both he and Edwards are doing little more at this point than embarrassing their home state.

Click here to watch the whole interview.

The DC-based RNC yo-yos running Balkcom’s campaign should have had her better prepared.  Who could not have seen that question coming?  Spectrum News is not exactly ’60 Minutes.’  Sitting down with them is like an easy warm-up before facing the real media jackals prowling DC.