*Dust in the wind?* (Ooof. And you wonder why you’re struggling to consolidate the party base.)
It seems failure is a career-builder for GOP campaign consultants in North Carolina. At least it has been for one particular handle-bar mustachioed Mitt Romney fanboy™.
Since coming off his *spectacular* success with the Eric Rouse for Congress campaign, the HBMMRf™ has turned up in Google searches as a spokesman for Phil Berger AND Michael Whatley.
Sheriff Sam Page is well on his way to being sworn in as the new state senator for district 26. Canvassing did not change the 23-vote margin. The law allows for a recount. Though, that is unlikely to make a difference either.
There are mutterings about legal challenges. However, legal eagles tell me that route will be much more challenging thanks to precedents set in the Allison Riggs-Jefferson Griffin dustup a few years back. Sure, the lawyers will be glad to take Phil’s money. (I’m sure there are a lot of Senate Republican caucus members who wish they wouldn’t.)
Here’s some spinning by the HBMMRf ™ that really didn’t age well:
Again, he is all over the drive-by media IDed as a spokesman for Whatley AND Berger.
One more, before we go. Here’s the fanboy himself throwing shade at The Assembly, one of the leading drive-by publications covering state politics:
Never mind that this same FLW outlet published a fawning profile of said fanboy which the fanboy has shared across several of his social media profiles. According to The Assembly’s internal search engine, quotes from the fanboy have been included in many, many, many of their stories.
Phil’s between a rock and a hard place if you ask me (which you didn’t).
1st Recount:
How would a full recount of Guilford and Rockingham County ballots (to obtain Senate District 26 results) reveal a discrepancy in the count since the tabulators are so precise? The acceptable error rate is only one error out of 125,000 ballots (per the Accuracy Requirements, section 4.1.1 of the VVSG). Is Phil going to prove the tabulators aren’t accurate?
2nd Recount:
If the hand recount of a sample of the ballots changes the outcome, they’re admitting the whiz bang black box tabulators are not accurate. The NCGA loves the electronic voting systems. Surely Phil won’t prove they’re unreliable.
Election Protest:
Phil’s only option is to challenge the ballots cast by R and UNA voters after proving some voters were not eligible to vote in senate district 26. This is impossible since NC’s voter rolls only contain verifiably eligible voters, right? (wink)
So is Phil going to prove NC’s election system counts invalid ballots along with valid ones?
I’m on the edge of my seat.