#ncpol: It’s ALL about Trump
I’ve been watching this politics game for more than three decades now. I can’t recall — even during the Reagan years — a presidential candidate sucking ALL of the oxygen out of the room during a campaign. I talk to a lot of people all over the state. I get around the state quite a bit. One common theme I have discovered: No one is talking about candidates or races below the presidential line. All of the excitement, interest and curiosity centers on the battle for The White House.
You have to force the issue to get a discussion going about Pat McCrory or Richard Burr. You would think there would be more excitement and passion about reelecting our first Republican governor in decades. Around the barber shops, golf courses, and card games, the discussion is dominated by talk of Trump.
People are actually pulling out their wallets to BUY Trump-Pence bumper stickers and yard signs. Here in yellow-dog Republican Moore County, I’ve seen a grand total of ZERO Pat McCrory bumper stickers and TWO recycled-from-2012 yard signs on road shoulders. I am seeing Trump stuff ALL OVER THE PLACE.
The pollsters are trying to sell us on a nail-biter of a race. But, if you get out and see the state and talk to real people, you begin to see that North Carolina is looking a lot like serious Trump Country. It may be due more to abject fear of the prospect of President Pantsuit Pneumonia. Regardless of the motivation, Donald Trump appears to be the hottest political commodity in the Tar Heel State right now.
I’ve seen news stories about various Republican pols claiming to have better things to do when Trump comes to town. Right now, the smartest place for a North Carolina Republican candidate to be is right beside the GOP presidential nominee. The folks you want voting for you are already right there with him.
Brant, I think you’re onto something. On the other side of the state where I am, I’m seeing Trump signs most often in the most DEMOCRAT side of my county. Obviously, these aren’t the Chapel Hill variety of Democrats I’m talking about.
Trump may yet pull it out in NC, but probably not. The GOP elites have too much invested in Hillary winning. Sadly, what the Mitt Romney and Lindsay Graham ads for Hillary have done is stir up Democrats to turn out in force to vote. And they are going to vote against the entire GOP ticket. With no conservative grassroots support for Burr and little for McCrory, the state ticket is going down the drain even if Trump wins in a cliffhanger. We are going to end up with the ACLU and NAACP in control of NC when the votes are counted. But the GOP Washington elites will be happy. The Romneys and Bushes will feel vindicated. Sickening.
Brant is right. The Trump train is at the station. There is no valid excuse for missing it IMO.
Browny Douglas
The Trump train may be out where you are, but what about in the highly populated devoutly liberal outposts of Wake, Orange, Mecklenburg and Guilford Counties? That is where the problems lie because all the relocated northerners move to Cary and Chapelboro. You also have the inner cities where the blacks are located and you have BullyBarber renting the vans to take them to vote 5-10 times each. Just because you see the Trump signs out there in the real world does not mean the rural areas can offset that very heavy weight.
“You have to force the issue to get a discussion going about Pat McCrory or Richard Burr. ”
– Both are boring and bland, on their best days.
– Both are, imho, huge Dem-lite disappointments, who serve as little more than placeholders. They’re blockers, keeping offices out of the hands of “the even worse”. For the most part, there’s almost nothing positive to be expected from either one… the best we can hope for is that they eventually leave office having done as little damage as possible.
“It may be due more to abject fear of the prospect of President Pantsuit Pneumonia. ”
Yep, I think that’s a thing. It’s ridiculous this thing is this close.