O captain

Normally when a political party has a great year, as the Democrats did in November, the captain is not made to walk the plank.

But over the weekend, Wake County chairman Keith Karlsson, a business executive with Sysco Systems, was defeated for re-election by Doris Weaver, a retired labor official with the Communications Workers of America, reports Rob Christensen.

The upset at the county convention held at Knightdale High School was seen by some as a victory by the liberal/progressive/labor wing of the party.

"I think we changed for the better," said P.R. Latta, the veteran Democratic activist and former labor guy who backed Weaver. "We will come from the bottom up instead of from the top down."