newsobserver.com projects - Five reasons McCrory beat Smith - Comments

Re: Five reasons McCrory beat Smith

citizenry — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:53:22 -0400

McCrory is by far the strongest GOP candidate for governor since Governor Jim Martin ran back in the 80s. Jack Hawke ran the 84 race and I will give him credit for being better than most NC GOP consultants during his prime.

I am a Richard Moore voter who will proudly be voting for McCrory in November!

Re: In Defense of Barbecue

Proctor — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:38:10 -0400

It is to be hoped that Dome will reconsider its position on political barbecues. Those events are great ways for rank-and-file voters to go out and meet the candidates in cheerful, casual circumstances. If word were to get out that N&O political reporters have lost their appetite for N.C. barbecue, why this could hurt circulation and advertising!

Newspapers once urged voters to look past the expensive television commercials and big consulting budgets to political personal outreach and one-on-one personal contact between candidates and citizens. Now it is as if the press wants political campaigns to be like professional sports events as they dwell on payrolls, media promotions and the like.

If newspapers aren't for honest and personal discussions between candidates and the voters, then who will be? And frankly, the state's major newspapers didn't give Johnston County state Sen. Fred Smith the time of day in his campaign, let alone a decent spot on their political news pages.

Voters in Eastern and Western North Carolina, where Smith swept an impressive total of two-thirds of the state's 100 counties, must not have minded the barbecues. Meanwhile, Pat McCrory, who ran such an effective and successful campaign in the Piedmont as did fellow Charlottean Richard Vinroot in previous Republican gubernatorial primaries, might do well to bring out some hush puppies, Brunswick stew, cole slaw and barbecue to some of his campaign events between now and November.

If the Republicans were to eschew barbecue, then the lines at Beverly Perdue's Democratic rallies will probably get even longer.

As a former candidate myself in bygone political campaigns, the main reason I gave consideration to making another race a few years back was not to go out and wrangle with rambunctious reporters or to arm-wrestle with other candidates but rather to go around to all the local political events and fill up on that good ol' North Carolina barbecue, no matter if it's prepared in Lexington in the Piedmont or Down East in Smithfield.

In fact, a would-be candidate could probably make it halfway through a campaign without the press picking up on the fact that he or she was "in it for the 'cue.'"

Oh, and don't forget the sweet tea with plenty of ice on those balmy summer evenings.

David McKnight

Re: Five reasons McCrory beat Smith

razor0397 — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:40:17 -0400

The Rotterman's are self serving. They are only interested in who they can milk. They don't like Walter. He is their meal ticket. You are absolutely right about the GOP future. We keep dragging out old candidates that think they can win by calling the opposition tax and spend liberal. The message is broken.

Re: Five reasons McCrory beat Smith

tarheelpride — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:21:04 -0400

You should have put the last reason first and you could have skipped the rest. Graham and Orr never had a chance but Smith has been campaigning for 3 years and did nothing to pick up votes. Mark and Karen Rotterman ought to be thrown out of the GOP for the way they handle candidates. This was Smith's nomination to lose and they sure did it for him. They also ran a horrible campaign for Walter Jones. The money Jones had to spend to beat a nobody county commissioner is a joke.

McCrory won't beat Perdue however because Jack Hawke isn't much better. The state Republican Party needs some help from the GOP in Washington, as our local leaders are old and tired. 8 years of Bev Perdue. God help us all.

Five reasons McCrory beat Smith

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:17:37 -0400

Why did Pat McCrory beat Fred Smith?

As with the Democratic gubernatorial race, it's dangerous to draw sweeping conclusions, but here are a few educated guesses about how the Charlotte mayor won the primary.

He had a strong base. As a seven-term mayor of the largest city in North Carolina, McCrory had a larger pool of supporters than Smith. Playing on his childhood in Jamestown, he made a strong play for the Triad, where no candidate had a base.

He raised money. Aided by his ties to the Charlotte business community, he quickly made up for lost time, raising $1.2 million in the first half of the year — more than any of his Republican competitors, all of whom had been running for a year.

His ads were effective. McCrory had four ads in heavy rotation on jobs, immigration, corruption and leadership. Smith had two ads; Bill Graham just one. McCrory's ads were distinctive, with a clean white background that stood out.

He learned quickly. After initial missteps in his "garage-band" phase, Smith shuffled his staff and brought in a star consultant. He picked up on concerns about illegal immigration and corruption in Raleigh, cutting into Smith's core message.

His competitors ran poor campaigns. Smith ran an old-school campaign based on barbecues and spent money on a book and a song. Graham ran his TV ads two years too soon then parted ways with his consultant in the home stretch. Bob Orr was underfunded.