newsobserver.com projects - Matt Tomsic - Comments

Re: Smith concedes

MeckDeck — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:23:02 -0400

Fair enuf DM, but newspapers had nothing to do with Smith's poor performance where the voters actually are -- Smith essentially conceded the entire Charlotte media market to McCrory -- and that market is huge. Knit it together up I-85 with the Triad, and you got a major pool of votes.

As we noted here, McCrory nuked Smith in STANLY -- not exactly Uptown Charlotte.

When Smith did make a foray into the QC, he stumbled and failed to connect with voters eager to hear how the dead-enders of the Jim Black Gang could be kicked from power in Raleigh.

This task now falls to McCrory. Take a look at the raw vote totals -- either he knee-caps Perdue with Beltline corruption and criminality or he loses by double digits.

JAT

Re: Smith's Wins in Eastern and Western N.C.

Proctor — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:20:24 -0400

Fred Smith had to be doing something right out there on the campaign trail because he carried somewhere close to two-thirds of the 100 counties of North Carolina, and these were primarily west and east of the Piedmont, where Pat McCrory ran strong.

Being from Charlotte originally, I know what an able and appealing candidate McCrory has been in running for mayor of Charlotte and governor of North Carolina. Indeed, in following press coverage of this GOP primnary for governor, I started out knowing more about Mayor McCrory than I did about Sen. Smith. So while both candidates are to be congratulated on well-run campaigns, I would suggest that while the metropolitan newspapers serving the largest cities and counties in the state have found a methodology for stressing why the rest of the state should heed what is going on in the home cities of these newspapers, they seem little interested in informing people in their local urban areas of some of the topics of conversation among folks out in the smaller cities and towns of Eastern North Carolina and Western North Carolina.

I noticed the same thing in news coverage and editorial commentary in the Democratic presidential primary particularly in regard to former President Bill Clinton's campaign forays into the Western Piedmont and certain Eastern counties: the pattern of commentary seemed to be more consternation than curiosity that Bill Clinton was going into those regions and counties, never mind the fact that Sen. Hillary Clinton carried most of these local areas where her husband campaigned.

But like Pat McCrory in the GOP primary for governor, Sen. Barack Obama dominated the voting results in the Piedmont in the Democratic presidential primary, so their respective campaigns got major boosts toward victory lane.

Being a native of the state's largest city of Charlotte myself, I would be the last person to slight the importance of political debates and campaigns in the most populated counties of the state in such regions as the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte. But the news media ought to pay more attention to the outlying areas of North Carolina as well--the cities and counties of Eastern and Western N.C. where Fred Smith rolled up impressive local victories in the Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday.

Who knows? Just maybe the good people of Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte could learn a thing or two by hearing the concerns of residents across the rest of North Carolina. Just because a candidate is running statewide from Johnston County doesn't mean that his or her issues platform ought to be given short shrift in the editorial boardrooms of metropolitan newspapers in the Piedmont.

Hats off to Fred Smith for running a strong campaign and perhaps setting some kind of record for number of N.C. counties carried without actually winning a statewide election. The McCrory campaign is certainly likely to take a serious look at this interesting GOP election primary map in preparing for the fall campaign.

David McKnight

Chavis Center off the charts

gercohen — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:03:54 -0400

Interesting totals for Chavis. -- you said 234 in person votes by 1:30 pm compared with the election judge estimate of 60 voted by that time in a primary

(There were 324 early votes cast for that precinct this year, in addition to the votes in person today)

Here are some comparable FULL DAY turnouts for that precinct (Wake 01-26)

2004 primary 156
2006 primary 79
2004 General election 825

This is completely off the chart for a primary

Re: One Voter's Take: Darryl Kirkland

nc4hill — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:14:49 -0400

I appreciate african american support for obama, but they have their facts wrong. Obama's health care plan is not universal. It's more of the same, with some tax credits etc. to help people make insurance companies rich. Hillary's plan IS universal, endorsed by Eizabeth Edwards, and will force down costs by disempowering the insurance companies.

On energy, I wonder what they think about the fact that Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill, with its enormous windfalls for the oil companies.

Re: One Voter's Take: Connie Davis

dahedgehog — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:38:59 -0400

I like how she noted Clinton's views on the economy. She must have liked Clinton's "gas tax holiday" proposal. Who could blame her since the N&O has refused to follow in the footsteps of the Washington Post to explain to voters that their gas prices won't go down at all under this proposal.

Re: Smith's sacrifice

razor0397 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:17:34 -0400

You exactly right. Fred pays $100,000 to Lee Greenwood for a song and endorsement. Talking about sacrifices! He was absent from his job as State Senator 25% of the time. Another Easley missing in action. I am waiting for his next book "Pass the Hush Puppies" or "10O Greatest Places to Eat Barbeque".

Re: Smith's sacrifice

MattM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:27:20 -0400

Interesting, I guess he is making a sacrifice as Governor he didn't make as State Senator. I guess after buying the company on the brink of bankruptcy, then getting elected to the State Senate and casing votes in favor of his company, his job is done. Some guy we have in the race, he'll turn out to be just another connected, corrupt politician in Raleigh.

It was a relatively small room, considering the press

captsfufp — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:35:30 -0400

Okay, this is ridiculous...

First of all, I'm a Hillary-supporter, and I got in. So if Obama is "handpicking" his audience, then they're really bad at it.

Who was the "handpicked" audience? Local elected officials, community leaders, military, military families, and veterans (I would be the latter), and local Obama supporters.

Let's compare this to the vetting process that the Bush Administration has gone through with its audiences. I remember when I was in uniform and Sec. Rumsfeld visited my post, they were handing soldiers questions to ask. Ridiculous and an improper use of the military for their public relations. On a separate note, I would encourage military to NOT wear uniforms to political events. I'd have to check if it's explicitly against the regulations, but, implicitly, it's improper. Wear civies for the hour or so of the speech.

The Fayetteville Observer just continues to fall flat on their political coverage since they also headlined that the audience was "handpicked" in today's paper. They also said it would be an "anti-war" speech which shows the reporter to be very confused on three grounds:

A) The reporter/paper must consider any criticism of current policy as "anti-war"
B) The report/paper must abbreviate "anti-Iraq war" as "anti-war" which is not the same thing (at all)
C) Who the heck gets labeled as "pro-war"?

Again, I'm a Clinton-ista, but still think the Fay Ob messed up on their coverage of Sen. Obama today. One can only hope tomorrow will be better...(see, his "hope" is rubbing off on me!)

Re: Barely making the guest list

j1c2kp — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:14:00 -0400

Don't ya just love it when politicians handpick who can sit in the audience? Guess that eliminates any distractions. Ya'll be good now.

Re: Mr. Mangum

bmullis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:32:52 -0500

Transportation planning = social engineering

Mr. Mangum

Anglico — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:03:48 -0500

I'm not among those who question the value and competence of your company. From all I've heard, you're the "go-to" guys for reliable, honest work.

What I do question is the narrow-mindedness of your boss. Fred Smith has spent a whole lot of time railing against almost every part of government ... except when it comes to the importance of building more roads. His so-called environmental platform has one plank: build more roads. His platform to make the citizens of North Carolina happy has two planks: cut taxes and build more roads.

If Smith had spent one tenth of the time he has spent building roads on thinking about real environmental issues - transportation planning, for example - I might be willing to give him a smidgen of the benefit of the doubt. But that's obviously not the case.

I can't help thinking Mr. Smith's vision for effective and efficient government looks a lot like a hog slopping at the public trough.

Re: C.C. Mangum earned $42m on state roads

MichaelMangum — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:54:02 -0500

I did a quick check of the NC DOT website and learned that in the last 3 years (2005-2007) C.C. Mangum Company saved citizens of North Carolina approximately $10.5 Million by bidding cheaper prices than its competitors. These savings were generated on contracts totaling $53 Million, meaning that on average Mangum bid roughly 20% lower prices than other contractors for the exact same project.
It appears Fred Smith's vision for effective and efficient State government is already on display at C. C. Mangum Company.

Re: C.C. Mangum earned $42m on state roads

brentwood — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:18:51 -0500

Unfortunately, this blog about Senator Smith contains both inaccurate facts and implications. For example, the implication that any project awarded and completed by C.C. Mangum Company for the Department of Transportation was “expensive” implies that C.C. Mangum Company overcharged the State of North Carolina. The Department of Transportation awards projects through a public bidding process, in which companies like C.C. Mangum Company must be qualified and bid lower than other qualified bidders. For example, C.C. Mangum Company bid approximately $35,000,000 for the N.C. 54 / Davis Drive project mentioned above, which was less than the Department of Transportation’s original estimate of approximately $37,000,000, and substantially less than the next lowest bidder of more than $44,000,000. In summary, implying that C.C. Mangum Company is “expensive” is very misleading, when in this one example alone C.C. Mangum Company arguably saved the State of North Carolina approximately $9,000,000.

Similarly, implying that C.C. Mangum Company is regularly “late” in completing projects for the Department of Transportation is inaccurate. While numerous factors can cause a site developer like C.C. Mangum Company to complete a project later than originally planned, many of those factors are outside the control of the site developer. In fact, the bulk of the projects which the blogger indicated were not completed on time have not been finalized, which is evident from the spreadsheet attached to the blog. Furthermore, and since the Reedy Creek project was actually pointed out by the blog, the documentation attached to the blog shows that the Reedy Creek Project was completed more than two weeks early, and not six months late. Regardless, and again, implying that C.C. Mangum Company is regularly “late” in completing projects for the Department of Transportation is simply not accurate.

Finally, attempting to blame C.C. Mangum Company for a Department of Transportation project being over budget or giving credit to C.C. Mangum Company for a Department of Transportation project being under budget can be deceptive. The Department of Transportation originally estimates the costs of a project based upon predicted quantities of materials needed for the project. If the project requires more or less materials than the Department of Transportation originally estimated, the budget may exceed or be less than the original budget. Furthermore, a Department of Transportation project may be over budget simply because the Department of Transportation decides, while the project is ongoing, to expand the scope of the project. The Wake County N.C. 50 and secondary roads project mentioned above is actually a good example of this occurring. With that particular project, C.C. Mangum Company quoted a very good price to the Department of Transportation to provide a limited amount of asphalt patching for this project. Because the price was so favorable, the Department of Transportation significantly expanded the scope of the project, which resulted in the project being over the original budget; however, that was not caused in any way by C.C. Mangum Company. Again, implying that C.C. Mangum Company is responsible for a Department of Transportation project being over or under budget can be very deceptive.

Re: C.C. Mangum earned $42m on state roads

katysconservativecorner — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:45:44 -0500

Senator Smith is a member of the minority party and Republicans rarely receive special treatment from the Democrat-run agency. So, CC Mangum won the contract fairly.

Additionally, the person who sent this to you should have done his/her research. Perhaps CC Mangum had bad weather to deal with. Perhaps there were other delays that those of us not in the industry, might not take into consideration. It's easy to throw stones without looking at the detailed facts. I worked at DOT in my younger years and so much goes on in the planning and work that most people never consider.

Finally, Senator Smith saved that company from dying after it had done much good work for North Carolina. He risked the loss of his personal fortune to save a company that employs hundreds of North Carolineans. Do we want to pick on him for that?

Thanks,

Katy

Katy's Conservative Corner
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http://www.katysconservativecorner.com

Re: Miller: Help homeowners with mortgages

donnydonny — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:18:20 -0500

Looks like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is actually planning on bringing this bill to a vote as part of Congress's second economic stimulus package:

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/427-Roud-Two-Stimulus-for-Subprime-Sufferers