Walter Mondale | newsobserver.com projects

What is the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on May 1, 2008 - 1:00pm.

Answer:

An annual dinner held in the spring or Raleigh by the state Democratic Party since 1930.

The event serves three purposes: Raising money for the party, rallying the faithful ahead of the May primaries and serving as a platform for state candidates.

Speakers have included Vice Presidents Lyndon Johnson in 1963 and Walter Mondale in 1977; Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore, Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson in 1988; Texas Gov. Ann Richards in 1998; U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh in 2006; and U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008.

The next dinner will be held in Durham on May 2, 2009, with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the keynote speaker.

The event began in 1930 as the annual Jackson Dinner held by the Young Democrats and named for former President Andrew Jackson, who may or may not have been born in North Carolina.

A decade later, the state Democratic Party began its annual Jefferson Dinner in honor of former President Thomas Jefferson.

In 1948, the two events merged.

It is usually held in Raleigh in April or May, although it has been held in Cary as well.

A similar event, the Vance-Aycock Dinner, is held in Asheville every year.

Brief:

An annual dinner held in the spring or Raleigh by the state Democratic Party since 1930.

Hunt: Father of the superdelegates

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on February 15, 2008 - 8:37am.

Don't like superdelegates? Blame Jim Hunt.

As research scholars Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein point out in a guest column today's New York Times, the superdelegates were created by a commission led by the former North Carolina governor in 1982.

Their purpose was to limit the influence of ideological activists who only get involved during presidential elections. This Christmas-and-Easter crowd had the most influence in 1972 and 1980, when the party lost elections after draining primary fights.

The superdelegates had several roles:

...to improve the party's mainstream appeal by moderating the new dominance of these activists and increasing the contributions of elected and party officials to the Democratic platform and their impact on the selection of a nominee; to provide an element of peer review, weighing the requirements of the office, the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates and the chances that they'll win; and to create stronger ties between the party and its elected officials to promote a unified campaign and teamwork in government.

The system worked as intended in 1984 when superdelegates gave Walter Mondale the majority over Gary Hart, avoiding a convention fight. Of course, Mondale went on to lose the general election.

GOP's secret plan for 2008?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on November 12, 2007 - 11:23am.

The GOP's secret plan for ending 16-years of Democratic governors can be summed up in two words:

Hillary Clinton.

That's according to a fund raising letter recently distributed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham of Salisbury, Rob Christensen reports.

"Mark my words," Graham writes, "Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee for president. And she's going to be a bigger drag on the Democratic ticket than George McGovern in '72, Walter Mondale in '84 or Michael Dukakis in '88. And those are, not coincidentally, the same years, and the only years, that we have elected a Republican governor."

"Historically, we can expect Hillary Clinton to garner somewhere around 40 percent-45 percent of the vote in North Carolina," Graham writes. "And when the Republican candidate for president gets 55 percent-60 percent of the vote in North Carolina, we wreak havoc on the Democrats."