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What made the biggest splash on Dome in 2012? The top 5 stories -- in terms of reader clicks --reflect how North Carolina played a major role in the national political scene and the Washington-driven penchant for little news bits that speak to a larger narrative. It doesn't necessarily reflect the biggest news of the political year, but what generated interest in the blogosphere.
Click below to see the top 5.
In Cary on Saturday, Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, stressed how much was as stake for women in the election.
She said that President Barack Obama and her husband have stood up for the rights of women, whether regarding equity in the work place, protection against domestic violence, or respect for reproductive rights.
“The president and the vice president know how important it is for women to make our own decisions about our own health care,” Biden told about 200 people at a rally outside an Obama headquarters in downtown Cary.
When the threat of rain forced Democratic National Convention organizers to move President Obama's acceptance speech from Bank of America Stadium to Time Warner Cable Arena last month, 65,000 people lost a chance to see history.
Campaign officials promised to try to arrange an event at which the president would meet with the ticket holders before the election. With less than four weeks left, time is running out. And Thursday, campaign officials wouldn't commit to a presidential visit.
"We don't have any announcements," Obama communications director Brent Colburn said in a conference call with N.C. reporters.
Mitt Romney is expected to return to North Carolina before Election Day.
His campaign hinted at the news -- later confirmed by Republican officials -- in an email to North Carolina supporters Friday.
The message said up to six volunteers who knock on the most doors (300 minimum) before Tuesday will get to meet Romney and receive VIP seating at his next campaign event in the area.
No word on whether President Barack Obama will return to the state before Nov. 6. His campaign instead has dispatched Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama in recent weeks.
From Kevin Siers, editorial cartoonist at The Charlotte Observer:
President Barack Obama's organizers at UNC-Chapel Hill are finding it harder to get students to volunteer for the campaign, reports The Daily Tar Heel, and other students aren't seeing the level of enthusiasm from 2008.
It's not good news for the Democratic candidate, who is counting on youth voters to help deliver the early vote once one-stop voting begins Oct. 18.
From the DTH, the university's independent student newspaper: "Gabby Whitehall, co-founder of Tar Heels for Obama, said her feelings have not changed since the 2008 election, but she has seen a dwindling in some of her peers’ excitement.
Six weeks before Election Day, states across the country are still wrestling over new voting laws. They’re among 17 states which, citing voting integrity, have passed ID laws or other measures that could impact the election. Critics say they could suppress turnout by discouraging some voters – especially seniors and minorities – from voting.
But it’s the absence of such a law in North Carolina that has become an issue in the state’s gubernatorial race, offering a sharp contrast between Democrat Walter Dalton and Republican Pat McCrory. Read more here.
More political headlines below.
S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley returns to North Carolina next week -- this time to campaign for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Haley visited Fayetteville earlier this week for Republican Pat McCrory's campaign, also helping him raise money at a private fundraiser. She returns Monday for a "Women for Mitt" event at the Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex. The event begins at 9 a.m.
When First Lady Michelle Obama takes the podium, she is many things – character witness for her husband, defender of the anemic economic recovery, and exhorter-in-chief for the Democratic faithful.
Which is why Michelle Obama has become one of the most traveled political spouses in recent memory. Her campaign stops Wednesday at N.C. Central University in Durham and East Carolina University in Greenville were part of her 11th visit to North Carolina since 2009, according to the campaign. There is little mystery why. Read the full story here and see a photo gallery.
More political headlines:
--Check out these fact-checks on the new DGA-funded ad "Laundry" attacking Pat McCrory and the RGA ad "Year after year" hitting Walter Dalton.
In separate Charlotte appearances Tuesday, North Carolina’s two major candidates for governor extolled their own economic proposals and derided their opponent’s.
“Mine’s real; his is political,” Democratic Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton said when asked to describe the differences between his program and Republican Pat McCrory’s. McCrory called Dalton’s jobs proposal “extremely piecemeal” compared to his own “long-term, integrated plan.” Full story here.
More political headlines below.
