Tag search result

Who is the highest ranking elected official in North Carolina that nobody knows? The award goes to Beth Wood, the state auditor. 

A National Research poll commissioned by the Civitas Institute looks at voter's thoughts on the nine elected Council of State officials and found only two -- Attorney General Roy Cooper and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall -- who were known by more than half the voters.

Wood topped the "never heard of" list (75 percent of voters), followed closely by State Treasurer Janet Cowell (74 percent), Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin (73 percent) and Superintendent of Education June Atkinson (61 percent).

Among Council of State officials, voters had the most favorable opinions of Cooper (30 percent), Marshall (29 percent), Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler (21 percent) and Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry (21 percent).

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton won the curious designation as the top elected official who voters knew but didn't know how they felt about (54 percent).

Every state politician who submitted a bracket won.

Since the six state politicians — and President Obama — picked Carolina to win the NCAA championship, they all get points.

Still, they all got the No. 2 team wrong, choosing either Louisville, Memphis or Connecticut to also make it to the final game, instead of Michigan State.

Their bracket scores (out of 193):

Gov. Beverly Perdue: 135
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall: 134
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin: 124
Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton: 121
Sen. Richard Burr: 118
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler: 64

Obama and Sen. Kay Hagan also picked Carolina to win.

The brackets are in.

After the success of last year's gubernatorial March Madness, we at Dome asked all of North Carolina's statewide elected officials to submit brackets.

Several turned them in, while others said they ran out of time.

* Gov. Beverly Perdue picked Carolina over Louisville, 88-81, in the men's tournament, and Carolina over Connecticut, 84-83, in the women's tournament.

* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr picked Carolina over Memphis, 84-78, in the men's tournament.

* Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton picked Carolina over Memphis, 92-84, in the men's tournament.

* Secretary of State Elaine Marshall picked Carolina over Connecticut, 86-81, in the men's tournament.

* Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler picked Pittsburgh over Memphis, 72-68, in the men's tournament.

* Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin picked Carolina over Louisville, 84-81, in the men's tournament.

Previously: Obama picks Carolina over Louisville.

Correction: Perdue's bracket picks from last year were mistakenly listed in an earlier version of this post.

Update: In radio interviews today, Sen. Kay Hagan picked Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke and Connecticut for the Final Four, with the Tar Heels winning the championship.

The Council of State members can drop the "elect" now.

In order of the creation of their offices, the nine statewide elected officials took their oaths of office: Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, Attorney General Roy Cooper, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, Treasurer Janet Cowell, Auditor Beth Wood, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton.

The races for open seats for lieutenant governor and state treasurer could be close contests, according to the latest results from Public Policy Polling.

But while most incumbents for Council of State offices enjoy "solid leads" in the latest survey, State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican, trails Democratic challenger Beth Wood.

PPP surveyed 616 likely voters on May 8-9. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

The full results in the various Council of State races after the jump: