Easley kicks up the rhetoric, again

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on February 12, 2008 - 4:09pm.
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What is Mike Easley campaigning for?

For the second time, a North Carolina political observer has noticed the term-limited governor shift rhetorical gears into High Campaign Mode.

Announcing a new hybrid car battery initiative at the Emerging Issues Forum today, Easley's feisty style raised the "national ambitions" question anew, Charlotte Observer editor Jack Betts writes on his blog:

For a politician who professes no interest in running for higher public office, Gov. Mike Easley sure sounded like a candidate with a message and a healthy dose of ambition to move on up in the political world Tuesday.

Earlier this month, WUNC reporter Laura Leslie noticed the same shift to a "more animated, more rhythmic" preacherly style at an educational meeting.

"It's hard to explain here, but if you're in the room when he shifts into campaign style, it's as palpable as a transmission shifting gears," she wrote.

Easley can't run for governor and he has ruled out a Senate run. But the hybrid battery and education are two issues he certainly hopes to be remembered for.

Is it possible to campaign for a legacy?

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Re: Easley kicks up the rhetoric, again

Submitted by Proctor on February 12, 2008 - 8:01pm.

Gov. Easley has to be ready in case the Democratic National Convention deadlocks this summer and can't decide on a presidential nominee.

Scenario: Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton plead with former Sen. John Edwards to say if he is finally ready to endorse one of the two candidates to break the deadlock. Edwards pulls a Jack Benny and says: "I'm thinking, I'm thinking," then the delegates call out: "How about that governor you've got back in Raleigh?"

And then they ask Mike Easley to come to the convention to make one of his famous impromptu speeches--that is, after they track him down fishing on a pier somewhere in Brunswick County. He brings the house down and wins the Democratic presidential nomination by acclamation.

To determine whether the Illinois senator or the New York senator should be named the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Easley then flips a coin and asks Obama to call it in the air. (We are unable to forecast who will win the coin toss.)

Promoting Easley as "the FDR of the South," the Democrats roar to victory in November and George Bush tells Gov. Easley: "Mike, it's the big house in the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Make sure you're up here by noon on January 20..."

Remember folks, you read it first on the Dome post board!

David McKnight

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