Guillory: Burr should get goin' now

Of PoliticalJunkie's list, Roy Cooper and maybe Grier Martin are the only names I see with the slightest chance of giving Burr a competitive race. Burr has been a far stronger Senator than Dole was, and I say that as a Democrat and Obama supporter. Of course, at this point in 2006, I can't say I would have identified Hagan as a viable candidate...

I am sure Burr is considering how the vote went. And I am sure the Democrats are ready to take him on. There might possibly be a different climate by the time the race begins. Obama may not live up to the expectations of "heaven on earth." And I don't know if the Republicans will just lie down and die. Now Obama will have to do something. The issues that he faces will require more than a "present" vote.

His early choices for staff appointments do not resonate the cry of "change." And we will see how Obama stands up to the assaults that were hurled upon George Bush.

There's a lot of water to flow under the bridge. Burr doesn't need to clean out his office just yet.

Considering the strong straight party vote by the Democrats, the North Carolina Republican Party should not be discouraged by its showing in statewide races Tuesday.

Considering the strong and continuous push by the State Board of Elections (SBOE) to educate voters on the make-up of the ballot and how the media explained it, the showing by Republicans in votes for President, Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Auditor, Commissioners of Agriculture, Insurance and Labor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction is actually a bright spot on the final results.

Without tallies of provisional ballots still being counted, figures from the SBOE website report 2,114,101 straight party ballots cast. The Democratic Party received 1,254,142; the Republican Party 859,959, a difference of 394,183 votes. When all straight party ballots are counted (19,075 Libertarian), the total is almost half the total ballots cast.

It’s tough to start down by nearly 400,000 votes cast and win because of the mindless game of being blindly supportive of one party or another. In North Carolina, registered Democrats out-number Republicans by 3 to 2. Unaffiliated registered voter rolls, out-numbered by Democrats 3 to 1, are growing and very likely cast some straight party ballots, but not nearly in the numbers as the Democrats and Republicans did. Those who did were influenced to do so from various fronts.

In reality, the two major parties wish and hope their registrants will vote straight party but that’s simply old-school with so many candidates offering differences of substance and style. Despite what the Democrats and Republicans think, there are candidates on both sides of the aisle that deserve cross-over votes. The citizens of North Carolina deserve it as well. Two races this year in North Carolina, for example, that fell into that area were Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture in which the two incumbents of opposing parties, in my opinion, were far superior to the challengers. Fortunately, both won.

However, the Parties, starting at the top of the ticket race for President, not part of the straight party ballot, pushed voting only for candidates of the same party as the presidential candidate. For instance, the Barack Obama campaign had yard signs that read:

Change is as easy as…
1) Vote Obama
2) Straight Democratic ticket
3) Judges

Thank goodness it urged voting for judges but that approach (see 2) is simply mindless and doesn’t urge citizens to study the candidates and make decisions based on the candidate and not the Party.

The push for straight party voting extended to the media, especially television news. The reporters/anchors weren’t just explaining how the ballot is constructed. What they said came across as how to vote. One morning on a local TV news broadcast, more than once (during each of the four repeat editions from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.) the explanation went like this:

“To vote a straight ticket, remember, the Presidential race is not part of it. You must vote for President first and then vote a straight ticket. And be sure to turn over the ballot and vote for judges.” This was repeated in media outlets across the state. They may not have meant it but they were saying, Vote for President and then cast a straight party ballot.

While straight party voting will never go away no matter which party is in power in the General Assembly, in some respect it discouraged having an broader, more-educated (of the candidates) electorate. But then that’s how Democrats have retained control of the General Assembly and those top statewide offices for over a century with a few exceptions. The get-out-the-vote campaign has always emphasized driving voters to the polls and reminding them of who was driving the car and to vote a straight ticket. It’s easier and faster, and you’ll be back to your home or job much quicker, the voter has been told.

From studying the returns, those who didn’t cast straight party ballots, showed for the most part, more favor with the Republican candidates. Here’s how votes were cast beyond the straight party tickets:

Senate: Kay Hagen (D), 962,298; Elizabeth Dole (R), 1,002,226. (Dole ahead by 39,928.)
Governor: Bev Perdue (D), 875,980; Pat McCrory (R), 1,115,796. (McCrory ahead by 257,816.)
Lt. Governor: Walter Dalton (D), 846,245; Robert Pittenger (R), 1,030,018. (Pittenger ahead by 183,773.)
Attorney General: Roy Cooper (D), 1,247,132; Bob Crumley (R), 733,734. (Cooper ahead by 513,398.)
Auditor: Beth Wood (D), 888,423; Leslie Merritt (R), 1,000,497. (Merritt ahead by 112,074.)
Commissioner of Agriculture: Ronnie Ansley (D), 679,196); Steve Troxler (R), 1,241,433. (Troxler ahead by 562,237.)
Commissioner of Insurance: Wayne Goodwin (D), 820,556; John Odom (R), 937,685. (Odom ahead by 117,129.)
Commissioner of Labor: Mary Fant Donnan (D), 731,177; Cherie Berry (R), 1,177,431. (Berry ahead by 446,254.)
Secretary of State: Elaine Marshall (D), 1,028,635; Jack Sawyer (R), 879,383. (Marshall ahead by 149,252.)
Superintendent of Public Instruction: June Atkinson (D), 891,463; Richard Morgan (R), 995,849. (Morgan ahead by 104,386.)

No doubt, Attorney General Cooper benefited from his handling of the Duke Lacrosse Case but then there was no real issue with his performance either. And, Secretary of State Marshall will have to do something drastic or face a more prominent opponent to lose that office though the Republicans are probably not discouraged by that margin outside the straight party results in that election. With Berry at Labor and Troxler at Agriculture, overcoming the nearly 400,000 vote deficit to win is a tribute to their job performance and their campaigning abilities.

While Obama appears headed to winning North Carolina, the Republican Party must be looking at the Presidential results as a blip on the radar instead of being discouraged. Though there was no straight party vote cast in that election, in all likelihood, a huge percentage of those who voted a straight party ticket after voting for President, had already cast ballots for the candidate of that party. Strip away those numbers and John McCain out-polled Obama by nearly 400,000 votes, just a few short need to take North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes: McCain 1,238,636; Obama 856,143.

The headlines and results proclaim a strong showing by the Democrats in the statewide offices but, even in defeat, for the Republicans to do so well beyond straight party voting has to be encouraging.

In order:

Grier Martin
Richard Moore
Elaine Marshall
Roy Cooper

I don't think the others are viable for a US Senate campaign, even though they're all good public servants.

As a Democrat, I agree: Burr really should get going now. Please, Richard, just go away.

...in no particular order:

Heath Shuler
Roy Cooper
Grier Martin
Richard Moore
Ty Harrell
Janet Cowell
Elaine Marshall
Dan Blue
Charles Meeker
Bob Etheridge
Mel Watt