Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Undecided Superdelegates

Both Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns are aggressively lobbying uncommitted superdelegates today, cherry-picking the most favorable trends from the North Carolina and Indiana races to argue for their candidate. Clinton is meeting today in D.C. with undecided supers.

Here in North Carolina, as already noted, eight out of the state’s 19 superdelegates remain uncommitted. Two of those superdelegates have not yet been chosen; they will be named at the state party’s convention next month.

The other six undecided N.C. superdelegates are:

Congressman Bob Etheridge
Congressman Brad Miller
Congressman Mike McIntyre
DNC member Carol Peterson
DNC member Muriel Offerman
DNC member David Parker

Etheridge and Miller have no plans to endorse today, Media General’s Sean Mussenden reports. But Miller appears to be leaning toward Obama. “In four weeks, if Sen. Obama ends the contest with a 150 or 160 delegate lead and Sen. Clinton ends up as the nominee, Sen. Obama’s supporters will not think that it ended fairly. I think that will be a hard breach to heal,” Miller told Mussenden. And Under the Dome cites more evidence of Miller’s true preference.

Offerman, meanwhile, said she intends to wait a little longer. The Obama campaign called her today in the wake of Obama’s big North Carolina victory last night, but Offerman said she is not quite ready to make up her mind. She said she was “very impressed” by Obama’s showing yesterday, but she told Trail Mix, “I’m still thinking of letting the primary season run before I make a final decision.”

“The charge for superdelegates is that we consider what’s good for the country as well as our state,” Offerman continued. “And we haven’t heard from all the primaries, and who knows what’s going to happen in Michigan and Florida?”

Offerman would not say who she personally voted for in the primary — although she did let on that she didn’t vote for Mike Gravel.

N.C. Democratic Chairman Endorses Obama

Jerry Meek, North Carolina’s state Democratic chairman, endorsed Barack Obama this afternoon.

Meek, who is also a superdelegate, said in a written statement:

“Although my position as State Chair has led me to remain neutral through the primary, I’ve quietly celebrated as Barack Obama offered new hope to millions of Americans who have lost faith in the American dream after years of disastrous Republican policies. Rarely does a public servant emerge with Barack Obama’s ability to unite our country and produce real change.”

Meek also said that Obama would carry North Carolina in the general election.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton picked up a different North Carolina superdelegate: Congressman Heath Shuler, who had said on Monday that he would endorse whichever candidate won his district in western North Carolina. As expected, Clinton won the district.

Obama now has the backing of eight superdelegates from North Carolina, while Clinton has the backing of three. Eight other superdelegates (including two who will be chosen at the state party convention) are still outstanding.

The Morning After the Primary

The votes have been counted (full results are here), and the theme of yesterday’s primary seems clear: no major upsets. Like this year’s NCAA tournament, all of the No. 1 seeds advanced.

Barack Obama put to rest all of the talk about Hillary Clinton’s late surge in North Carolina, trouncing her by double digits and strengthening his bid for the presidential nomination.

Beverly Perdue and Pat McCrory, the favorites in the gubernatorial primaries, each won by large margins. Now those two — who have opposite approaches to state government — face off in a general election. Perdue and McCrory do have one thing in common: they are each trying to break a barrier. Perdue wants to be the first woman governor; McCrory wants to break the “Charlotte curse.”

Two races went down to the wire. The Democratic primary in the 5th Congressional District is too close to call and will come down to provisional ballots. Roy Carter had a razor-thin lead over Diane Hamby. Both are fighting for the right to run against Congressmwoman Virginia Foxx. And in the Democratic primary for commissioner of labor, Winston-Salem resident Mary Fant Donnan appears headed for a run-off.

Across North Carolina and in Forsyth County, voter turnout was colossal.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Other Winners: Perdue, McCrory, Hagan

RALEIGH — Beverly Perdue and Pat McCrory will face off in the general election to be North Carolina’s next governor.

With about half of the state’s precincts reporting results, Perdue has a large lead in the Democratic primary over Richard Moore, and McCrory is handily winning the Republican primary over Fred Smith. Both Moore and Smith have conceded the race.

Moments ago, Perdue finished her victory speech at a rally in Raleigh. “Tonight is a victory for our message of opportunity, education and standing up for the middle class,” she said.

Meanwhile, Kay Hagan won a resounding victory in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, ensuring that she will run against Elizabeth Dole in November.

Full results of all the state contests can be found here.

Obama Wins N.C.

So much for a late night of watching presidential returns.

North Carolina’s polls just closed, and all of the major networks are already calling the state’s primary for Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton leads in early results from Indiana, but the race there is initially too close to call.

Pictured above: Obama meeting with supporters in Raleigh earlier today.

The Big Day

It’s primary day! Go vote!

Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Obama: ‘Don’t Buy Into This Electability Argument’

DURHAM — Making his final pitch to North Carolinians, Barack Obama told a small group of voters this afternoon that they should vote based on their conscience, not based on a strategic calculation of who would be most likely to win in November.

Hillary Clinton has repeatedly argued that she is more electable than Obama against John McCain, citing polls that show Clinton performing better in key November battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Obama responded directly to that argument today, after being asked about it by a voter at Durham’s Cree, Inc. manufacturing plant.

First he said that he could do well against McCain because of their sharp policy differences, and he said that polls show him doing well in states like New York and California and “potentially winning” in states like Pennsylvania.

But then Obama closed by saying, “Don’t buy into this electability argument. Go with who you think best represents your vision of where America needs to go. And if you do that, I’m absolutely confident that that person will win. This is our opportunity to make a clean break from the past.”

Obama also addressed concerns that his candidacy has been weakened by some of the negative press attention he has received over the past few weeks. “There’s no doubt we took a hit” on the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama said, adding that he believes he is still progressing toward the nomination despite attacks that Obama described as “reaching.”

“You know that folks are reaching when the big attack on me is that I’m not wearing a flag pin, or that I served on a board with a guy who was a member of the Weathermen back in the 1960s. They’re reaching.”

One Last Day

On the last day of campaigning before the primary, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — and all of the candidates for state office — are all over the state, making one last pitch to voters. Obama is in Durham, speaking at a semiconductor manufacturing plant. Clinton is in Greenville and High Point.

Here’s a round-up from a busy weekend on the campaign trail:

Bill Clinton stumped in Kernersville yesterday, continuing his role as his wife’s chief ambassador to small-town America.

In both North Carolina and Indiana, Obama and Clinton continued their debate over whether to suspend the federal gas tax during the summer.

The two candidates also are working to cut into each other’s demographic bases. They are also unleashing celebrities on their behalf.

Is North Carolina the less important of the two May 6 primary states? No.

And full coverage of Friday night’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Candidates Make Closing Arguments

RALEIGH — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made their closing arguments tonight.

In separate speeches before a raucous crowd of thousands at the N.C. Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, both candidates said the party would be united in the general election. And they both promised to work hard for their opponent if their opponent won the nomination.

“We all know that what unites us as Democrats is so much greater than the differences, and the stakes are too high for us not to pull together as one team,” Clinton said in her speech. “I will tell you this: If Sen. Obama is the nominee, you better believe I’ll work my heart out for him. And if I’m the nominee, I know Sen. Obama will do the very same for me.”

Said Obama: “Although we are campaigning vigorously and we have serious differences in both policy and approach, one thing I can say is that our differences pale in comparison to our differences with the other party.”

But Obama and Clinton also continued to spar over a proposal to suspend the federal gas tax during the summer. Obama called it a gimmick that would have little impact, while Clinton said it would provide important short-term relief for ordinary Americans.

More on the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, and all the news from Friday’s campaign trail, in tomorrow morning’s Journal.

In Print Today: The Final Push

From today’s print edition: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are preparing for a final weekend push before Tuesday’s critical primary.

In the Democratic primary to take on Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, two underdogs are far behind Foxx in fundraising but will focus on getting out the vote in the primary, the Journal‘s Bertrand Gutierrez reports.

And in the Republican race for the 94th District of the N.C. House of Representatives, which represents Wilkes County, three candidates want to succeed incumbent Tracy Walker, who is not seeking re-election. The Journal‘s Monte Mitchell has a run-down.