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Trail Mix, the campaign blog of the Winston-Salem Journal, is a conversation about North Carolina's elections in 2008. Come here for news and analysis on the U.S. Senate race, the governor's race and all the other statewide races.
Trail Mix is written by James Romoser, the Journal's Raleigh reporter. Got a tip? E-mail me at .
Barack Obama has out-fundraised Hillary Clinton among North Carolina donors, the Journal‘s Bertrand Gutierrez reports.
Through March 31, Obama raised $2.1 million from North Carolina, compared with $1.3 million from Clinton, according to the latest campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.
One big reason for Obama’s lead: John Edwards is no longer running.
If the flow of campaign money can be used as a barometer of support, then yesterday’s announcement that some of Edwards’ prominent N.C. backers are endorsing Barack Obama comes as little surprise, Gutierrez writes.
Edwards, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina, was head and shoulders above Democratic rivals Obama and Hillary Clinton when it came to statewide fundraising before he dropped out of the race Jan. 31. By the end of December, he had raised $2.3 million in North Carolina while Obama and Clinton had raised little more than $750,000 each.
So when Edwards dropped out, political observers wondered whether Obama or Clinton would be the beneficiary. Who would get the money that Edwards otherwise would have gotten?
The answer appears to be Obama. Through March, he increased his North Carolina fundraising by 174 percent, compared with a 73 percent increase for Clinton.
To use the Journal‘s interactive database of donations to presidential and gubernatorial candidates, go here.
A few leftover bits and pieces from a busy day yesterday on the campaign trail:
—Beverly Perdue scored two endorsements of very different sorts. First, Harvey Gantt, the first black mayor of Charlotte and two-time candidate for U.S. Senate, endorsed her. Then, Andy Griffith did. Trail Mix is curious which will have more impact.
—Two candidates for U.S. Senate released their fundraising information for the first quarter of 2008. Incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole said she raised $1.85 million since January and has $3.15 million cash on hand. Democrat Kay Hagan said she raised “nearly $1 million” since January and more than $1.5 million since she declared her candidacy last October. No word on what Jim Neal, Hagan’s opponent in the primary, has raised — but Neal is supposed to be making an “important announcement” today at noon in a live-blogging session at BlueNC.
—The Barack Obama campaign released the names of about 50 North Carolinians who had once supported John Edwards and now support Obama. The list includes state legislators, businesspeople, lawyers and community leaders, as well as Ed Turlington, the national campaign chairman for Edwards’ 2004 presidential run. On a conference call, Turlington said that his endorsement of Obama should not be read as any indication of what Edwards himself is thinking.
Coming up today: Hillary Clinton will campaign this afternoon in Fayetteville and tonight in Asheville (and she will be in Jacksonville tomorrow). Meanwhile, Obama is rolling out the endorsements of 43 North Carolina mayors.
Causing quite a buzz in the N.C. blogosphere (and the nationalblogosphere) today: a new TV ad unveiled today by the N.C. Republican Party. The ad, which you can view above, focuses on Barack Obama’s controversial pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and criticizes the two Democrats running for N.C. governor, Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore, for endorsing Obama. The ad plays the now-infamous clip of Wright excoriating America from the pulpit, and then a narrator says, “Now Bev Perdue and Richard Moore endorse Barack Obama. They should know better. He’s just too extreme for North Carolina.“
Within hours of the ad’s announcement, both the Republican National Committee and Sen. John McCain called on the the N.C. GOP not to run the ad, saying it is inappropriate for a healthy and respectful campaign. In a letter to state GOP chairman Linda Daves, McCain wrote that the ad “degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats.“ The executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party called the ad an example of race-baiting.
But Daves said the ad raises legitimate questions about the judgment of Perdue and Moore, and she said the state party will run the ad anyway. She said it will run statewide on Monday during the 6 p.m. hour.
Perdue and Moore both criticized the ad today through their spokespeople. Under the Dome reports that out of the four major Republicans running for governor, only one — Bob Orr — had a comment on the ad today. Orr said the party should not run the ad.
With a resounding win in Pennsylvania last night, Hillary Clinton ensured that she lives another day (actually, another two weeks). Now May 6, when both North Carolina and Indiana will hold their primaries, takes center stage. Here are 10 key questions for the next two weeks that will help shape the presidential race and other state races in North Carolina:
1. Will any other North Carolina superdelegates endorse Clinton? (Only one has so far.)
2. Will John Edwards — or more likely Elizabeth Edwards — continue to hint that they prefer Clinton?
3. Since Indiana appears more competitive between Clinton and Obama, will it become the next big battleground and relegate North Carolina to second fiddle?
4. Will Clinton go negative?
5. Will race become a major factor?
6. If Clinton can’t win North Carolina, can she narrow the gap so as to prevent Obama from erasing the gains she made last night in the overall popular vote total?
7. In the Republican primary for governor, will Fred Smith, who is trailing Pat McCrory, make a final TV ad push and aggressively go after McCrory?
8. In the Democratic primary for governor, will Richard Moore’s negative ads persuade enough people to switch their support from Beverly Perdue?
9. Will candidates relying on a grassroots support network, like Jim Neal in the U.S. Senate race or Dan Besse in the lieutenant governor’s race, be able to survive in the saturated media environment?
10. With soaring voter turnout, which demographic groups will see the biggest increases in voting?
RALEIGH — Few differences emerged tonight in a debate between Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore, the two Democrats running for governor.
It was billed as the first “real” debate between the candidates because the format was free-wheeling and offered opportunity for back-and-forth. But the tone was mostly cordial, and Perdue and Moore generally stuck to their campaign platforms, which are very similar to each other. Both also said that their experience and records in state government make them best qualified to be governor.
A few small differences did emerge. Perdue defended the N.C. Lottery, while Moore harshly criticized it. Perdue said that she supports the death penalty but also supports the state’s current de facto moratorium, while Moore said you can either be for or against the death penalty, and he is for it. And the candidates criticized each other over their records on college tuition increases.
It’s official: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will not debate in North Carolina.
The N.C. Democratic Party just announced that it is cancelling the presidential debate that had been proposed for April 27 in Raleigh.
The party said there were “growing concerns about what another debate would do to party unity” and also cited “time constraints and logistical issues associated with such a large, national event.“ Of course, when one candidate won’t agree to debate, that’s a pretty big “logistical issue.“
Bill Clinton may be eating some Lexington-style barbecue this week.
He will campaign for his wife in Lexington and four other North Carolina cities on Wednesday, the Clinton campaign announced today.
It will be his fifth visit to North Carolina, but his first in the Triad. His trips comes the day after the critical Pennsylvania primary.
The former president’s full Wednesday itinerary: Hillsborough, Burlington, Asheboro, Lexington and Statesville. All events are free and open to the public. No other details were available about them.
Barack Obama won the Forsyth County Democratic straw poll today, beating Hillary Clinton by a vote of 96 to 31, the Journal‘s Sherry Youngquist reports.
In the straw poll in the governor’s race, Beverly Perdue beat Richard Moore, 79 to 47.
The informal straw polls were taken at the Forsyth County Democratic Party’s annual county convention. Jerry Meek, the state Democratic chairman, cautions that voters should not read too much into straw polls, saying that they are done mainly as a party-building activity.
Congressman Mel Watt, who endorsed Obama this week, attended the county convention and said that the most important thing is for Democrats to be united in November.
Update Sunday 4:45 p.m.: In addition to the presidential and gubernatorial straw polls, the Democrats also took votes in two other races. Kay Hagan won the straw poll for U.S. Senate, and Dan Besse won the poll for lieutenant governor. Full results here.
From today’s print edition: Full coverage of Hillary Clinton’s public chat with Maya Angelou, as well as the new TV ads that Clinton filmed while she was in Winston-Salem
Hillary Clinton turned a Washington Park bungalow into the backdrop for the filming of a series of campaign ads this afternoon, the Journal‘s Michelle Johnson reports.
The ads are aimed specifically at North Carolina voters ahead of the May 6 primary.
The commercial campaign will feature about 12 North Carolinians who had submitted questions to Clinton’s Web site, www.ncaskeme.com, to be part of the ads, some of which could be run in the state as soon as next week.
The participants were chosen “for a variety of reasons,“ said Carly Lindauer, the campaign’s communications director for North Carolina, but their questions revolve around issues that have come up frequently with North Carolina voters, such as health care, gas prices, the economy and veteran’s issues.
She said she wasn’t sure how many ads would be produced from the taping session or exactly what they would look like. Clinton taped the ads this afternoon before appearing at Wake Forest University with Maya Angelou.
The owners of the house, Debra Taylor and Amy Wingrave, are ardent supporters of Clinton’s presidential bid.
They were volunteering at the local Clinton headquarters Tuesday night when a call came in: Does anyone have a house we can use for a campaign ad while Hillary Clinton is in town? Yes, they said. Does it have a porch? Yes. (A recently renovated porch, in fact, something Taylor and Wingrave are very proud of.) Better still perhaps that Washington Park is a funky, friendly mix of people who live in big houses and small houses, old houses and new houses, owner-occupied houses and rentals.
Lindauer said that the house and the neighborhood were chosen because they convey a sense of place.
“When you’re in any state, it’s nice to look like you’re in that state,“ she said.
Taylor said she supports Clinton in part because “she has an opinion and can back it up,“ and because she was the first presidential candidate to come out with a plan to rebuild New Orleans. Both Taylor and Wingrave grew up in New Orleans.
They were asked to keep Clinton’s visit to the neighborhood a secret, but it’s hard not to notice Secret Service agents, a phalanx of shiny SUVs and a pack of police motorcycles on a street that’s just one block long and in a neighborhood where news travels fast on foot.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Clinton came out of the house and settled into her seat on a picnic table in the back yard. By then, a group of neighbors had gathered across the street to watch.
A woman drove by in a Honda adorned with Jim Neal and Barack Obama stickers, rolled down the window and called out “All the Democrats are here to party!“
Others wandered down the street with their dogs and children, cell phones and digital cameras in hand. On a warm Carolina spring day, presidential politics was a beautiful side show in beautiful Washington Park.
Pictured above: Clinton shakes hands with some of the people chosen to ask her questions for the ads.
