Archive for NC-11 Congressional Race
Some CIBO With Your Tea?
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If you’re into seeing political candidates go head to head in public forums, then this is the week for you.
Thursday at Noon, barring another wintry postponement, Patsy Keever and Bruce Goforth will be fed identical meals of meat, green beans, and whipped taters before debating the issues of the day. CIBO is hosting this event at Magnolia’s. It’s ten bones to pay for your lunch, and the political theater is free. Read my previous post on the event here.
If you’ve got plans Friday night, you be better off bagging them and heading to the Tea Party at A/B Tech. The GOP candidates will line up at 6:30pm and get their liberty on. Erika Franzi, headmistress of the local Tea Folk, is soliciting questions from you and me. Click here to email her a question for the gang. The six candidates committed to attending are Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, James Howard, Ed Krause, Jeff Miller, Greg Newman, and Kenny West. Congressman Heath Shuler is invited as well, but he hasn’t signaled any inclination to sip from the same cup as the organizers or the broad field.
Dr. Dan has been winning straw polls across western North Carolina with his “We have seen enough ‘government solutions’” approach. The GOP faithful appear to be drawn more towards Jeff Miller and Greg Newman. But what do I know? If you’ve got the constitution, go see for yourself.
Big kudos to both groups for helping to educate the people and ask hard questions of the candidates. No matter our political differences, good campaigns make for better elections.
Friday Reading and Open Thread
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve seen so many things to share with you, gentle readers. They’re after the jump. More importantly, I want to know what you’ve seen that you’d like to share with the world. It’s your thread.
Unfounded Rumor Dashed
Posted by: | CommentsHT-N:
“Rep. Heath Shuler is running for re-election, his chief of staff, Hayden Rogers, told the Times-News today.”
Wednesday Potpourri
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There’s exciting doings all over the place, and this Councilman/Counselor can’t find time to properly blog about it all. Who wants to pay me to do this stuff full time?
The irascible ThunderPig reports that Dan Eichenbaum (R-Tetley), founder of the area’s 9/12 group, won another straw poll of Republicans, this time in Cherokee County. Dr. Dan hopes to face Heath Shuler this November.
Speaking of Heath Shuler, he closed the deal on the North Shore Road. That means Swain County will receive $52 million in compensation for a road never completed. Somehow Charles Taylor, who was an Appropriations Committee member for years, couldn’t ever get it done. Kudos, Congressman Shuler.
In other Congressional race news, Virginia Foxx, the woman who always has one eye on the kookier wing of the GOP, has drawn a challenger in NC-05. “Billy Kennedy, a Watauga County talk radio host and community leader, will formally announce his candidacy on February 8 for the U.S. House of Representatives, 5th District of North Carolina. The “Billy Kennedy Caravan” will stretch from Boone to Raleigh that day, with stops in Wilkesboro and Winston-Salem.”
Ellie Johnston attended the Copenhagen climate conference and has a thorough narrative of her experience there. Excerpt:
Tea Party Congressional Candidate Debate
Posted by: | CommentsWhile the time and venue are TBD, the event is on for March 5th.
Asheville Tea Party is hosting a debate for all candidates for North Carolina’s 11th District US House Seat.
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We are now accepting submissions of questions for the candidates. The debate moderator will choose questions based on their potential to elicit the most information from the candidates and their relevance to the core values of the Asheville Tea Party.
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“At the end of the debate, attendees will vote for their choice of candidate by process of range voting. Once tabulated, the results will be posted at our website.”
It’s good to see the Republican candidates out there on the stump. Retail politickin’. Kudos also to Erika Franzi for organizing the opportunity for people to get to know who’s running.
Rather than flood janeq’s email box with your suggestions for questions to the candidates, I thought you could leave them in the comments.
Friday Reading
Posted by: | CommentsWhy cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race. – via @sandymaxey on the Twitter.
Decline Radio has a list of 10 things that could have finally put Asheville on the national music map – via Mtn. X.
“Asheville’s East End Circa 1968,” a historical photography exhibition by Asheville artist Andrea Clark, is on view through February 26 in UNC Asheville’s Blowers Gallery” – via Ashvegas
There was a terrible wreck on Riverview Drive this week, and Felicity at Hangover Journals had a front row seat. Since then, I’ve been getting contacted asking for traffic calming measures on that street, which unfortunately connects Haywood Road to Amboy Road. I’ve asked for the traffic study data for the road, and I’ll update the neighborhood as soon as I know more.
Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, Republican candidate for Congress, says of the Supreme Court ruling on corporate election spending – “The Constitution and Freedom Wins!” – via Thunder Pig’s Twitter feed.
Core values of the The Bountiful Cities Project at Short Street Cakes.
Oh if you’re a bird, be an early bird
Posted by: | CommentsSpeaking of Republicans, the North Carolina primary is only 111 days away, and I haven’t heard much in the way of revival music coming out of the GOP’s little tent lately. This time two years ago, Carl Mumpower already had his congressional primary campaign in full swing (in fact, I think we had even cut his TV commercial by now) — but aside from a few lackluster appearances from a partial complement of candidates, there hasn’t been much to tell me that anybody is doing much on the Republican side.
There are six guys that I’m aware of who are vying for the dubious honor of taking on Heath Shuler: Dan Eichenbaum, James J. Howard, Ed Krause, Greg Newman, Scott Stump, and Kenny West. Only two have active websites (Eichenbaum and Howard) and West’s Facebook page seems to have dried up and blown away — although you can see a cached version here. From what I’m told, Greg Newman hasn’t showed up to either of the two forums held so far (which were apparently poorly attended), and when it’s not regurgitating press releases from the Tea Party folks, the Buncombe County GOP’s website doesn’t tell me much either.
Top Thirteen Local Political Stories of 2009
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Pic lifted from Jason Sandford
With all these Top Ten lists floating around the internets, I thought I’d toss another reflective log on the fire. Add your own top stories in the comments, and you get bonus points if you put together a Top Ten Local Political Stories of the Decade.
Buncombe County Commissioners and Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce come out in support of I-26 Alternative 3. After the strong design work from the Asheville Design Center and unanimous support from the City Council, it looked like our community might move the mighty DOT to create something that actually works for Asheville. When the CoC and 3 of 5 County Commissioners swung in the direction of Alternative 3, further delay was guaranteed.
See the rest in ReadMoreLand… Read More→
The Elephant’s Graveyard
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve gotten a lot of guff for my post last week handicapping the Republican congressional primary field here in the 11th…not for what I predicted so much as the fact that the prediction appeared here in this pinko e-rag and under my own shiny new byline. You see, for today’s Republicans, this is a betrayal of the first order: “Thou shalt not lie with liberals as with conservatives: it is an abomination!”
Of course, there are so many orders of betrayal among local Republicans these days it’s kind of hard to keep track anymore.
Having worked for Republican candidates all my life and professionally for the last three years here in Asheville — heck, above my screen hangs a picture of me and President Reagan at a White House Christmas Party and another of me and President George H.W. Bush at a private BBQ on the south lawn of the White House; I could go on, but you get the idea — I can honestly say that I can’t see this happening again anytime soon. The Republican Party I knew for so many years has gone off the rails — effectively destroyed here locally from within — by sanctimonious bigots, religious zealots, misanthropic doctrinaire Randians, and most importantly by piss-poor, unelectable candidates.
A Doctor in the House?
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Yesterday, I mentioned in a post that I believed Dr. Dan Eichenbaum would win the Republican congressional primary here in the 11th six months from now. Of course, ridiculously early predictions are just that; obviously a lot can happen, and I could be way off the mark. But let me tell you all where I’m coming from.
