• Obamacare supporters should take little comfort in the latest Elon University Poll. Nobody seems to like the law as it is. The survey showed 60 percent of North Carolina voters queried would like to see the Affordable Care Act amended. Another 38 percent want it abolished. The other 2 percent refused to respond.
• Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential hopeful, has announced his North Carolina “leadership” team, including members of the evangelical and Tea Party movements. Cruz spoke at a John Locke Foundation Headliner luncheon in April.
• Even though no Democrat has stepped forward to challenge two-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a study of recent Senate campaigns suggests Burr may have another close race in 2016. Since 1990, the average margin of victory in North Carolina U.S. Senate contests has been 6.1 points, the tightest in the nation. The last true blowout was in 1974, when Democrat Richard Morgan thumped Bill Stevens by 25 points.
• While the state Senate is showing little interest in placing Gov. Pat McCrory’s $3 billion bond proposals before voters, the governor keeps lining up support from local governments. Elected officials and planners in Cabarrus and Rowan counties were the latest to urge the General Assembly to place the borrowing measures on the November 2015 ballot.
• The Libertarian Party of North Carolina needs a new executive director. Brad Hessel is stepping down after leading the party to records in fundraising, registration, votes, and other organizational goals.
• UPDATE: Heather Grant, a Wilkes County nurse who ran in last year’s GOP Senate primary, has announced she’ll seek the Republican Party’s nomination for commissioner of insurance. Democrat Wayne Goodwin has held the post since 2009.
