Though it is very early in the “pre-season” for the Governor’s race, GOP candidates are starting to hone their message.
At the Buncombe County GOP fund-raising dinner, two of the three aspiring GOP hopefuls (Sen. Fred Smith and attorney Bill Graham) spoke about their relative positions on a number of issues.
From the Citizen-Times (2/20/07):
(Fred Smith) took a strong stand against economic incentives like those given to
Google to open a facility in Lenoir. Graham agreed, though he said he
wouldn?t rule out incentives if they were necessary to compete with
other states. ?That is a tool you have to have in your tool box,? he
said.
The third aspiring GOP hopeful, Bob Orr, was not present, but has taken the strongest anti-incentive stance thus far.
For the record, Smith has supported incentive packages while in the NC Senate (although against the Google deal). And insiders with Graham’s campaign assure me that this was a quote taken out of context. Only time will tell if there will be any substantive differences between the GOP candidates and their pro-incentive Democrat opponents.
