Fascinating goings-on in the District 14A judicial race in Durham between current Judge Orlando Hudson and challenger Jim Dornfried. Mr. Dornfried is an Assistant DA who worked for former DA Tracey Cline, who made all sorts of accusations against Hudson as she tried to keep her job. The Herald-Sun reports the two men couldn’t hide their raw feelings about one another at a judicial forum moderated by state Rep. Larry Hall.

“I understand that Mr. Dornfried is telling people at the polls that I can’t be a fair judge,” Hudson said. “This is incredible. Sometimes the decisions are not popular decisions. They don’t pay me to be popular. They pay me to make the right decisions.”

“He’s telling people at the polls that I like murderers and child rapists,” Hudson said. “He’s out of his mind. There is no such thing, and that certainly is not true.”

Dornfried, who appeared at the forum wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt and had a sunburned face, explained he’s been spending every day at the polls talking to voters and had rushed over to the forum after the polls closed. He explained that he had been showing voters the N.C. Court of Appeals decisions in three recent cases and letting them read for themselves about Hudson’s rulings.