Having provided a daily roundup of news coverage and commentary during the Democratic and Republican primaries for governor, I’ll now be preparing a daily roundup of coverage of the general election in North Carolina ? not just for governor but for U.S. Senate, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, and other key state offices. Naturally, our folks at Carolina Journal will also be writing their own stories and columns about state politics this year, which you can find under the category ?Covering the 2008 Elections.?
And now, today’s roundup.
? Freedom Newspapers’ Barry Smith writes about a new poll giving Democrat Beverly Perdue a 43-39 margin over Republican Pat McCrory, with Libertarian Mike Munger pulling 4 percent. The latest Civitas poll yields similar results. The ?Politics Nation? blog at RealClearPolitics puts NC into the list of four gubernatorial races to watch this year, along with Missouri, Indiana, and Washington.
? McCrory weighs in on the mental-hospital controversy, arguing that Raleigh?s Dorothea Dix should remain open for at least a year, until major problems are resolved with the new institution at Butner. Perdue comes out for a less-specific holding pattern on the Dix closure.
? The nominees for state treasurer, Democrat Janet Cowell and Republican Bill Daughtridge, as well as Democratic nominees Walter Dalton (lieutenant governor) and Kay Hagan (U.S. Senate) explain why they didn’t resign from the legislature to campaign as GOP lieutenant governor nominee Robert Pittenger did.
? Immigration promises to be a major issue in the Dole-Hagan race, with Dole putting up a new ad featuring sheriffs thanking her for help with the 287-g program and Hagan challenging the wisdom of spending state or local dollars on immigration enforcement.
