The Winston-Salem Journal‘s James Romoser had a good piece in the Sunday paper exploring the interesting Democratic race for lieutenant governor.
The four candidates are easily distinguishable. Longtime Sen. Walter Dalton is the business-friendly moderate and establishment candidate. He’s the best-funded. (He’s also giving up a swing seat that could well be picked up by the GOP this year). Hampton Dellinger is the son of Clinton’s solicitor general and well-connected among younger Democrats in NC and DC. Dan Besse is a Winston-Salem city councilman and environmental activist. Pat Smathers, the mayor of Canton out in the mountains, is the small-town candidate in a party where that used to matter a lot (not so much anymore, the political bases of both parties have shifted towards the suburbs).
My favorite passage from the piece:
Dalton makes no bones about the fact that he is running on his legislative record, which includes efforts to reduce the use of methamphetamines and the creation of the ?Learn and Earn? program, which allows high-school students to get an associate degree in five years.
Uh, Sen. Dalton, if those small-fry programs are your major accomplishments after many years in Raleigh, perhaps you should run on something else.
