I walked into the Grove Park Inn with Nathan Ramsey, who is contending for his current seat as Chair of the Buncombe County Commissioners against David Gantt. We spoke of presidential returns we had heard on the radio. He said the early voting numbers should be in around 8:00, but a disproportionate share of Democrats showed up for early voting.
Inside, Representative Charles Thomas gave me a few minutes. He said the key races would be the McCrory-Perdue and Dole-Hagan races. McCrory was expected to win, and Dole to lose. It would mean many people were voting split tickets, and would be a subject of study to entertain political scientists for hours on end. Thomas, whose observations are usually astute and articulated well, didn’t think the election would change much. He faulted the presidential candidates for campaigning on issues like the economy and capital gains, over which they had no control.
Dole has been declared a total tank job. Her literal demonizing of Hagan is being blamed.
