If you believe Gov. Easley’s campaign ads, GOP challenger Sen. Patrick Ballantine is a tax-and-spender. John Hood told the Charlotte Observer the ads are bizarre but reveal strategy. “I think it shows that they know where their vulnerabilities are: They are not arguing that Gov. Easley’s fiscal stewardship has been a good thing for the state…Instead, they’re trying to focus attention on the other guy.” Hood’s assessment of the impact on the state budget by letting “temporary” taxes expire next year was the topic of a Media General News Service story published in the Winston-Salem Journal, the Statesville Record & Landmark, and the Reidsville Review. At the presidential level, Marc Rotterman joined Donna Martinez on NBC 17’s “At Issue” for a post-mortem of the final presidential debate. The show airs Sunday at 11 a.m. Meantime, Sen. John Kerry’s economic policy has been formally criticized by 368 economists from 44 states, including Roy Cordato and Karen Palasek.
