Print and broadcast media outlets trying to make sense of Republicans’ historic gains in the 2010 elections turned to the John Locke Foundation this week for help. President John Hood offered his election insights during an appearance with Curtis Wright on WAAV/WFNC Radio. WCHL Radio asked Hood about the new legislative majority’s response to university budget requests. Outlets such as WRAL.com picked up an Associated Press story that featured Hood’s discussion of the balance between Republican legislators’ fiscal and social priorities. A News & Observer article featured Hood’s assessment of new legislative priorities. The Fayetteville Observer sought his analysis of the impact of the 2010 election on Cumberland County’s legislative influence. The Greensboro News & Record‘s “Inside Scoop” blog reported on the Conservatives for Guilford County co-founder’s quotation of Hood’s electoral insights during a recent county commissioners’ meeting. On the national front, Mona Charen of RealClearPolitics.com cited Hood’s analysis of state-level election results. Nationally syndicated columnist Michael Gerson quoted Hood in an article about state budget crises. In addition to media appearances, Hood spoke about election results in a presentation to Wake County’s Young Professional Republicans, and he joined Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner for a JLF election presentation in Charlotte. Speaking of election-related public appearances, Mitch Kokai, Director of Communications, focused on legislative and congressional results during a presentation to College Republicans from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kokai also discussed the impact of the elections on the new General Assembly during an appearance on the WZAX Radio morning show. Michael Sanera, Director of Research and Local Government Studies, discussed statewide county commissioner elections, JLF legislative recommendations, and “road diets” in Carolina Beach during an appearance with Chad Adams on WLTT Radio. Becki Gray, Vice President for Outreach, offered a legislative update and discussed the balance of Republicans’ fiscal and social priorities during an appearance with Matt Mittan on WWNC Radio. Carolina Journal Executive Editor Don Carrington discussed challenges facing new Republican legislative leaders — along with ongoing corruption investigations targeting Democrats — on Curtis Wright’s WAAV/WFNC morning show. One of the top priorities for the new General Assembly involves filling a $3 billion budget hole. Greensboro News & Record capital reporter Mark Binker blogged on JLF ideas for trimming the state budget, and Binker interviewed Joseph Coletti, Director of Health and Fiscal Policy Studies, for an article about Republicans’ promise to focus on budget cuts. (“Yes, $3 billion is a big nut to crack. It’s going to require personnel cuts. … But the main thing is going to be changing the way government operates,” said Joseph Coletti, a fiscal policy analyst with the John Locke Foundation.) The Durham Herald-Sun printed CJ Managing Editor Rick Henderson‘s column about the successful strategies Democratic congressional incumbents used to win re-election, and the Tarboro Daily Southerner published Henderson’s CJ editorial on the benefits of instituting a new voter identification system. The Lincoln Tribune published Associate Editor David Bassreport about hard-fought legislative elections that remained in limbo at the beginning of the week. The Nonprofit Quarterly discussed Meck Deck blogger Jeff Taylor‘s article about left-leaning activists’ misguided efforts to obtain more information about donors to conservative advocacy groups.