The Man Who Won N. Carolina for Obama

News & Observer has a great profile on Marc Farinella, "the chief architect of Obama's victory in North Carolina."

In hiring Farinella, the Obama campaign put one of its most seasoned Democratic veterans -- and someone who once got a dead man elected to the U.S. Senate -- in charge in North Carolina.

Farinella grew up in New York and Chicago, the son of a social worker and an interior decorator. When he entered Chicago politics, he had a reputation as something of an egghead, in part because he held two master's degrees.

Eventually Farinella became campaign manager, then chief of staff, to Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. In one of the stranger stories of American politics, Farinella helped Carnahan defeat Republican U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft in 2000, although Carnahan had died in a plane crash a few weeks before the election. Carnahan's widow was appointed to the Senate seat.

News Briefs, 11/07/08

Obama wins North Carolina, becoming the first Democrat to carry the state since Carter.

Iranian President, Ahmadinejad congratulates Obama. It was the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution that an Iranian leader congratulated an American president-elect.

US records highest unemployment rate in 14 years - 6.5%.

Here's a compilation of news articles on Obama's White House team.

Coleman's lead over Franken gets smaller even before the recount starts in Minnesota. Coleman leads by 236 votes.

Will Obama campaign manager David Plouffe replace Biden in the Senate?

Democratic challenger's lead over Virgil Goode increases in Virginia's 5th district.

Democrat Kratovil extends lead in Maryland's first disrtrict.

Gubernatorial Races

Democrats pick up one. Jay Nixon won handily in the Missouri governor's race. Democrats also held on to the governor's mansion in North Carolina and Washington state with wins by Perdue and Gregoire. Indiana incumbent Mitch Daniels held on to his seat.

Battleground Briefs, 10/31/08

The number of early voters in North Carolina is about 65% of the total turnout in 2004.

Obama will air ads in Arizona, Georgia, and North Dakota.

Modern "White Hands"

Elizabeth Dole's latest ad, where she suggests that her opponent is an atheist, is facing tough criticism from Hagan and leading North Carolina newspapers.

Dole’s ad has also come under scrutiny from local newspapers. The Charlotte Observer wrote in an editorial Thursday that it was the “modern-day version” of Sen. Jesse Helms’s (R-N.C.) “white hands” ad, which critics have condemned as a ploy to drum up racist fears about his 1990 Democratic opponent. The Greensboro News & Record wrote that Dole’s ad is “worse than dishonest” and called on her to pull it from the air.

Dole Not With McCain in North Carolina

Marc Ambinder points out how toxic the environment is for Republicans and especially for John McCain.

Who was conspicuously absent at John McCain's event in Cumberland Co. tonight?

Elizabeth Dole.

The county went for GWB in '04 -- the state hasn't gone for a Democratic candidate since Carter.

She didn't think that appearing with her nominee would help her chances to keep the Senate seat. Or she didn't go out of her way to get there.

This, again, is, North Carolina...

WH Helps Dole in Reelection Battle

The Hill:

The administration has announced that it is preparing a potential World Trade Organization challenge against subsidies it contends the Chinese government provides its industry, and trade officials are giving Dole the credit for bringing the issue to their attention.

Observers see the timing of the administration’s move as linked to Dole’s tough reelection campaign, given that industry groups have been asking the administration to look into the matter for more than a year. The administration announced the move in a letter sent to Dole less than two weeks before Election Day. (Emphasis added.)

News Briefs, 10/26/08

With an unemployment rate of 8.8%, Rhode Island has the highest rate of joblessness in the country.

State officials in North Carolina reported late last week that more than 800,000 people had already cast their ballots.

Obama responds to McCain campaign's insinuations that his campaign hacked into Joe the Plumber's private files.

Why hasn't Condoleeza Rice endorsed McCain?

McCain-Palin target "Uncle Frank" for his statements on spending and taxes.

Scientist develop purple tomatoes which they hope will keep cancer at bay.

Senate 2008: NH, NC, and OR

The Hill: Oregon Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley has solidified a small but consistent polling lead over Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in the Beaver State.

Hagan has slim leads in two new polls out of North Carolina.

A Research 2000 poll shows Shaheen ahead by 7 points. (The same poll also shows the Dems ahead in both congressional districts, and Obama beating McCain.)

More Hate

Political Punch:

In Cullowhee, NC: Police are following leads in the case of a 75-pound dead bear cub, shot in the head, found draped with Barack Obama posters at the entrance to Western Carolina University, the AP reports.

In Chester, VA: Chesterfield County police are investigating the theft of a 4-by-8 Barack Obama for President sign from the home of 78-year-old Leroy C. McLaughlin, an African-American Baptist minister. The sign was replaced by a Confederate flag.

Things Get Ugly in North Carolina

First came reports of the not-very friendly reception to Obama at a diner in North Carolina.

The Washington Times notes the heckling outside an early voting station. (See video at the end of the post.)

Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black.

Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white.

As you can see from these videos, no one held anything back. People were shouting about Obama's acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word "terrorist." They also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting.

Authorities say someone slashed tires on at least 30 parked vehicles while their owners were attending a Barack Obama rally in a North Carolina coliseum. (H/T: Time)

Integrity?

Political Punch:

ABC News has learned that Warren Tompkins, one of the strategists of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina campaign in 2000 -- which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blamed for his family being slimed -- is now a part of the McCain-Palin campaign team, albeit in an "unofficial" role.

Tompkins, a protégé of Lee Atwater, has been dispatched to North Carolina to assess the state for the McCain-Palin campaign, Southern GOP strategists tell ABC News.

...

Last month, to the dismay of many McCain 2000 alumni, McCain hired another former Palmetto State opponent, Tucker Eskew.

This week, as a wave of robocalls attacking Obama has been reported across the country, and some of those calls have been tied to Jeff Larson and his firm FLS-Connect, a client of Bush's in 2000, whom McCain's team back then held responsible for anti-McCain robocalls.

News from the Battleground States

Political Wire:

A new Research 2000 poll in North Dakota confirms the state is in play. Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain are tied with 45% support each.

Campaign Diaries:

...Another legal dispute is ongoing in Indiana, where Republicans are still blocking three early voting sites in heavily African-American Lake County (yes, that Lake County) despite polling places having opened elsewhere in the state. Republicans profess to be concerned about the possibility of voter fraud, and their argument is that the local election board had to approve new voting sites unanimously (the three Democrats were in favor of it, but the two Republicans voted against it). It is unclear how this will be resolved, but at the very least Republicans have been successful at delaying the start of early voting in a county Obama needs to do very well in to carry the Hoosier State. The voting sites were scheduled to open two weeks ago.

In Georgia, we have now reached the staggering number of 635,798 early voters, but the proportion of African-Americans is steadily declining, and is now at 35%. That remains, however, far above the voting population or the 2004 share of the electorate but it is a reminder that the composition of early voting will not be the same as that of Election Day.

In Colorado, a New York Times story looks at mail-in voting in Colorado and reveals that nearly half of all eligible voters have already requested mail-in ballots - two weeks before the deadline to do so! Also: North Carolina polling places opened yesterday - and turnout is already picking up - and early voting is strong in Indiana.

Liddy Dole's Troubles

Salon has a great new article on Dole and McCain's problems in North Carolina. Here's an extract that paints a pretty clear picture as to why Dole is in trouble.

As for the incumbent, Dole seems to be running a much more somnambulant campaign. She dodged five proposed debates, passive-aggressively failing to commit to them rather than outright refusing. Voters are seeing her on her terms, not theirs — her campaign Web site doesn’t have a public calendar of events, and her Senate calendar is three and a half years out of date. While she was at the race Saturday, aides limited her to banal small talk with Salon — after she spoke with a local Associated Press reporter at the NASCAR media center, they hustled her off to the suites to mingle with the race’s sponsors and other donor types and said she’d try to call me later, which she didn’t. (They blamed the AP guy for taking too much of her time, but he said they actually gave him 10 minutes less than they promised him.)

Even at the race, though, Dole wasn’t as visible as Cindy McCain (even if she was nicely outfitted in a Bank of America 500 warm-up jacket). While McCain toured the pits and schmoozed with fans, Dole hung back and prayed with drivers before the race started. (There was a lot of prayer. “Thank you for allowing us to live in the greatest country on the face of the earth,” went the prayer read over the P.A. system just before the engines started. “We thank you for what you did 2,000 years ago on Calvary’s cross.”)

North Carolina Senate:

Dueling ads out from North Carolina, where Elizabeth Dole faces a tough challenge from Kay Hagan. (See summary of recent polling results after the video clips.) Hagan's ad is more effective than the pro-Dole ad put out by the Chamber of Commerce, but I'll let you decide for yourself.






Image Source: Real Clear Politics

Elizabeth Dole (R-DC)

An investigation by Media General shows how rarely Dole visited North Carolina while she was representing the state in the Senate. Truly shocking!

Documented Days Spent by Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina During Her First Term
2003 - 55
2004 - 34
2005 - 20
2006 - 13
2007 - 50
2008 (through Friday) - 97

Dole's going to be hit hard on this one.

DSCC Flexes Muscle in NC

Another well-made ad from the DSCC. For previous posts on the North Carolina Senate race, see Elizabeth Dole's New Ad: Arf.

Elizabeth Dole's New Ad: Arf

This article does a good job evaluating the veracity of the various claims used in the ad.

The Senate race in North Carolina is tight, no doubt about it.

After her last round of ads, Dole was able to open up a lead in independent polls. Can she do it with this one?

The last two independent polls showed Hagan with a narrow lead.

The DSCC has the resources to back Hagan. They’ve already reserved $6 million worth of ad time!

The NRSC does not have the resources to match. Elizabeth Dole has raised a sizeable chunk of change, but she has also had to spend heavily to run ads earlier this year.

Obama is running a strong campaign in North Carolina. His strength in the state will definitely help Hagan.

Dole is in for the race of her life.