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[audio:http://www.johndavisconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/JDPR-MARCH-30-2011-Ferraro.mp3|titles=JDPR MARCH 30 2011 Ferraro] “Do not put such unlimited powers into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which
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From a letter written by Abigail Adams to her husband, John, who was attending the Continental Congress, March 31, 1776“Do not put such unlimited powers into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems
When Abigail Adams threatened in her March 31, 1776 letter to her husband, John, that women would “foment a Rebellion” if they were not given a say in the new laws of the land, he wrote in reply, “We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems.”
The exchange between Abigail and John Adams amplifies the most important conclusion in this report: women were not given equal rights by men, they had to seize them.
March is National Women’s History Month. The 2011 theme is, “Our History is Our Strength.” President Obama issued a proclamation in which he stated that this is the month during which, “we reflect on the extraordinary accomplishments of women and honor their role in shaping the course of our Nation’s history.”
Likewise, Gov. Beverly Perdue, North Carolina’s first woman governor, formally announced Women’s History Month with a proclamation that included this bit of history: “WHEREAS, in 1774, fifty-one women organized the Edenton Tea Party, one of the earliest political acts taken by North Carolina women in protest of the taxation of the colonies without representation within the British government.”
This report is written in honor of Women’s History Month and on the occasion of the death of Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman Vice Presidential candidate of a major political party in American history (Mondale/Ferraro defeated in 1984 by Reagan/Bush). Although she did not live to realize her dream of attending “the inauguration of first woman president of the United States,” surely she must have been made proud a thousand times over as women, inspired in part by her example, seized opportunities to lead throughout every walk of life.
Women Governors and State Executive Elective Offices
North Carolina Leads the South with Women Elected to State Executive Offices
State Executive Elective Offices: In 2011, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, women hold 69 of the nation’s 317 state executive elective offices (38 Democrats, 30 Republicans, and one independent) … including six governorships.
Gov. Beverly Perdue, North Carolina’s first women governor, chairs the Council of State, comprised of 9 statewide executive elective offices. Women hold 5 of the 9 positions, including Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, State Treasurer Janet Cowell and State Auditor Beth Wood.
In addition to Gov. Perdue here in North Carolina, Oklahoma has a Democrat woman governor. There are four Republican women serving as governor, including Arizona, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and New Mexico.
- Ella Grasso (D-CT) was the first woman governor elected in her own right (1974)
- 34 women have served as governor in 26 states (19 Democrats, 15 Republicans)
- All but 3 women governors have been elected since Ferraro’s 1984 VP race[1]
- NC leads the South in 2011 with 6 women elected to state executive offices (5D, 1R)
- Women currently serving in state executive elective offices in Southern states: AL 5, OK 3, FL 2, TX 2, KY 2, AR 1, SC 1
- GA, VA, TN, LA and MS have “0” women serving in state executive elective offices
North Carolina’s Battle of the Sexes since 2000: Women 23, Men 8
In 1996, Elaine Marshall, a Democrat from Lillington, became North Carolina’s first woman elected to a statewide executive office. Marshall out-raced her GOP opponent, “The King” of NASCAR, Richard Petty, by several car lengths.
Since November 2000, there have been 31 statewide general election races in North Carolina that pitted a man against a woman, including state judiciary offices, state executive offices, and federal statewide offices. Women have won 23 of those 31 races, including two women elected to the U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Dole, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat.
As a result of those 23 statewide wins, women have the majority of the Council of State and the North Carolina Supreme Court. The seven-member court includes Chief Justice Sarah Parker, Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson (NC’s first African American woman on the court), Justice Robin Hudson and Justice Barbara Jackson.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals had an 8/7 female majority until Gov. Perdue appointed Judge Cressie Thigpen in January to fill the unexpired term of Judge Barbara Jackson, shifting the Court of Appeals to 8/7 male judges.
A toilet, not a urinal, in the judge’s chambers … or go to jail!
Susie Sharp was the first woman to serve on the North Carolina Supreme Court. She was appointed in 1962 by Democratic Gov. Terry Sanford to fill an unexpired term. Rhoda Billings was the first Republican woman on the Supreme Court, appointed by GOP Gov. Jim Martin. In 1986, Justice Billings was appointed Chief Justice, the first Republican woman.
In 1974, Sharp became the first female in the U.S. to be elected Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court, with a landslide 74% of the vote. However, in the early days of her distinguished career, while serving as the state’s first woman Superior Court Judge, she was not so well received.
On the occasion of the unveiling of Sharp’s portrait at the Supreme Court in 1996, Franklin Freeman, a former Associate Justice, gave the formal address in which he told the story of her confrontation with Burke County commissioners over the matter of the need for a toilet in the judge’s chambers.
“The Burke County commissioners refused, upon learning of her assignment to their county, to modify the only bathroom facilities in the judge’s chambers; a sink and a urinal that hung on the wall. Judge Sharp opened court on Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. and ordered the sheriff to “invite” the county commissioners over to the courthouse. By 11:00, the courthouse was aflutter with the scurrying about of plumbers, carpenters, and electricians, while the county commissioners narrowly avoided a few nights repose in the county jail.”
Restated for emphasis: women were not given equal rights by men, they had to seize them.
Here are the 31 statewide races in North Carolina since election year 2000 that pitted a woman candidate against a man:
Election Year 2000
Secretary of State
Elaine Marshall (D) defeated Harris Blake (R)
Commissioner of Labor
Cherie Berry (R) defeated Doug Berger (D)
Commissioner of Agriculture
Meg Phipps (D) defeated Steve Troxler (R)
Court of Appeals
Robin Hudson (D) defeated Paul Stam (R)
John Martin (D) defeated Wendy Enochs (R)
Election Year 2002
U.S. Senate
Elizabeth Dole (R) defeated Erskine Bowles (D)
Court of Appeals
Martha Geer (D) defeated Bill Constangy (R)
Sanford Steelman (R) defeated Loretta Biggs (D)
Election Year 2004
Lt. Governor
Beverly Perdue (D) defeated Jim Snyder (R)
Superintendent of Public Instruction
June Atkinson (D) defeated Bill Fletcher (R)
Commissioner of Labor
Cherie Berry(R) defeated Wayne Goodwin (D)
Supreme Court
Sarah Parker (D) defeated John Tyson (R)
Court of Appeals
Linda McGee (D) defeated Bill Parker (R)
Barbara Jackson (R) defeated Alan Thornburg (D)
Election Year 2006
Supreme Court
Sarah Parker (D) defeated Rusty Duke (R)
Patricia Timmons-Goodson (D) defeated Eric Levinson (R)
Mark Martin (R) defeated Rachel Lea Hunter (D)
Election Year 2008
President
Obama/Biden (D) defeated McCain/Palin (R)
Governor
Beverly Perdue (D) defeated Pat McCrory (R)
Secretary of State
Elaine Marshall (D) defeated Jack Sawyer (R)
Auditor
Beth Wood (D) defeated Les Merritt (R)
Treasurer
Janet Cowell (D) defeated Bill Daughtridge (R)
Superintendent of Public Instruction
June Atkinson (D) defeated Richard Morgan (R)
Supreme Court Justice
Justice Robert Edmunds (R) defeated Suzanne Reynolds (D)
Court of Appeals Judge
Judge Linda Stephens (D) defeated Dan Barrett (R)
Cheri Beasley (D) defeated Doug McCullough (R)
Sam Ervin IV (D) defeated Kristen Ruth (D)
Judge Jim Wynn (D) defeated Jewel Ann Farlow (R)
Election Year 2010
United States Senate
Sen. Richard Burr (R) defeated Secretary of State Elaine Marshall (D)
Supreme Court Justice
Judge Barbara Jackson (R) defeated Judge Bob Hunter (D)
Court of Appeals Judge
Judge Martha Geer (D) defeated Dean Poirier (R)
Ferraro’s Dream: the inauguration of the first woman US President
When Abigail Adams wrote to her husband on March 31, 1776, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation,” little did she know that the “Rebellion” would take two centuries.
John Adams would follow George Washington as the nation’s chief executive, elected President of the United States in 1796. It would be exactly 200 years later, 1996, before the first woman would serve in an executive role as important as Secretary of State of the United States … the highest-ranking cabinet secretary in line of succession in the event of the death or incapacity of the president. Her name was Madeleine Korbel Albright.
Madeleine Albright was born in Prague, the daughter of a Czech diplomat. She was appointed Secretary of State in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, becoming the 64th US Secretary of State. Since Albright, two women have been appointed Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, appointed by Republican President G.W. Bush in 2005, and the current US Secretary of State, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009.
Although Geraldine Ferraro died last week before realizing her dream of attending “the inauguration of first woman president of the United States,” surely she took great pride in just how close Hillary Clinton came to winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, and in seeing another woman run on a major party presidential ticket with the selection of Sarah Palin by GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
She didn’t live to see a woman president, but she lived to see tens of thousands of women elected to governmental service and ascend to the highest positions of respect and authority in public and private life; she lived to see tens of millions of women seize their equal rights and opportunities.
One day these awe inspiring words will be spoken, and when they are, we will remember Geraldine Ferraro: “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mister ….”
[1] Refers to women elected in their own right.
Please subscribe to the John Davis Political Report for the 2011-2012 election cycle. The Premium subscription is $485 a year. Subscribe online today at www.johndavisconsulting.com/subscribe.
The Advantage subscription is $4,850 per year. This subscription covers the John Davis Political Report with unlimited distribution rights to your employees or trade association members, along with private political briefings for you, your employees and leadership team, all conducted personally by me at your offices or conference locations. Call me if you are interested and I will come visit with you: 919-696-3859.
Sincerely,
John N. Davis, President
[audio:http://www.johndavisconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Audio-Mar-23.mp3|titles=Audio Mar 23] “In Caswell County, the Klan trapped Republican State Sen. John W. Stephens in the county courthouse and cut his throat and stabbed him in the heart. At the time Stephens was collecting evidence of Klan activity for the governor.” News & Observer, March 15, 2011, story by Rob Christensen, Author of The
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“In Caswell County, the Klan trapped Republican State Sen. John W. Stephens in the county courthouse and cut his throat and stabbed him in the heart. At the time Stephens was collecting evidence of Klan activity for the governor.”
News & Observer, March 15, 2011, story by Rob Christensen,
Author of The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics
NOTE: In a departure from the usual content of my report, this is a statement about the importance of today’s consideration by the NC Senate of the pardon of Gov. W.W. Holden.
Precedent for State Atonement – Pope John Paul II Admits that the Roman Catholic Church Erred in Condemning Galileo 359 Years Ago
On October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that the Roman Catholic Church had wrongfully condemned Galileo 359 years earlier for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
In order to keep from being burned at the stake, Galileo (1564-1642), the father of modern science, recanted his scientific findings and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest.
In North Carolina, a mere 140 years ago, the state Senate convicted Governor W.W. Holden on six impeachment charges related to his efforts to quell violence by the Ku Klux Klan in Alamance and Caswell counties. He was the first governor in American history to be impeached, convicted and removed from office. The Senate is considering a pardon.
They cut the Senator’s throat and stabbed him in the heart
In a March 15 News & Observer story, political writer Rob Christensen notes that the violent acts committed by the Klan included arson, lynching and political assassination … including the assassination of a white Republican sheriff and state Senator. “Two Klan murders were particularly high profile,” writes Christensen. “The Klan hanged Wyatt Outlaw, the leader of the black Republicans in Alamance County, in the town square of Graham. In Caswell County, the Klan trapped Republican state Sen. John W. Stephens in the county courthouse and cut his throat and stabbed him in the heart. At the time Stephens was collecting evidence of Klan activity for the governor. Twenty-one other people, black and white, in Caswell County were whipped.”
Under Holden’s orders, the state militia took control of the Alamance and Caswell county courthouses and arrested more than 100 accused Klan members. The six charges leading to his impeachment, conviction and removal from office resulted from these actions.
The bill seeking to pardon Gov. Holden is cosponsored by Sen. Neal Hunt, a Wake County Republican, and Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat. Three of North Carolina’s former governors, Democrat Jim Hunt and Republicans Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser, have written legislative leaders in support of the pardon.
Precedent for Acts of State Atonement
In the late 1990s, I was researching the political implications of the coming of a new millennium. Although ultimately the longest period of economic expansion in US history drove the politics of the millennium era, I did discover an unusual phenomenon: worldwide acts of atonement.
Throughout the final decade of the last millennium, countries throughout the world sought to begin the new millennium with a clean slate by admitting to their past wrongs. The acknowledgment by Pope John Paul II that the Roman Catholic Church had wrongfully condemned Galileo 359 years earlier for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun is an example of what I found. Here are a few others:
- Jan 19, 1998 – Ottawa apologized for its role in running aboriginal residential schools, which have become notorious for the sexual and physical abuse inflicted upon native children. The long-awaited apology brought back painful memories among Canada’s 1.3 million aboriginals.
- December 29, 1998 – Two top Khmer Rouge leaders issued the first public apology for their role in the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during the “killing fields” of the 1970s. Khmer Rouge, a Maoist revolutionary, enslaved Cambodians in labor camps where one in five starved to death, died from disease, or were executed.
- February, 1993 – French President Mitterrand announced the establishment of a National Remembrance Day “… in memory of the anti-Semitic acts of persecution …” committed by the government of France during WWII. This is the first time a French head of state has officially recognized the government’s role in the Jewish holocaust.
- January, 1995 – On the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, German Catholic bishops issued a statement admitting that Catholic Christians should share responsibility for the evils of the Holocaust. The bishops stated that during the era of Hitler’s Third Reich, “… Christians did not carry out the required resistance to racist anti-Semitism.”
- March 13, 1999 – “With profound pain and humbleness we ask for forgiveness …” began the statement of apology from the leader of Guatemala’s former leftist rebel army. The apology was for the excessive abuses committed during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. An estimated 150,000 Guatemalans were killed.
- On June 9, 1995, Japan’s House of Representatives expressed condolences and remorse in a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific. “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, this House offers its sincere condolences to those who fell in action and victims of wars and similar actions all over the world. Solemnly reflecting upon many instances of colonial rule and acts of aggression in the modern history of the world, and recognizing that Japan carried out those acts in the past, inflicting pain and suffering upon the peoples of other countries, especially in Asia, the Members of this House express a sense of deep remorse.”
- October 8, 1998 – In a written apology, Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi apologized to the South Korean people for 35 years of brutal colonial rule. In his statement expressing remorse, Obuchi extended “… a heartfelt apology to the people of South Korea, having humbly accepted the historical fact that Japan inflicted heavy damage and pain on the people of South Korea through its colonial rule.”
- August, 1993 – Pope John Paul II apologized for the support of the enslavement of Africans during the 17th and 18th centuries by the Roman Catholic Church “The immensity of their suffering corresponds to the enormity of the crime committed against them,” said Pope John Paul II.
- August, 1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin laid a wreath of flowers at a commemoration site to apologize for the massacre of 15,000 Polish army officers by Soviet forces in Katyn Forest during World War II.
- June 1995 – On their 150th anniversary, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nations largest Protestant denomination, publicly apologized for its history of racial bigotry. “We apologize to all African Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime, and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
- Nov 4, 1995 – Queen Elizabeth II, apologized for injustices committed during the era of British Imperialism in New Zealand against the Maoris, the native inhabitants.
- June 12, 1998 – In a letter signed by President Clinton, the United States formally apologized to the approximately 2,200 people of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly removed from Latin American countries and interned in the United States during World War II. “We understand that our nation’s actions were rooted in racial prejudice and wartime hysteria, and we must learn from the past and dedicate ourselves as a nation to renewing and strengthening equality, justice and freedom,” Clinton wrote.
Along Abbots Creek in Davidson County, it gets real personal
Atoning for wrongs committed against each other and seeking forgiveness is one of the most wrenchingly difficult acts in the human experience, whether for individuals or families or states or nations. However, the importance of atonement has been recognized for thousands of years.
Jews have celebrated Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, for 3,400 years. Atonement is the most important principal of Christianity, with emphasis given to the importance of personal atonement during the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday.
Nevertheless, atonement remains difficult because it forces us to admit that we made those mistakes; that our families made mistakes as repugnant as any in history.
Last summer, I attended the Miller family reunion in Lexington. My mother’s mother was a Miller whose ancestors go back to when Gorg Miller bought land and settled along Abbots Creek in 1752. One of the outings was a visit to a family graveyard a half-hour walk into a dense forest … a graveyard so old that the last person buried there was in 1890.
We finally found the graveyard in a thicket, three dozen or so grave stones and monuments surrounded by an ornamental iron fence. The slaves were buried outside the fence with no markers. The most imposing monument was that of Civil War Captain John Miller.
Although I do deeply regret the mistakes my family members made in thinking that slavery was justifiable, I do not have any bitter feelings towards those who owned slaves and fought for the confederates. However, I do feel compelled to find ways that I can atone for their mistakes … like supporting the pardon of Governor Holden.
By pardoning Governor Holden, we are not merely looking back to atone for mistakes made 140 years ago, we are looking forward to ensure that our children and their children and generations 140 years from now do not impeach, convict and remove a governor from office for taking a stand against the likes of the Ku Klux Klan.
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Please subscribe to the John Davis Political Report for the 2011-2012 election cycle. The Premium subscription is $485 a year. Subscribe online today at www.johndavisconsulting.com/subscribe.
The Advantage subscription is $4,850 per year. This subscription covers the John Davis Political Report with unlimited distribution rights to your employees or trade association members, along with private political briefings for you, your employees and leadership team, all conducted personally by me at your offices or conference locations. Call me if you are interested and I will come visit with you: 919-696-3859.
Sincerely,
John N. Davis, President
[audio:http://www.johndavisconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Audio-March-3-Pop-Growth.mp3|titles=Audio March 3 Pop Growth] “If they [Republicans in Congress] focus only on austerity and neglect to offer a pro-growth message, their attempt to tame the budget will be of limited appeal and could prove to be their undoing.” Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011 Political Implications of NC’s 84% Voter Population Growth
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“If they [Republicans in Congress] focus only on austerity and neglect to offer a pro-growth message, their attempt to tame the budget will be of limited appeal and could prove to be their undoing.” Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011
Political Implications of NC’s 84% Voter Population Growth Since 1990
Granted, yesterday’s big news that North Carolina’s population has grown 18.5% in one decade is something to write about. However, in order to see just how dramatically we have changed politically you should take a look at the 84% growth in registered voters since 1990.
The 84% growth in registered voters since 1990 has yielded confounding results: the political market share of Democrats has declined by 30%, yet we have twice as many liberals. There are a million more Republicans, yet the market share of conservatives has declined by 20%.
Caution: The greatest political challenge ahead for the new GOP legislative majority is how to initiate conservative solutions to state government problems without alienating the majority of voters who prefer results over party or ideology … voters who are more likely to say that they are “liberal” (17.6%) or “moderate” (37.3%) than “conservative” (41.4%).[i]
Voter population growth yields fewer Democrats: In 1990, there were 3.3 million voters in North Carolina. As of February 26, 2011, there are 6.1 million voters … an 84% increase.
- In 1990,[ii] 64% of NC registered voters were Democrats
- Today, only 45% of registered voters are Democrats (30% decline)
- In 1990, 31% of NC registered voters were Republicans
- Today, the Republican share 32% (no change)
- In 1990, 6% of NC registered voters were “Unaffiliated”
- Today, the “Unaffiliated” registration is 24% (a 400% increase)
Half of NC’s Voters are in 14 Urban Counties
The geography of North Carolina is unchanged. The mountains are still standing where they stood in 1587 when the “Lost Colony” of British immigrants first settled on Roanoke Island. The ocean waves still wash ashore along the coast just like they did in 1781 when North Carolina patriot militiamen defeated Cornwallis at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the Revolutionary War. It’s the profile of the people who make up modern day North Carolina that has undergone profound change … change driven by dramatic population growth in the last few decades.
Throughout most of our history, we were a Southern state … rural and conservative. Today, we are more diverse … more like the nation than the South; more urban and ideologically moderate.
Today, half of North Carolina’s 6.1 million voters reside in 14 counties; the other half reside in the other 86 counties. That means that once the new legislative maps are drawn, half of the state Senators and House members will be from 14 counties, the other half from the other 86 counties.
Non-Southern Newcomers Remix Liberals, Moderates, and Conservatives
As to the ideological shift, according to polling and democratic research conducted throughout the past two decades, two-thirds of the newcomers to North Carolina are not from the South. The leading states sending new voters to North Carolina are Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Ohio. Although these new voters have caused the 30% decline in the number of registered Democrats, their predominantly progressive political ideology has led to a doubling of self-described liberals.
Since the early 1990s, while serving as President of NCFREE, I asked the following question in all statewide polls: “For most government policies do you prefer the solutions offered by liberals, moderates, or conservatives?” (If Liberal, ask …) “Would that be very liberal or just liberal?” (If conservative, ask …) “Would that be very conservative or just conservative?”
Prior to 1995, the total “Liberal” was always a single digit number in statewide public opinion polls. In 1995, the total “Liberal” increased to 10.3% (“Liberal” 8.8%; “Very Liberal” 1.5%).[i]
Today, polls show the total self-described liberals in North Carolina consistently closer to 20%, with conservatives around 45% and moderates around 35%.
According to Tom Jensen with Public Policy Polling, their latest North Carolina poll shows 16% of our voters describing themselves as liberal, 40% moderate, and 44% conservative. (For emphasis: 56% NOT claiming to be conservative … in a Republican-friendly year!)
A new study released this week by Gallup shows that based on tracking polls throughout 2010 North Carolina is 41.4% conservative, 37.3% moderate and 17.6% liberal. Only two Southern states are more liberal and less conservative than North Carolina: Florida and Virginia. It’s no coincidence that those three states are the only Southern states carried by President Obama.
Although liberals and moderates combined are already well over half of all voters, their share of voters in urban areas increases considerably. Restated for emphasis: Half of all voters in North Carolina’s 100 counties live in 14 urban counties. These 14 counties were carried by the Obama/Biden ticket with 1,027,114 votes to only 692,939 for the GOP McCain/Palin ticket.
Conservative Governance of a Moderate, Battleground State
As stated at the outset, the greatest political challenge ahead for the new GOP legislative majority is how to initiate conservative solutions to state government problems without alienating the majority of voters who prefer results over party or ideology … voters who are more likely to say that they are “liberal” or “moderate” than “conservative”.[i]
Karl Rove writes in today’s Wall Street Journal, “If they [Republicans in Congress] focus only on austerity and neglect to offer a pro-growth message, their attempt to tame the budget will be of limited appeal and could prove to be their undoing.” Rove concludes, “Americans today want to know what steps Republicans will take to create more jobs, bigger paychecks and greater prosperity.”
There you have it. The way to meet the challenge of governing as a conservative in a moderate state is to stay keenly focused on what North Carolinians want … the same thing all Americans want, “more jobs, bigger paychecks and greater prosperity.”
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[i] NCFREE statewide survey of 800 registered voters in North Carolina conducted between the dates of February 27 – March 3, 1995. The survey is based upon actual telephone interviews with registered voters.
[ii] http://www.gallup.com/poll/125066/State-States.aspx
[iii] http://www.gallup.com/poll/125066/State-States.aspx
[iv] 1990 voter registration numbers are from the State Board of Elections. My sincere thanks to Jacque Blaeske who took the time to find them and send them to me.
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Please subscribe to the John Davis Political Report for the 2011-2012 election cycle. The Premium subscription is $485 a year. Subscribe online today at www.johndavisconsulting.com/subscribe.
The Advantage subscription is $4,850 per year. This subscription covers the John Davis Political Report with unlimited distribution rights to your employees or trade association members, along with private political briefings for you, your employees and leadership team, all conducted personally by me at your offices or conference locations.
Subscribe today at www.johndavisconsulting.com/subscribe.
Sincerely,
John N. Davis, President
