#NCSEN: Harris campaign challenging narrative of Tillis inevitability

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 24, 2014 

There’s been quite a bit of suspicion for some time that Charlotte pastor Mark Harris’ Senate campaign was merely a stalking horse to peel Tea Party votes away from  Greg Brannon.  Harris labels himself a conservative — like Thom Tillis does.  But he’s named former congressman, NCGOP chairman and Ripon Society fanboy Robin Hayes as his campaign chairman.  Hayes’ longtime political strategist, Tom Perdue, has also come aboard the Harris effort.

Observers have been quick to note how — in forums and other public events — Harris and his supporters are quick to criticize Tea party favorite Brannon, but are silent on Thom Tillis, the favorite of Establishment, left-of-center Republicans.  In some forums, Harris has spoken in defense of Tillis on toll roads and other aspects of the General Assembly’s agenda. 

But things appear to be changing on that front.  I’ve seen polling from pros — with campaigns and unaffiliated — suggesting that Harris appears to be getting a good chunk of votes in Tillis’ Charlotte-area home base.  Perdue, the Harris strategist, has upped the ante a little bit with some crowing to Roll Call, the DC-based “newspaper of Capitol Hill”:

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#NCSEN: And NOW for THE REST of the story …

about Dr. Greg Brannon.....

The Daily Haymaker by Brant Clifton, February 24, 2014

Binky, The Shih-tzu, and the rest of their knucklehead mainstream media pals have been piling on Greg Brannon these past few days — amid giggling from Brannon’s political foes — since that finding from the jury in that civil case was announced.

Pete Kaliner, an Asheville talk radio host who used to do some serious reporting in Charlotte, decided to dig a little deeper into Brannon’s courtroom experience.  On Friday, Kaliner devoted an hour to Robert Rice, the CEO of the tech company at the center of the lawsuit in question. I encourage every one of you to listen to the full interview (about 40 minutes).   I did, and I learned a few things that I never would have known if I had relied on Binky and his friends:

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Hampstead Democrat files for U.S. Senate, giving Hagan a primary

Port City Daily, February 24, 2014

The candidate field continues to expand as filing for the 2014 elections enters its final week.

New in the mix is Will Stewart, a Hampstead-based Democrat who filed Monday for U.S. Senate–meaning incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan, also a Democrat, will face a primary in May. Four Republicans had previously filed for that seat: Mark Harris of Charlotte, Heather Grant of Wilkesboro, Ted Alexander of Shelby, and Greg Brannon of Cary.

READ ABOUT IT HERE! 

#NCSEN: Pro-amnesty, pro-gay marriage national group backs Tillis

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 19, 2014 

Erick Erickson, over at RedState, has issued the clarion call:

Put the American Opportunity Alliance on your radar. Conservatives need to be wary and need to follow money from this group to Republican candidates.

A group of billionaires and multi-billionaires intent on pushing gay marriage and amnesty has started an effort to pump money into the Republican Party. The Politico report makes clear as well that these guys want to align Republican interests to Wall Street. As we see more and more every day, Wall Street’s interests are not the same as Main Street’s interests.

This group will push social liberalism within the GOP. They’ll start with gay marriage, but no doubt over time will transition to abortion rights. That’s the way these things typically happen. They’ll push amnesty too. And they’ll want to convince the GOP that what is good for Wall Street is good for America, which is less and less true these days. [...]

Politico has more on this group.  And LOOK at who has earned their blessing:

CONTINUE READING. 

THE MANY FACES OF KAY

Priorities NC, February 14, 2014

The Wall Street Journal has noticed the ever evolving senator from North Carolina:

Defying physics, ObamaCare has managed to create energies where none existed before: confusion over policies, anger over lost doctors, panic over costs. Most amazing has been the law’s ability to produce entirely new Washington life forces. The scientific formula goes like this: Another day + Another ObamaCare disaster = A New Kay Hagan.

And Kimberlay Strassel was just getting started saying calling her out in a number of ways.

READ MORE!

#NCSEN: The sock puppet grasps for straws

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 14, 2014

Poor Kay Hagan.  She’s apparently laying awake at night worrying about these Koch Brothers.  Who are they?  What do they have to do with all of this rampant unemployment and cancellation of health insurance policies?  Were they the guys who pulled her hair in grade school?  Were they the guys that laughed at her when she invited them to the Sadie Hawkins Dance?

Nope.  They are libertarian-minded wealthy donors to a lot of free-market oriented causes.  But to hear Kay tell it — and boy does she —  these guys are trying to destroy her and take over the world.  It’s so much easier to talk about two guys you’ve never heard of who can’t even vote in the 2014 US Senate race in North Carolina than to talk about your abysmal voting record that has drifted to the left of even Harry Reid. 

CONTINUED.  

#NCSEN: PPP poll shows we’re headed for a GOP runoff.

The Daily Haymaker by Brant Clifton • February 13, 2014 

Public Policy Polling has released its latest numbers on the 2014 US Senate race. The Democrat  pollster is finding what a lot of us have known.This thing — at least on the GOP side — is WIDE OPEN.

The latest survey shows state House speaker Thom Tillis leading the GOP primary field with 20 percent, followed by Greg Brannon and Heather Grant at 13 percent each. (One month ago, in this same poll, Tillis had 19 percent, followed by 11 percent each for Brannon and Grant.)

Ted Alexander pulls 10 percent, Mark Harris is at 8 percent, and Edward Kryn is at 2 percent. (If my math is right, that ads up to a 34 percent showing for UNDECIDED.  Yessirrree. WIDE OPEN.) 

The latest survey shows state House speaker Thom Tillis leading the GOP primary field with 20 percent, followed by Greg Brannon and Heather Grant at 13 percent each. (One month ago, in this same poll, Tillis had 19 percent, followed by 11 percent each for Brannon and Grant.)

READ MORE.  

#NCSEN: In 2011, Speaker Thom thought state health insurance exchanges OK

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 12, 2014

Everyone agrees ObamaCare will be a huge issue in the 2014 elections.  In 2013, the General Assembly said NO to accepting federal money to set up a state health care exchange as part of ObamaCare’s implementation.  We reported on Tillis telling business leaders around the state in private meetings, around that time, that it’s not about IF we get ObamaCare, but HOW we manage it.

Tillis took to Facebook to respond to critics — claiming he has always been against government health care exchanges.  But a report today on The Daily Caller web site raises questions about that particular spin from Speaker Thom:

CONTINUE READING.  

Washington Republicans help fill Tillis’ war chest

Charlotte Observer, Jim Morrill, February 10, 2014

Cornelius Republican Thom Tillis has added 10 more U.S. senators and more than a dozen state lawmakers to the list of donors to his Senate campaign, according to a new campaign report.

Tillis has raised $1.8 million, more than three times any GOP opponent. However, he trails Sen. Kay Hagan, who raised $9.9 million last year.

Tillis’ nearest Republican competitor financially is Greg Brannon, a Cary physician who raised $524,500.

Charlotte pastor Mark Harris, who Monday picked up the endorsement of a candidate who just left the race, raised $406,000, according to his campaign. He has nearly $206,000 on hand, more than Brannon.

Tillis, speaker of the N.C. House, continued to benefit from support of GOP congressional leaders. Earlier donations came from the political action committees of House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

CONTINUE READING.

#NCSEN #NCGA: 2012 Tillis House campaign accepted $4K from wife of figure in federal bribery case

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 10, 2014

North Carolina state House speaker Thom Tillis has established quite a reputation as a prolific fundraiser. He’s been credited with providing the ammo needed for the GOP to take over the legislature.  He’s tapping that skill to fuel his current campaign for the US Senate.

One particular contribution in 2012 to Tillis’ House campaign has ties to a North Carolina political scandal that broke in 2003 and ended in federal court in 2010.  Documents on file with the North Carolina State Board of Elections indicate Jane Wright of Wake Forest donated $4,000 to the Tillis House campaign in October 2012.   She is the wife of Thomas R. “Ricky” Wright, who made news in 2003:

Read more!  

#NCSEN #NCGA: 2012 Tillis House campaign accepted $4K from wife of figure in federal bribery case

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton • February 10, 2014

House speaker Thom Tillis has established quite a reputation as a prolific fundraiser.  He’s been credited with providing the ammo needed for the GOP to take over the legislature.  He’s tapping that skill to fuel his current campaign for the US Senate.

One particular contribution in 2012 to Tillis’ House campaign has ties to a North Carolina political scandal that broke in 2003 and ended in federal court in 2010.  Documents on file with the North Carolina State Board of Elections indicate Jane Wright of Wake Forest donated $4,000 to the Tillis House campaign in October 2012.   She is the wife of Thomas R. “Ricky” Wright, who made news in 2003:

CONTINUE READING.

#NCSEN: Theaming up with Thom, and Piling On

If you want a good case study for why newspapers — especially those in Guilford County — are failing, check out Doug Clark’s nonsense in the pages of The Greensboro News & Record.  He’s got a lot of anger and resentment bottled up — likely resulting from all those years in school where he got beat up and had his lunch money taken.  He’s reliably leftist , and –interestingly — reliably in line with Theam Tillis’ talking points: 

“Republican U.S. Senate candidate Greg Brannon is scheduled to defend himself in a civil court case next week against allegations he misled a pair of investors in a technology start-up,

READ THE ARTICLE.  

#NCSEN: FreedomWorks + Greg Brannon = Game changer

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton, February 4, 2014

Tea Party groups across the state and the Brannon for US Senate campaign are quietly lining up supporters to attend a “FreedomWorks BBQ” in Raleigh on Tuesday evening. Sources familiar with the event’s back story say that this event can be inferred as a coming-together of the Brannon campaign and the national, high-profile Tea Party-affiliated political organization. 

FreedomWorks formed as the Tea Party was just picking up steam in 2009.  It has been a clearinghouse for limited government ideas, and has led the way in educating the public on those limited government principles favored by The Tea Party.   FreedomWorks has also aligned itself with anti-establishment candidates with limited government platforms at the state and federal levels.

READ MORE! 

Tillis’ Senate bid walks tightrope with tea party activists

Speaker Tillis plans Senate campaign that 'goes all the way to November...'
If he keeps skipping candidate forums, will he make it past May 6?

BY JIM MORRILL, jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com, February 1, 2014 

This time the empty chair was close to home.

It was at a restaurant in Birkdale Village, in a packed room at a U.S. Senate forum sponsored by a group called Lake Norman Conservatives. Three of the invited Republican candidates were there.

Missing: N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, who lives just 10 minutes away. He was at a Durham fundraiser.

READ IT HERE.

#NCSEN: Bought and Paid For?

Kay Hagan’s largest donor appears to be Emily’s List — $404,000 over the span of her career 

The Daily Haymaker, Brant Clifton, February 1, 2014

The mainstream media could do the right thing and cover the upcoming Senate contest in terms of the issues. Inform the voters, keep their readers / viewers up to date — that kind of thing. Or they could be lazy and cover it in terms of the dollars chase.  

Looking at the dollars chase, a troubling development rises to the surface.  The two candidates anointed by the media and the establishment — Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis — have campaign treasuries stuffed with large contributions from out-of-state and shadowy sources.  If you’ve got six figures coming in to you from large, shadowy and out-of-state interests, who are you going to listen to when the rubber meets the road? 

READ MORE.

#NCSEN: Brannon picks up major Tea Party endorsement

News broke last night that a second major Tea Party organization here in North Carolina has endorsed Republican US Senate candidate Greg Brannon.

Moore Tea Citizens – one of the largest and most influential grassroots organizations in the state — gave its blessings to the Cary OB-GYN’s effort to unseat incumbent Kay Hagan Monday evening.  MTC president Miriam Chu announced the news to Brannon while he was in town opening his new Southern Pines campaign headquarters.

READ MORE!  

Non-NC money for Hagan's re-election exceeds in-state contributions, $4.3M to $2.4M...

Senator Hagan Campaign Finance Analysis & Infographic

With the start of the candidate filing period rapidly approaching, the 2014 US Senate race in North Carolina is heating up. 

Incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan now has one announced primary opponent in Will Stewart, an owner of a computer repair and website building business in Pender County, and one potential rival in Dr. Fred Westphal, a retired professor from Fayetteville.

READ IT HERE!

#NCSEN: Giving Kay a helping hand

The Daily Haymaker by Brant Clifton, January 21, 2014

Yep.  You read that right.  You can just imagine that –when you’re scurrying all over the nation scooping up special interest money — it can be a challenge to find time to sit down and properly fill out your campaign finance disclosure forms. 

Well, being the southern gentlemen we are here, we thought we’d take a moment to help out our state’s junior US senator in this area.  Cecilia Boone of Austin, TX is listed on Senator Sock Puppet’s financial disclosure form as not having an employer and being “a homemaker.”Actually, a simple Google search helped me discover that Ms. Boone — who donated $2600 to Hagan on May 7 — is the chairman of Planned Parenthood Foundation of America.  Yep — ground zero for The Abortion Fan Club.™  

Read the article!  

A different look at NC’s Senate race

NC SPIN, January 18, 2014

by John Frank, Under the Dome, News and Observer, January 17, 2014

North Carolina political consultant John Davis says he sees a Kay Hagan-Thom Tillis showdown in the U.S. Senate race and expects Tillis to win.

In his recent subscriber-only Political Report, Davis said it’s in the numbers. For starters, he says, the landscape isn’t good for Hagan. No N.C. Democrat has won a second term in the U.S. Senate since 1968, the party is “in shambles,” polls show it tied, midterms aren’t kind to the White House and Hagan told the lie of the year when it came to healthcare.

“So, if it comes down to a race between Sen. Kay Hagan and Speaker Thom Tillis, it is highly likely that the two equally capable and equally funded combatants will be surrounded by equally savvy consultants and have the backing of equally malicious super PACs,” he writes. “Which brings me back to those facts and numbers (above), and why I believe that Thom Tillis is likely to upset Kay Hagan in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race.”

CONTINUE READING.

#NCSEN It’s Over: PPP & The Shih-Tzu anoint Senator Thom

by Brant Clifton, January 14, 2014

John Frank says we might as well forget this primary thing.  Thom Tillis is leaving everybody in the dust with his “solid lead.”  

If you are a supporter of one of the other US Senate GOP candidates, reading The Shih-Tzu’s article might leave you a little down.  Me — I like to look at a poll’s details. 

Public Policy Polling’s survey has head-to-head standings that look like this for the GOP field:  Tillis 19%, Brannon 11%, Grant 11%, Harris 8%, Flynn 7%.  There is a margin of error of +/- 4.1% for the GOP primary.  If you add up the vote percentages for the five candidates — That’s 56 percent.  So, undecided and NO opinion are at 44 percent.  Take that 44 percent, and the MOE, and Tillis’ 8 point “lead” is pretty much meaningless. 

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