News

With smart use of veto, beleaguered governor can be seen as champion.

The North Carolina-based political consulting firm of Bates & Mills Consulting has won three awards in the American Association of Political Consultants annual contest that recognizes the best of the best in political communications.

Recent articles have questioned whether the election results in North Carolina have diminished Charlotte's chances of attracting the Democratic National Convention in 2012. If anything, the results should have increased the odds. Despite losses here, Democrats in North Carolina performed better than those in most other swing states, including the ones vying for the convention.

Throughout her campaign for governor, Bev Perdue was attacked by both the right and left for being too close to the Raleigh political establishment. What Perdue's critics didn't, and probably still don't, understand is that the type of reform North Carolina needs can best come from an insider. The governor has had a front-row seat to state government for 20 years. She knows how it works and where it has failed. Fixing state government will take an abundance of political capital and solid relationships in the legislative branch. She has both.

The mailer is one of the finalists in Politics magazine's Reed Awards. It was produced by Thomas Mills Communications, which has offices in Carrboro and Washington, D.C.

In North Carolina the political winds are shifting. For the first time in over 30 years the state voted for a Democrat for president. Kay Hagan, another Democrat, unseated Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole who, a year earlier, was widely considered unbeatable. Democrats also gained a congressional seat, giving them an 8-5 advantage in the Tar Heel delegation.

As the presidential campaign enters the final weeks, North Carolina is still a battleground. While the state has been reliably Republican for over 30 years, polls show that the race between Obama and McCain is in a dead heat and possibly leaning toward the Democrat.

"As pollsters, pundits and others make their predictions, African-American turnout has been the focus of arguments and discussions. However, there is another side of the coin. What will turnout be like in the conservative Christian community?"

"The state is one of the fastest-growing in the nation, and over the next few decades Electoral College strength will move South and West. North Carolina is now part of the new battleground."

"While having national attention focused on the North Carolina this spring is exciting, an Obama nomination could put our state in play in the November general election for the first time since 1992."