Barry Smith - In the Loop

A watchdog group is calling on boards of elections across North Carolina to be prepared for an onslaught of voters in the May 6 primary and at early voting sites which open across the state on Thursday.

“It’s like preparing for a hurricane and a week-long rock concert at the same time,” Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, said in an press release sent out by email. “Officials need to plan for every contingency, add extra personnel, anticipate where bottlenecks will happen and keep educating the public about changes in conditions.”

The admonishment reminds me of election night in November 1980, when, as a reporter for the Burlington Times-News, I was at the Alamance County Courthouse and learned that there had been a ballot shortage in Rockingham County. That was the election where Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter for president.

The ballot shortage was significant to us because, at the time, Rockingham County was in the same congressional district as Alamance County and there was a close race for the congressional seat between incumbent Democratic Rep. L. Richardson Preyer and Republican challenger Gene Johnston.

I ended up traveling to Wentworth, the Rockingham County seat, that night to get results from balloting and cover the ballot shortage. I spent the night in a Reidsville hotel and wrote my stories the next morning. We were an afternoon paper then, so that gave me time to get the full story in the paper the next day.

It appears that the turnout by the Reagan Revolution surprised the local elections board. Elections officials said that the ballot shortage was actually more of a ballot distribution problem. Ballots were redistributed and voters who had originally not been allowed to vote because the precinct ran out of ballots got to do so by the end of the day.

If my memory serves me correctly, sheriff’s deputies offered those voters rides back to the polling places if they needed them.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue has decided to take her negative ads off the air. Will others follow suit? Don’t count on it.

Perdue’s new ad touts her positive approach.

“Wherever I go people ask me, ‘Can’t we stop the negative campaign?’” Perdue says. “The simple answer is yes.”

The response from the campaign of her opponent, state Treasurer Richard Moore, was not so positive.

Said Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff: “This is no surprise given that the Perdue campaign had to pull their last negative ad because it was untrue and even her ‘positive’ TV ad has been called misleading by the Associated Press. How about a pledge to tell the truth?”

I think that vigorous debate, including communications which help voters understand inconsistencies in a candidate’s record, are helpful to voters. But the debate and ads don’t have to be carried out in a way that rip each other apart and cause voters to get discouraged.

Will the days of a candidate referring to a rival as “my worthy opponent” ever return?

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has expanded his lead over New York Sen. and former first lady Hillary Clinton in the race for the North Carolina Democratic Primary.

According to the most recent Public Policy Polling survey, Obama leads Clinton by 55 percent to 34 percent. The 21 percent margin is up from a week ago, when Obama led by just 1 percentage point. The gains followed a major speech by Obama in Fayetteville, where he talked about the war in Iraq, and a speech on race in Pennsylvania.

Up until a few days ago, it looked as if Barack Obama was surging in Ohio and Texas, which have their primaries on Tuesday. The latest survey however, by Public Policy Polling, shows a strong stand by Hillary Clinton in both states.

Clinton is leading Obama by 50 percent to 44 percent in Texas and by 51 percent to 42 percent in Ohio.

In the GOP contest, presumed nominee John McCain is leading Mike Huckabee by 50 percent to 33 percent in Ohio, with Ron Paul garnering support from 10 percent of Republicans. In Paul’s home state of Texas, Paul has 6 percent. McCain leads with 50 percent, compared to Huckabee’s 38 percent.

Filing for the 2008 elections in North Carolina closed at noon Friday, and there are a couple of noteworthy surprises.One is that Insurance Commissioner Jim Long of Burlington, the longest-serving member of the Council of State, decided not to run for re-election to his post. Long, in endorsing his assistant commissioner for the post, says it’s time to turn the office over to a new generation.

Another surprise was that former House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan, R-Moore, filed to run for superintendent of public instruction. Morgan lost his re-election bid in a GOP primary nearly two years ago after the state Republican Party opposed him, citing his alliance to share power with Democrats.

Click here for a complete list of candidates running for state and federal offices in North Carolina.

Apparently some American voters trust their congressman to legislate for them, but don’t want them in the White House. That rings true for Ohio’s Democratic 10^th District U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Texas’ Republican 14^th District U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.

According to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, both are no danger of losing their respective party’s bid to get renominated for a seat in Congress. But they’re trailing in their party’s race for president within their own congressional district.

The poll shows Kucinich with support from 55 percent of Democrats in his Ohio district for Congress. His closest rival, Joe Cimperman, has 29 percent.

However, the district’s voters apparently aren’t planning on casting a symbolic vote for Kucinich. Democrats in the district favor Hillary Clinton with 55 percent. Barack Obama has 31 percent.

Texas’ 14^th District Republicans appear ready to nominate Paul for another congressional term. He leads challenger Chris Peden by 63 percent to 30 percent.

However, Republicans in the district, when asked about who they’ll support in the presidential preference primary, favor John McCain with 49 percent. Mike Huckabee comes in second with 27 percent, with 18 percent supporting Paul.

Both Ohio and Texas have their primaries on Tuesday.

It’s going to take a lot of extra water to clean up all the mud that’s being slung around in the Democratic gubernatorial race.

The campaigns of Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Treasurer Richard Moore have been pointing fingers for months. Today, the word “hypocrisy” was used by both campaigns, describing the other’s camp, of course.

Moore’s campaign attacked Perdue for not disclosing information regarding New Bern real estate interests on her statement of economic interest. The Moore camp linked the real estate interest to Perdue’s push for the Neuse River Bridge in Craven County.

Not to be outdone, the Perdue campaign used the word “hypocrisy” in its criticism of Moore’s statement of economic interest, arguing that Moore was vague in his reporting of mutual fund investments. Moore, as state treasurer, is responsible for investing the state pension fund.

The word “hypocrisy” also appeared in an attack by the Moore campaign when it learned that Perdue was in New York City on Wednesday. Moore’s campaign said Perdue was raising money on Wall Street, an action that Perdue has criticized Moore for doing.

The latest polling numbers show that the race for governor this fall could be a tight one. Of course, we don’t know for sure who’ll be on the ballot yet. But a poll just released by Public Policy Polling shows Charlotte Republican Mayor Pat McCrory in a dead heat with both of the two potential Democratic Party nominees, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore. All these candidates have 41 percent in potential November match-ups.

Both Moore and Perdue lead other potential GOP rivals, however. They are former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, Salisbury attorney Bill Graham and Johnston County state Sen. Fred Smith. Their leads range anywhere from nine to 13 points.

Being environmentally friendly has become a hot topic among a couple of the candidates running for lieutenant governor.

The Conservation PAC has endorsed Dan Besse for the post. Hampton Dellinger’s campaign sent out an email touting former Vice President Al Gore’s praise of Dellinger. Both Besse and Dellinger opposed permitting Duke Energy to build the new Cliffside coal-fired power plant in Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

State Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, however, supported the plant, which would be located in his senatorial district. Dalton’s campaign web site lists a number of his environmental accomplishments while in the Senate, including spearheading an effort to add Chimney Rock Park to the state park system, cosponsoring the Clean Water Act and other land preservation acts.

One of the more surprising developments to come out of Monday’s filings for public office was that of Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, filed to run for re-election to his House seat. Folwell had planned to run for state treasurer.

Had he run for treasurer, he would have faced Rep. Bill Daughtridge, R-Nash, in a Republican primary. A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed Folwell trailing Daughtridge, but not by an insurmountable amount. Dautridge had 21 percent to Folwell’s 14 percent, with 65 percent undecided.

“Citizens across North Carolina have given me terrific opportunities over the past few months to outline conservative solutions to the problems affecting us all,” Folwell said in a statement. “I can best accomplish those results in the North Carolina House.”

Democrats announced in the race for state treasurer include state Sen. Janet Cowell of Wake County, Michael Weisel of Wake County and David Young, a Buncombe County commissioner.

The current treasurer, Richard Moore, is not running for re-election. He is running for governor.