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September 2008
Republicans strike at Perdue comment
Republicans are criticizing a comment on bank stability Beverly Perdue made last week during a visit to The Daily Reflector.
The Democratic candidate for governor discussed briefly Friday economic conditions, saying major banks based in the state are stable despite falling stock values.
With Citigroup buying Charlotte-based Wachovia on Monday, the state Republican Party sent out links to the article arguing that Perdue was out of touch, the News & Observer reported in its Under the Dome blog.
“When it comes to the struggles of ordinary people, Beverly Perdue just doesn’t get it,” party chairwoman Linda Daves said.
Click here for an audio of Perdue’s comment to Reflector reporters last week and the question that prompted it.
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Today’s Leaders for Change event postponed
Because of news reports of Congress likely being in session this morning, today’s N.C. Leaders for Change events have been postponed.
Former Gov. Jim Hunt, N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, David Price, Brad Miller, G.K. Butterfield and N.C. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand were scheduled to appear in support of Senator Obama at 12:15 p.m. at the Hilton Greenville after a 9:15 a.m. stop in Raleigh. The event was to focus on how an Obama Administration will address the challenges facing eastern North Carolina families.
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Pompeo: ‘This is when we can truly shine’
With 37 days left until Election Day, Hollywood starpower continued to shine over Greenville as two more actresses dropped by East Carolina University to encourage students to get out and vote.
Ellen Pompeo (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Old School”) and Danielle Panabaker (“Shark,” “Mr. Brooks”) spoke during a voter-registration drive and rally for Sen. Barack Obama in Mendenhall Student Center on Sunday afternoon.
Panabaker opened the event and spoke about North Carolina’s worries specifically, saying manufacturing jobs have gone down approximately 30 percent and the unemployment rate is the highest its been in 5 years.
“We have a real opportunity to make a big difference,” Panabaker said. “The past eight years have been really tough … It’s a really, really scary time right now. And fortunately, we have a candidate like Barack Obama who can change all of that.”
Pompeo focused on Americans’ perseverance and how we can come back from crisis, once again.
“Like so many generations before us who’ve been faced with critical moments — they have their JFKs and their Martin Luther Kings and their Kenndeys — and I believe we have Barack Obama for our moment,” Pompeo said. “This is our moment. And moments like this are terrible for our country, but they’re also fantastic for our country because this is when we can truly shine.”
“Every obstacle that we’ve been faced with in this country that seemed insurmountable, we’ve proven all of the skeptics wrong and we’ve risen above and we’ve overcome,” she later added. “We will overcome this time, too.”
The event was the second rally sponsored by the Obama campaign at ECU in three days. On Friday, actress Jurnee Smollett (“The Great Debaters,” “Eve’s Bayou”) also appeared urging younger voters to get involved.
“The youth are the ones who are going to be left with this country and this mess,” Pompeo said on Sunday. “They have to deal with the issues of college loans and the environment. It’s all about the future.”
“This is my first presidential election voting and this is my generation,” Panabaker added. “So it’s really important to me that I get my peers riled up about somebody that I believe in so passionately.”
Members of ECU for Obama and supporters concluded the rally by spending the day recruiting voters at their doorsteps for a program called “100,000 Knocks for Barack.”
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Smollett: ‘Let’s all join togeter’
Actress Jurnee Smollett visited ECU’s campus Friday afternoon, energizing its students to get involved in this year’s election on the way.
After an entrance that brought most of the room into a circle dancing around the “Great Debaters” star, Smollett jumped on a Mendenhall stage and encouraged the crowd to give their support to Sen. Barack Obama, specifically citing his plans to give a $40,000 tax break to college students and to raise the Pell Grant. She didn’t have to try hard, as no supporters of the opposition attended the rally.
But Smollett, 22, stressed the importance of staying involved with the campaign. “They say between the ages of 18 and 35, they say we’re apathetic, and that we get riled up and pumped and fired up about something, and then we don’t close the deal,” Smollett said. “So this is the last leg of the race. Let’s all join together.”
Breaking the stereotype that her age group is uniformly indifferent is one of the reasons why Ashley Glover, junior communications major at ECU, likes seeing celebrities get involved in politics.
“I’m excited about people coming out and campaigning and getting us excited about (the election),” Glover said.
And that’s one of the reasons Smollett’s been travelling to college campuses. “I feel that often times, younger voters feel that their voice doesn’t matter,” Smollett said later on. “And really it’s been the youth driving this campaign, so they’ve proven the skeptics wrong.”
Smollett, who has been on the road since January, has also expressed a desire to get more African American citizens registered and says spreading the word is the best way to do so.
“This is something that goes back to Barack’s work earlier in his life,” Smollett said. “He was registering voters — African American, Caucasian voters, everyone he could reach — in Chicago during Clinton’s election. So he believed that every one should have that chance to participate in the process and to use their voice. He wants to make sure that everyone who wants to be registered, is registered.”
On Sunday, the rally continues with appearances by Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Danielle Panabaker, known for her roles in “Shark” and “Mr. Brooks,” at 11 a.m. Sunday in Mendenhall Great Room 2.
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Bev Perdue drops by
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue stopped by Greenville on her way home to New Bern today to discuss the campaign and the Congressional bailout proposal.
Perdue, the state’s lieutenant governor, said she listened to people express frustration with the instability in the nation’s financial institutions and the congressional bailout proposal during meetings earlier Friday with state employees, advocates for people with developmental disabilities and a labor group.
“There is this sense of, ‘I’m being wronged by the government,’ but then there’s this sense of really understanding that something has to be fixed to salvage the financial backbone of America,” she said.
North Carolinians can take comfort in knowing the major banks that make North Carolina their base of operations are stable, she said. However, they too are seeing drops in their stock prices.
“I think it proves everything can be rattled by an economic crisis,” she said.
North Carolina’s economic woes began with the mass closings of textile and other manufacturers at the beginning of the decade, she said.
“We’ve built those jobs back through education and science and technology and now we are, or we were, fundamentally healthy and on the right track,” Perdue said. “Even in North Carolina in the last six months things have been pretty good but foreclosures have been up in the last 90 days.”
Perdue took an opportunity to highlight her differences from Republican opponent, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCory by pointing out he believes community colleges should stop offering high school equivalency degrees.
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‘Grey’s’ and ‘Shark’ stars to speak for Obama at ECU
Ellen Pompeo, who stars as Meredith Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Danielle Panabaker, star of “Shark,” will be at East Carolina University Sunday to speak in support of Barack Obama. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Mendenhall Great Room. Pompeo and Panabaker are expected to talk about the importance of registering to vote and getting involved in the election. The deadline for voter registration is Oct. 10 and early voting starts Oct. 16. The actresses will also make stops at UNC Wilmington, Campbell University, Meredith College, UNC Pembroke and NC State University.
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Official: Politically themed clothing OK at polls
North Carolina poll workers won’t play fashion police when voters cast their ballots Nov. 4, said a state elections official.
Workers at the State Board of Elections received about 30 calls and e-mails Tuesday from voters who received an e-mail stating it’s against the law to wear politically themed clothing — T-shirts, buttons, caps for example — into polls on Election Day, said Don Wright, staff attorney with the N.C. State Board of Elections.
It appears the e-mail stemmed from a Monday broadcast of “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” which originates from WBLS 107.5 in New York, he said.
The show, broadcast on five North Carolina stations including ones in New Bern and Rocky Mount, reported that people who tried casting early votes in New York and several other states were being turned away from the polls because they were wearing items proclaiming their support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
North Carolina doesn’t prevent people who are wearing political items from voting, Wright said.
“(The e-mail) has panicked voters and caused much unnecessary communication and stress in voters,” he said.
In a statement he e-mailed to local boards of election, Wright said people wearing T-shirts or other political items can vote “as long as they proceed to vote in an orderly and timely manner, and do not attempt to electioneer within the voting place.”
Electioneering would involve making political statements inside the polling area or drawing attention to the logo on the clothing, he said.
Noni Nicolas, producer of Harvey’s show, said the show received a number of calls from New York voters who said they were turned away from polling locations. They also received calls from three other states, which she could not name specifically.
Nicolas said they reported the people’s comments because they wanted to make sure new voters would be prepared to follow the rules.
“You’re the first person to call to say political clothing can be worn in a polling place,” she said.
Obama proxy meets supporters
A proxy for presidential candidate Barack Obama talked with more than 20 supporters Tuesday morning about how a series of medical problems have cost her and her husband their financial future.
Pam Cash-Roper, a Pittsboro woman and lifelong Republican, also talked about her experience during the Democratic National Convention in August.
Cash-Roper started her appearance at the Bojangles restaurant at Greenville Boulevard and Red Banks Road by reading a “letter” to McCain detailing the financial losses the couple suffered when each under went heart surgery. She said they had to spend their 401k and personal savings and lost their health insurance. Today the couple, which lives on $1,164 a month, has $240,000 in medical debt and had to move from their home into more affordable housing, she said.
Cash-Roper said she and her husband are not looking for government handouts.
“If the elected officials of their country can have health insurance and they don’t have to pay for it … I’m willing to pay for (health insurance) but I’m uninsurable. I’m just asking for it to be affordable,” she said.
Cash-Roper said she wasn’t politically active until the mayor of her hometown recommended her to Obama’s campaign as someone who would share her family’s story when he announced his economic policy during a June event in Raleigh. From there, the campaign had her speak at the Democratic National Convention.
Cash-Roper was the second Obama stand-in to meet with eastern North Carolina supporters this week. On Monday, former U.S. Senator and First Lady of Missouri Jean Carnahan touted Obama’s economic plan during stops in Elizabeth City, Washington, Wilson, Louisburg and Durham.
Pitt County 4-H hosting event
Local politicians will have a chance to discuss youth issues when Pitt County 4-H hosts a meet and greet event next month.
The event is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Pitt County Agricultural Center auditorium.
Candidates will introduce themselves and discuss issues before answering questions from local 4-H’ers and others in the community.
“The youth involved in planning this event are very excited about the opportunity to directly address youth-related questions to the candidates,” said Pitt County 4-H Extension Agent Vanessa Spiron.
For more information, call 902-1710.
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Actress lead ECU Obama rally
An award-winning actress is looking to use her on-screen power of persuasion to sway East Carolina University students during this presidential election.
Jurnee Smollett, who starred with Denzel Washington in “The Great Debaters” is touring North Carolina colleges and Universities today and tomorrow to encourage students to register to vote before the Oct. 19 deadline. The Barack Obama campaign is sponsoring her apperance.
Smollett, who won an Image Award for her performance in that movie, will attend a 3:15 p.m. rally at the Mendenhall Student Center Brickyard. She also speak at Elizabeth City State University earlier in the day.
Smollett also is scheduled to Winston-Salem State University, High Point University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, N.C. A&T University, N.C. Central University and N.C. State University.
Voter guide goes out
The State Board of Elections has released its 2008 guide to the General Election.
The 23-page pocketbook-size guide is published as part of the N.C. Public Fund Program. It provides
All candidates are allowed a personal statement and provide their educational and occuplational background and who their current employer is. The judicial candidates include information on their legal/judicial experience and the other candidates provide information on their previous elected offices and endorsements.
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Pitt County 4-H hosting political event
Pitt County 4-H is hosting a political candidate meet and greet for local candidates and voters.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 7 from 6-9 p.m. in the Pitt County Agricultural Center Auditorium. Organizers say it is intended to give voters a chance to meet candidates and get to know more about their platforms.
More than 20 candidates from various parties and positions have been invited, officials say.
“We wanted to give the citizens of Pitt County a chance to meet local candidates, so they can make an informed decision during the November elections,” Pitt County 4-H Extension Agent Vanessa Spiron said. “In 4-H, we stress the importance of citizenship to our youth. This includes being involved in the political process. Our youth wanted to do this event as a way to make sure other citizens would get involved in the political process.”
Candidates will be given limited time to introduce themselves and discuss relevant issues. They will then answer questions from members of Pitt County 4-H.
The event is free and open to the public.
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Basnight campaigns for Davis
State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight will campaign for Democratic state Senate candidate Don Davis tonight at a reception in Snow Hill.
The event is 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Greene County Museum, 107 Northwest Third St. Please RSVP by calling (252) 747-7555 or sending an e-mail to admin@votedondavis.com.
Davis, mayor of Snow Hill, is running against Republican Louis Pate in the November election for the District 5 state Senate seat, which represents much of Pitt County and Greenville.
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Business group endorses state Senate candidate
The National Federation of Independent Business announced it has endorsed Louis Pate in the 5th District Senate race.
The endorsement was made by NFIB/North Carolina SAFE (Save America’s Free Enterprise) Trust, which is comprised exclusively of NFIB members.
“Small business is the cornerstone of North Carolina’s economy, and it’s vital that we have a General Assembly that supports free enterprise,” said Gregg Thompson, state director of NFIB/North Carolina.
Republican Pate from Goldsboro will face Democrate Don Davis of Snow Hill in November’s election for the seat, which represents much of Greenville and southern Pitt County.
“The National Federation of Independent Business is the voice of small business in Raleigh, and Louis Pate is someone who clearly is listening to what our members have to say,” Thompson said in a news release announcing the endorsement.
“Louis Pate supports improved access to affordable healthcare and believes in better fiscal responsibility, a sensible workers’ compensation system and putting an end to excessive regulation that hurts the ability of small businesses to grow and create jobs.”
NFIB has pledged to activate its grassroots network on behalf of the Pate campaign. NFIB’s political support is based on the candidates’ positions and records on small business issues.
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Governor debate will be broadcast locally
Gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue tried Tuesday night in a debate to get the best of each other on offshore drilling and education vouchers, while panning television commercials run by each other and outside groups.
Perdue, the two-term lieutenant governor, also distanced herself from outgoing Gov. Mike Easley, a fellow Democrat whom she wishes to succeed.
“I am saying that I would be much more hands-on than Gov. Easley,” Perdue said during the debate at the WRAL-TV studios in Raleigh. “I think he did a great job with the budget crisis of the early 2000s … but I do believe a hands-on governor who is involved in the day-to-day operations of state government can change the course that’s been set for North Carolina.”
McCrory, Charlotte’s Republican mayor since 1995, tried to link Easley and Perdue as two Democrats who have failed at running state government. He argued that Perdue should have done more to stop the state’s mental health system from unraveling in recent years.
“She was a part of that (state) leadership and in fact, she has stated on the record that she was the health care leader of North Carolina,” McCrory said.
The debate was their third head-to-head meeting since winning their respective gubernatorial primaries in May. Libertarian candidate Mike Munger was not invited to the debate.
The debate was supposed to run in three television markets Tuesday. Other stations planned to rebroadcast the forum over the next week, including the statewide University of North Carolina Television network; Greenville-Pitt Public Access Television, GPAT, Channel 23 on Suddenlink Cable, and Cable 7, Suddenlink Channel 7, plans to begin airing the debate at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and both local channels plan a number of reruns over the next couple of weeks.
Area leaders meeting
Elected and civic leaders in eastern North Carolina can learn how to become effective advocates for their communities during a day-long leadership summit scheduled for Saturday in Williamston.
The Eastern N.C. Leadership Summit is sponsored by The N.C. Alliance of Black Elected Officials and other statewide organizations.
It’s being held at the Northeast Technology & Business Center, 415 East Blvd., Williamston, where U.S. 13, 17 and 64 converge.
The event is free but space is limited so participants must pre-register. Call 1-888-833-5003 to register before 4 p.m. Friday.
Four sessions are planned along with a lunchtime address by former U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton of Warrenton.
“This event is for anyone who is committed to improving the lives of people living in eastern North Carolina, said Brad Thompson, the alliance’s executive director. ”Our goal is to bring them together to discuss common issues and to talk about how advocacy on issues of importance can improve and hopefully commit those who are there to committing to the goal of making real change in their communities.”
The speakers will discuss the state of the region’s economy, education, health care, environment and justice systems. There will also be a presentation on the political effectiveness of the area.
Obama campaign cooking out
A Saturday afternoon cookout is a time when friends and neighbors talk about things going on in their lives and their communities.
Barack Obama’s campaign sees a cookout as a time to talk about his plans for the country.
North Carolina volunteers are hosting 140 Carolina Cookout for Change events throughout the state on Saturday. Eight events are planned in Pitt County.
“In North Carolina we all have neighbors who disagree with us politically and agree with us politically and the idea behind these cookouts is to bridge that gap in a casual setting,” said Paul Cox, a spokesman for the N.C. Obama campaign.
The Obama Web Site describes the events as potluck dinners where attendees should “bring a covered dish, burgers for the grill, soft drinks, or desserts.”
Attendees are asked to register for the event and say what they will bring. To register go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/CarolinaCookouts/.
Cox said the fact that volunteers organized 140 events shows the broad support Obama has in the state.
Cookouts are being held at several locations in Greenville along with Ayden, Bethel, Farmville and Winterville. Each event is expected to last three hours.
Cookouts beginning at noon are: Paramore Park, 401 E. Fire Tower Road
University Manor Apartments, 3635 E. 10th St.
Dorothy Armstrong house, 1090 Wyngate Drive
Veterans Park, Third Street, Ayden
The Gazebo in Bethel, off Railroad Street
Cobb’s Barbecue, 38835 Main St., Farmville
Cookouts beginning at 3 p.m. are:
Lake Ellsworth, 3002 Ellsworth Drive, and Lee Earnest Grimes Sr. house, 121 Boyd St., Winterville.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Obama office accepting donations
Campaign officials for Sen. Barack Obama announced Sunday that the presidential candidate’s offices will be accepting non-perishables and other materials today and Wednesday to help families affected by Hurricane Gustav.
Local residents are encouraged to bring non-perishable items such as canned food, bottled water, first-aid supplies and other materials that may help people in the wake of the storm, the campaign said.
The supplies will be distributed to aid foundations for delivery to families in need.
Obama’s Greenville office is located at 414 S. Evans Street.
