A Question for All, Should Edwards Reflect the Values of North Carolina?

[McCamy Taylor]

This question is not asked entirely tongue in cheek. Do we really want our next president to be someone whom the citizens of the state of North Carolina overwhelmingly think is the best thing since slice bread? Or, given some of the problems which still exist in the South, would it be better if a southern Democratic president was a little bit out of step with his state of origin?

I am John Edwards supporter, of course!

:loveya:

[mnhtnbb]

1. NC resident who would support #1-Gore, #2-Edwards #3-Not Hillary

[Bluzmann57]

2. So what are the "values" of North Carolina?

Are they the same as we have in Iowa? Or are they the same as in Brazil? I think maybe North Carolinians value what a lot of us in other states value, peace and prosperity, kinda like we had in the "bad old days", the '90's. Btw, I supported Edwards as well in 2004. He is truly a man of values.

[BlueJazz]

3. By "Out of Step" ...Do you mean he prefers Indoor Plumbing ?

I'm kidding...I'm Kidding...

[skipos]

4. Kerry/Edwards didn't come close to winning NC

No need for Diebold there.

I hope our there are a few 08 contenders who are good, non-senators from flippable red states. I like Edwards, and maybe he will be the best of the 08 lot, but it is a drag that he is a senator (there are good reasons a senator hasn't been made president in about 40 years) and has little chance in flipping his homestate.

[nolies32fouettes]

6. where'd you get your information? Because in 04, K & E came very

close to taking North Carolina. They had early voting and all the newspapers in early polling showed a clear K & E advantage. Then miraculously the machines LOST all the votes done early and the officials said it was a 'glitch' in the system and that the voter turn out was so strong that the early voting caused the e-machine to dump votes because it was past their capacity.

K & E rocked North Carolina and very well may have won there too. But the state proved one thing: if you have early voting and allow people to vote when they can, they get higher turnout. Higher turnout is good for democracy. It's just bad that the election system hasn't made an all--out attempt to have paper trails, elections free of supression, and reliable and transparent vote counting systems.

[skipos]

8. Dole won NC by 4.7%

and lost the US by 8.5% (13.2 difference)
Bush won NC by 12.9% and lost the US by .5% (13.4 difference)

Just like MA is too blue for Mitt Romney to win if he is the 08 Repub nominee, NC is probably too red for any Dem to win.

[madville]

5. He shouldn't mention

He should not mention anything about firearms. The best stance to take is the states should set their own gun laws and the federal government should stay out of it. Gun control measures don't play well in the south. I remember him being in favor of the useless "assault weapons" ban and supporting a ban on private party firearms sales. Gives the NRA and southern Republicans a poerful talking point against him. Tons of Democrats in the south are gun owners and don't really want to see another firearms law on the books to accompany the 10,000 that are already there.

I think the best position for a presidential election is no position on this issue. My personal stance is that it should be a state level issue since gun laws that might make sense for Boston, Massachusetts might not really make any sense in Quitman, Georgia for example.

[patricia92243]

7. We (NC) have a Democratic governor. In my city, we just elected a Democra

Democratic mayor - along with lots of councilmen, etc. Edwards values are BETTER than most people in NC - but we are getting there.

[madville]

9. That is typical around here also

All of our city and county offices are held by Democrats, conservative church-going anti-abortion, anti-gay type Democrats that is. Nine times out of ten there isn't even a Republican on the ballot in the GE, everything is decided in the primary and maybe a run-off. National election politics and local politics really have nothing to do with each other sometimes when it comes to the two parties. Even though everything local is Democrat this county still easily went to Jeb Bush two times, GWB two times, and Mel Martinez. Bill Nelson (D) will easily keep his Senate seat because he is running against Harris and he is fairly moderate and liked by people around here anyway.

[peaches2003]

10. No

John Edwards should reflect the values of John Edwards. I'm sick of candidates reflecting the values that they think will get them elected (and also reflecting the accent of whatever state they happen to be in like Bush does). A little honesty comes through better than a phony every time. That was one big problem of Kerry's. He tried too hard to be somebody else.

[PresidentWar]

11. Jesse Helms' territory? I hope to hell NOT.

n/t