Sarah Palin is On Her Way to North Carolina!

North Carolinians are excited by the news that Governor Sarah Palin will be coming to North Carolina for a number of events in the coming weeks.

Palin will be welcomed to the Tar Heel State this coming Tuesday, October 7 at East Carolina University in Greenville. Tickets are already available at the Greenville and Raleigh Victory Offices, and tickets will be made available at all other Victory Offices on Saturday, October 4. Tickets for this event are going to go fast so get yours ASAP!

This rally is going to be every bit as big and exciting as the other Palin rallies we've been seeing in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, where one rally at the Villages drew a crowd of 60,000!

The doors to ECU's Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum open at 4:00 PM on Tuesday. For more information, see the campaign website here.

Following the Greenville rally, Sarah Palin's next appearance in North Carolina will be a private fundraiser in Greensboro on Thursday, October 16. While the event is not public, WXII 12's coverage does include this interesting note:

Palin is also scheduled to make another swing through the Tarheel state leading up to Election Day in November.

Hopefully Governor Palin will make a visit to the western half of North Carolina. We're looking forward to seeing Sarah in person!

New McCain Victory Offices Opened in North Carolina

Goldsboro Victory Office
147 South Center Street
Goldsboro, NC 27530
(573) 647-9016

Laurinburg Victory Office
684 Highway 401 North
Laurinburg, NC 28352
(919) 862-6079

Rocky Mount Victory Office
1826 Sunset Avenue
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
(919) 862-6183

Salisbury Victory Office
100 West Innes Street
Salisbury, NC 28144
(919) 827-5949

For the full list of NC Victory Offices, click here.

McCain Campaign Increases Number of Offices, Staffers in North Carolina

From the News & Observer:

RALEIGH - With Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama scheduled to stump today in Charlotte, the campaign of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain announced plans to ratchet up its efforts in North Carolina.

The McCain campaign said Saturday that it had opened 14 offices in the state and hired 20 staffers -- a number that it said would likely grow to 20 offices and 25 to 30 staffers.

"This is a state that Senator Obama and his campaign have targeted and put extraordinary resources and finances in the state," said Mike DuHaime, the political director for the North Carolina McCain campaign.

President Bush is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Greensboro on Sept. 30 to raise money for the McCain-Palin ticket.

The event will be held at the Irving Park home of businessman Louis DeJoy and former U.S. ambassador Aldona Wos.

DeJoy, who is state McCain finance chairman, said he expects 350 people to attend the event and predicted it would raise "hundreds of thousands" of dollars.

The McCain campaign has been playing catch-up in North Carolina, which the Obama campaign targeted early. Obama has 31 offices in the state and more than 200 staffers. Obama also has spent at least $2.5 million on TV advertising in the state, far more than McCain. Obama began his TV ad campaign in early summer, and McCain began his during the week of the Republican National Convention.

But despite that effort, the McCain campaign noted that every statewide public opinion poll has shown McCain with either a large or a modest lead in the state.

DuHaime said the intensity of the Republican effort in the state is growing. He said 39,000 Republicans had requested absentee ballots, compared to 18,000 Democrats.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the GOP candidate for governor, said during the conference call that McCain had shown his experienced leadership by warning of the breakdown of Fannie Mae, the troubled lender, and had sought legislation to fix it.

[...]

Neither McCain nor his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has made a public campaign appearance in the state in the general election. DuHaime said he did not know when either would campaign in North Carolina.

I know we'd all love to see John McCain and Sarah Palin visit North Carolina before the election (and I'm certain the turnout for them would be huge) but I can understand them targeting those rust belt swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan (which they have a good shot of winning, despite those states usually voting for the Democratic nominees).

In the meantime, here's to hoping that Obama continues to waste his resources here to no effect!

National Women's Phone Bank Night

An announcement from the McCain campaign:

NC Women for McCain-Palin,

The final push to November 4th is here. John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin are traveling the country to take their message of reform, prosperity, and peace to the American people. They are doing their part; now it is time for us to do ours.

Please join us this Monday for National Women Phone Bank Night! We will be gathering at phone banks across North Carolina to make phone calls in support of John McCain and Sarah Palin. The campaign has asked the national Women's organization to produce 100,000 calls this week. Come to your Nearest Victory Office this Monday between 5:00pm and 8:30pm to help us reach this important goal.

If you can't make it this Monday, we encourage you to join us next week. From now until Election Day, we will be running Women Phone Banks every Monday evening. If there is not a phone bank near you, there is still plenty you can do from your neighborhood -- please email us at northcarolina@johnmccain.com for more information. Or, you can join us by participating from home using our new Online Phone Bank Tool. In the coming days, we will be launching an online phone bank specific to Women calling Women. We will send the link to that around when it is launched!

See you on Monday!

Martha Jenkins
Dr. Linda Petrou

State Chairs, NC Women for McCain-Palin

John McCain and Barack Obama May Attend NAACP Convention in Charlotte

Rock Hill Herald:

[Event director Lonnie] Randolph said the NAACP is awaiting word on whether the two major presidential nominees, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, will accept invitations to speak. The candidates are expected to respond by Friday.

The convention will be held Oct. 2 to 5. The South Carolina NAACP is holding the event in Charlotte due to its ongoing commercial boycott of South Carolina.

"Super Saturday": Phone Banks Across North Carolina On 9/20

Breaking on JohnMcCain.com:

Volunteers from across North Carolina will be coming together this Saturday, September 20th to participate in "Super Saturday" events. We will have phone banks set up all day at our 9 North Carolina Victory Offices. Our campaign's goal is to reach tens of thousands of undecided North Carolina voters with Senator McCain's message of hope, reform, and prosperity.

John McCain is performing well in North Carolina, but we cannot let down our guard. This Saturday, consider volunteering a few hours of your time to help elect John McCain the next President of the United States.

Victory Offices are located in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro/High Point, Greenville, Hickory, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

VIDEO: Senator McCain Slams Obama Hard On Exaggerations

John McCain and Sarah Palin rallied in Vienna, Ohio today before a turnout of over 7,000 supporters, and McCain decided he wasn't going to let Barack Obama get away with his latest distortions.



For more on Obama's distortions, see the story at Hot Air.

Barack Obama Continues to Attract Some Interesting Friends and Supporters

As if it isn't bad enough that Barack Obama's fringe allies have to pay people to register voters to vote for him, Obama now has another set of friends working hard on his behalf:

For the past seven months, a group of students and young professionals has gathered nightly to phone U.S. voters and urge them to support Barack Obama in the presidential elections.

This would not be at all unusual were it not for the fact that the callers are Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Interesting. I wonder why Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would want to influence a foreign election.

Well, there's the stated reason...

Ibrahim Abu Jayyeb, a 23-year-old university student, who told The Media Line he is working on behalf of Obama because he is “the kind of person who when he says ‘I will change America,’ [he] will do what he says.”

And what was it that Obama said he would do?:

OBAMA: As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with Caucus for Priorities in fighting special interests in Washington. First, I'll stop spending $9 billion a month in Iraq. I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning -- and as president, I will end it.
Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful [defense] spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems, and I will institute an independent defense priorities board to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Review is not used to justify unnecessary spending. Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material, and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals. You know where I stand.

Burr Overwhelmed With Requests For Palin Appearances

Sen. Richard Burr, the state McCain-Palin chairman, says Sarah Palin may not be able to make it to North Carolina in the campaign season.

Sad news, right? Not entirely. The reason is that Palin and John McCain believe they are on course to win the Tar Heel State handily:

Burr says he's gotten many requests for Palin

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., says he's never been so bombarded with requests for appearances.

But he's not the one who is in demand. N.C. groups want to hear from Palin.

“I could not begin to tell you how many events (and) venues in a week that I've been asked to try to get her to,” Burr said.

The veep nominee will make it to North Carolina eventually, Burr said, but it will be difficult to compete with more competitive states for her time.

“It's hard for me to overcome what the Obama campaign says, but North Carolina is not in play,” Burr insisted. “It's tougher to get candidates away from the battleground states. If North Carolina were a pivotal state, Barack Obama would be there once a week.”

The Victory 2008 Bus Tour - Five Stops, Monday and Tuesday

(Check the official campaign site for up-to-date details)

Monday, September 15

Stop 1

10:15 AM
Wilmington
New Hanover County Public Library
3rd Floor – New Hanover Room
201 Chestnut Street
Wilmington, NC 28401

featuring

Senator Elizabeth Dole
NC GOP Chairman Linda Daves
Col. Quincy Collins, USAF (Ret.), Former POW

***Free and open to the public***

Stop 2

1:45pm
Fayetteville
117 Grove Street
Fayetteville, NC 28301

featuring

Senator Elizabeth Dole
Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer
Former US Congressman & DEA
Administrator Asa Hutchinson
NC GOP Chairman Linda Daves
Col. Quincy Collins, USAF (Ret.), Former POW

***Free and open to the public***


Tuesday, September 16

Stop 3

8:15am
Raleigh Victory Rally & McCrory Campaign HQ Opening
Velvet Cloak Inn
1505 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27605

featuring

Mayor Pat McCrory
Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer
Former US Congressman & DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson
NC GOP Chairman Linda Daves
Col. Quincy Collins, USAF (Ret.), Former POW

***Free and open to the public***


Stop 4

11:30am
High Point
Greensboro / High Point Victory Office
3800 Tinsley Road, Suite 103
High Point, NC 27265

featuring

Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer
Former US Congressman & DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson
NC GOP Chairman Linda Daves
Col. Quincy Collins, USAF (Ret.), Former POW

***Free and open to the public***


Stop 5

5:45pm
Charlotte
Charlotte Victory Office
Park Seneca Building
1515 Mockingbird Lane
Charlotte, NC 28209

featuring

Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer
NC GOP Chairman Linda Daves
Former US Congressman & DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson
Col. Quincy Collins, USAF (Ret.), Former POW
State Representative Ric Killian

***Free and open to the public***

McCain-Palin Round Up, 9/14

Sister Toldjah: Sarah Palin's approval rating in Alaska is 75%... among Democrats, and of course even higher among independents and Republicans. Overall, it's 86%.

MoveOn.Org is now placing classified ads in the Charlotte Observer. They're offering eight bucks an hour because they "need staff to build support for Obama."

Real Clear Politics now shows John McCain polling ahead of Barack Obama in Electoral Votes, 227 to 207, although Obama has the lead when the "toss-up" battleground states are factored out.

Citizens Against Government Waste Award McCain Their Highest Score

Senator McCain has long been a champion of lower taxes and a crusader against the wasteful, pork-barrel projects of many of his colleagues; Senators Obama and Biden, meanwhile, have done quite the opposite.

Citizens Against Government Waste has issued its annual Congressional Ratings for the year 2007, and here's how it turned out for the three Senators:

John McCain (R, Arizona) 100%
Barack Obama (D, Illinois) 10%
Joe Biden (D, Delaware) 0%

What a contrast. If you're against government waste, McCain-Palin is change you can believe in!

(The entire Congressional Scorecard is available here.)

Obama's New Ad Mocks John McCain - "Can't Send An E-Mail"

The campaign of Barack Obama has released a new ad - which one could assume has been personally approved by Senator Obama - mocking John McCain for being 'out of touch.' (Watch the ad here.)

In their own words:

"He admits he doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail."

To make matters worse, Obama campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer followed up on the ad by attacking McCain in a story by the Associated Press:

"Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

McCain has said he relies on his wife and staff to work the computer for him and that he doesn't use e-mail.

The problem? John McCain can't use a keyboard. The torture he was subjected to as a POW in the Vietnam War leaves him unable.

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

One could reasonably expect that this isn't an intentional attempt on the part of Barack Obama to attack John McCain's wartime injuries, just an extremely sloppy attack committed out of ignorance, based on an extremely pathetic attempt to inflate an irrelevant personal issue into something it isn't. As Jonah Goldberg points out:

In a similar vein I guess it's an outrage that the blind governor of New York David Paterson doesn't know how to drive a car. After all, transportation issues are pretty important. How dare he serve as governor while being ignorant of what it's like to navigate New York's highways.

Even one of Obama's local supporters is crying foul:

The latest ad depicting McCain as being out of touch because he can't use a computer is terrible. It is insulting to many people who don't use one and frankly opens the campiaign and Obama to charges of elitism.

John and Cindy McCain Make Television Appearances Today

John and Cindy McCain on 'The View' 10:30AM (ABC network, check your local listings.)

John and Cindy McCain on 'The Rachel Ray Show' 1:30PM (Check your local listings.)

Research 2000: McCain Up 17 Points in NC; Civitas: McCain +3

A Research 2000 poll of 600 likely voters, commissioned by the far-Left Daily Kos website, shows a McCain lead of 17 points in North Carolina, thus confirming the huge bounce indicated by the poll results released by SurveyUSA on Wednesday.

McCain (R) 55%
Obama (D) 38%

And check out the party samples used in this poll, hardly biased for Republicans:

Dem 263 44%
Rep 216 35%
Ind 121 21%

The Civitas Intitute has released their own poll on the Presidential race, showing McCain up three points:

McCain 47%
Obama 44%

CI raises a point on this at their blog, the Red Clay Citizen:

One thing I do want to emphasize is this poll differs from our usual monthly polling in that it samples all registered voters.[...]
This poll is probably more accurate of the larger electorate, but not necessarily those most likely to actually show up and vote.

Polls of registered voters are often said to lean toward Democrats, while polls of likely voters use voter history to determine their numbers. The figure to cut from Democrats in "registered voters" polls to get to "likely voters" is usually said to be 2%.

However, one does have to wonder about voter enthusiasm for Obama this year. Blacks will almost certainly turn out to vote in record numbers, and those votes will go to Obama in at least the usual 9-to-1 ratio for Democrats. Do polls of likely voters account for the likely spike in voting by this group?

Counteracting this will likely be a high number of blue collar Democrats who vote for McCain. Also, young voters in general may not be voting overwhelmingly for Obama, as one could have reasonably speculated a few months ago.

McCain-Palin Round Up, 9/12

Bill Kristol: The Washington Post Distorts Palin on Page One

Betsy's Page discusses Palin's interview on ABC last night (with partial transcript)

Spagnola has added a number of interesting posts on the race in general.

John in Carolina: McCain will carry NC by at least 10 points

Barack Obama Breaks Promise, Desperately Turns to 527s For Help Against McCain-Palin

As John in Carolina discusses today:

If he got his party’s nomination, Sen. Obama promised to campaign using public funds. He said he didn’t want “to be beholden to the special interests.”

He got the nomination and now Obama’s taking hundreds of millions from those special interests he said he didn’t want “to be beholden to.”

His public funds pledge? Forget about it.

But there was still his pledge not to encourage and get involved with those nasty 527s.

We were led to believe only Republicans did that.

Obama Come to Save Us made it clear he’d never get involved with the 527s.

Until today.

John expects the smears emanating from the Obama campaign and its supporters to grow more numerous and intense over these next several weeks. Supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin should remain vigilant and ready to confront these smears with the truth, so that we don't lose a single vote between now and election day.

NC Democrats, Independents Uniting Behind McCain-Palin

Hillary supporters are taking the lead and refusing to put blind party loyalty ahead of what's best for the future of our country. Charlotte Front and Center is mobilizing for John McCain and Sarah Palin with a Citizens for McCain event tomorrow evening:

Citizens For McCain Event

Join and organize with other Democrats
and independents in Charlotte, N.C. this
Thursday, Sept.11, 2008 at Caribou
Coffee, 7510 Pineville-Matthews Rd.
Beginning at 6:30pm

Check out the Charlotte Front and Center website.

SurveyUSA Poll: Things Are Looking Good For McCain-Palin in North Carolina

Very, very good:

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- In an election for President of the United States in North Carolina Tuesday, Republican John McCain suddenly and breathtakingly surges to a 20-point win over Democrat Barack Obama, 58% to 38%, according to this latest exclusive SurveyUSA election poll conducted for ABC11-WTVD.

But wait, there's more:

McCain has gained ground in every demographic group. Among men, McCain led by 9 last month, 27 today. Among women, Obama led by 2 last month, trails by 12 today. McCain holds 9 of 10 Republican voters; Obama holds 3 of 4 Democratic voters; independents, who were split last month, break today crisply for McCain, where, in the blink of an eye, he is up by 25. (emphasis mine)

And all this despite Obama's commercials getting play in the Tar Heel State.

One has to wonder how big that McCain lead would be right now were Obama not treating North Carolina like he actually has a shot of winning here. Thirty points? Forty points, even?

Whatever the case, I'm sure I can speak for a lot of McCain-Palin supporters across North Carolina when I say: Senator Obama, PLEASE keep wasting your resources here!

The one downside is that all this good news might allow some of us to become complacent between now and election day. Don't do it! We have to continue the fight until every vote in North Carolina is counted!

In the words of John McCain:

Fight with me. Fight with me.

Fight for what's right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other, for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up, and fight.

Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up.

We never quit.

We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.

Democrats Desperate to Find Any Smear That Can Stick to Sarah Palin

If the Democratic Party is truly confident that they have the better ticket - if they genuinely believe that Barack Obama and Joe Biden can win on the issues - then why would they resort to such shady tactics?

Democrats understand Sarah Palin is a formidable political force who has upset the Obama victory plan. The latest Washington Post/ABC Poll shows John McCain taking a 12-point lead over Barack Obama among white women, a reversal of Mr. Obama’s eight-point lead last month.

It’s no surprise, then, that Democrats have airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage, the state capital Juneau and Mrs. Palin’s hometown of Wasilla to dig into her record and background. My sources report the first wave arrived in Anchorage less than 24 hours after John McCain selected her on August 29.

There are only two possible reasons for the Democratic Party to resort to such tabloid-ish antics: 1.) They know that the McCain-Palin ticket is superior to the Obama-Biden ticket on the issues; or 2.) they believe that their ticket is superior on the issues; voters, however, aren't intelligent enough to discern which ticket is better; and so voters ought to be manipulated with A Current Affair/National Enquirer-style politics.

The latter reason fits with Obama's condescending remarks about working-class voters from earlier this year:

"[I]t's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Obama said.

It will be interesting to see how Sen. Obama fairs in debates with Sen. McCain. Obama originally bragged that he was up to debating Sen. McCain "anywhere, anytime" back on May 16th, only to refuse McCain's offer of a series of debates throughout the summer.

In the meantime, the sliming of Gov. Palin continues.

h/t: Hot Air

Welcome to North Carolina for McCain-Palin 2008!

Welcome to my brand new blog! I'm using this blog to provide information, news and opinion to voters throughout the Tar Heel State! Comments are appreciated, and I'd love to hear about why you're supporting the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008!

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