Alan_H's Blog

When it comes to corruption (alleged), Illinois governor Rob Blegojevich has raised the bar. I haven't heard of this many expletives on wiretaps since Watergate, or seen this much bargaining since Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal."

I have no problem with colorful language, but at least expand your vocabulary beyond the F-bomb. Blegojevich (according to the wiretaps mentioned in the federal indictment) dropped them like napalm during Vietnam. Blego unveiled a previously unimagined bottom line to moral bankruptcy.

Selling influence is a longtime political chestnut. Blegojevich stunned so many people with his utter lack of class. I don't know what's more offensive, trying to sell the president-elect's senate seat to the highest bidder, or referring to Barack Obama as a "mother (expletive)."

Most of you know, with my Louisiana ties, I have a high tolerance for political hijinks. Politics is a contact sport, where criminal indictments (not convictions) were once considered a badge of honor. At least in Louisiana, when politicians stole from taxpayers, they did it with a certain savoir faire.

Still, for me, watching this week's events unfold has been like Super Bowl Sunday without all the food. The governor is innocent until proven guilty, but damned if he didn't put on a good show. Maybe it's the hair...or the fact Blegojevich looks like Sean Astin as Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger.

Blegojevich's performance catapults Illinois ahead of Louisiana as America's most corrupt state. Congratulations!

Khalid Prince, a 15-year-old Parkland High School student athlete died Saturday, four days after collapsing on the basketball court.  Share your thoughts, prayers and condolences to his family and friends.
  

To paraphrase Ross Perot, that 'giant sucking sound' you hear emanates from Austin.  As much as I hate saying this, the Texas Longhorns got screwed.

The current BCS ratings have Alabama ranked first, followed by Oklahoma second, then the Longhorns third by .0209 (two 100ths of a point).

The Sooners are playing better football now than Texas, but when the two played earlier this season, the Longhorns won 45-35.  Because UT, OU and Texas Tech tied for their division title, the Big 12's mental midgets let the BCS ranking determine which team would play in the conference championship game.

Style points are great in gymnastics, but when you've discount head-to-head competition, you cheapen the regular season's importance.

I should celebrate, because, I hate Texas.  I grew up hating Texas.  I've been an Arkansas fan forever, so my favorite teams have always been the Razorbacks and whoever's playing the Longhorns.  It's an old Southwest Conference thing.  Hating Texas is, like a fellow Arkansan once said, like riding a bicycle, you never forget

Granted, I haven't had much to cheer for this season.  The Razorbacks finished 5-7 (including a 52-10 beat down at Austin) and ended on a positive note beating LSU 31-30.  That Petrino fellow may eventually work out.  I'm still disappointed Jim Grobe turned down Arkansas.

Still, Oklahoma got the gold mine and Texas got the shaft.  They belong in the Big 12 Championship game.  They could end up in the national championship game If Missouri beats the Sooners.  Should that happen, I'll be rooting, as always, for their opponent.  Because you can always tell a Texan, just usually not much. 

On the way to Winston-Salem's Millennium Center, Barack Obama was declared the winner by all the networks.  John McCain's concession speech was moving, not so much in what he said, but in the words he chose.

A crowd of between 100-150, mostly young, diverse people gathered around the stage, waiting for Obama's first speech as President-Elect.  I think he could've spoken for an hour (or longer) and no one would've moved.  They seemed to let his words wash over them, soaking it, and the moment, all in.  The ones who seemed to savor it most were the smattering of adults.

In the back of the room, an entrepreneur had set up a table with stacks of Obama t-shirts.



      

Just as I sat down at Natty Greene’s Pub in downtown Greensboro, Elizabeth Dole conceded the senate race to Kay Hagan.  All the big screens on the second floor are tuned to election coverage (different networks).  The bartender turned up the volume so we could listen to Dole.  There’s your typical pub conversation going on, but people are paying attention. 

 

The crowd remained tuned in when Kay Hagan made her victory speech.  Hagan’s zinger about having a husband “who could vote for her” went over big with a small group at the corner of the bar.    

 

One of the bartenders said Tuesdays are ‘usually dead,” but the second floor has been crowded since around 6:30. 

The Guilford County GOP headquarters’ phone bank is busy tonight.  I made it here around 7pm.  A group of 25 or so volunteers were busy calling local voters, making sure they voted and if not, encouraged them to beat the 7:30 deadline. 

Once polls closed in Guilford County, the group began calling registered voters in New Mexico (where the race is said to be very close).  According to one volunteer, the list of phone numbers is comprised of 'soft' democrats and independent.

One volunteer laughed when a caller said she sounded a lot like Sarah Palin.  That got a good laugh from everyone.

Other than the occasional break for barbecue & slaw or pizza (the universal food of politics).

Everyone’s attention was focused on calling until someone started showing TV coverage from a projection screen.  Yes, another fine example of television ruining focus and productivity (ha).

 

 

This will be an unusual election night for me.  Instead of being in the newsroom, I'll be a roving Web reporter.  My assignment is to see how and where some of you will watch the outcome, then blog about it from each site.  

In addition to campaign parties for John McCain (Guilford County) and Barack Obama (Forsyth County), I'll take in the atmosphere at Natty Greene's Pub (downtown Greensboro) and a site still to be determined.  If you're having a watch party at a restaurant, coffee shop or tavern, share it with our blog community by posting a comment to my blogs.

National polls on the presidential race are a waste of time, if you're trying to figure out this horse race before November 4. Tuesday is actually a collection of 50 state elections for president. The popular vote winner is not guaranteed the presidency (Al Gore, 2000) because of the Electoral College.

The Electoral College is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The system was a compromise by the founding fathers. Some supported having the people elect a president, while others favored the election decided by Congress. Read more at the NARA Web site: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-col
lege/about.html

For a long time, I felt the Electoral College was outdated and should be abolished. After watching this year's campaigning, I've changed my mind. I'm interested in new ideas, ways to improve the system. Without the EC, politicians would concentrate only on major population areas. Without the EC, all this attention North Carolina is getting on the national level (and the money campaigns are pouring into our economy) would be gone. If nothing else, the EC provides us with a geography lesson every four years.

If you want to track the presidential race, follow the maps, not the polls.

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For the second Thursday in a row, a vice-presidential locally candidate stumped for votes.  The two events were as diverse as the people they attracted.

Democrat running mate Sen. Joe Biden stopped by Wake Forest University on his way from a similar event at UNC Charlotte.  From Winston-Salem, it was on to Raleigh for a triple play of appearances, all geared towards turning tipping a traditional red state blue in November.


Being in NASCAR country, Biden made a couple of stock car analogies in his speech.  Instead of sounding like someone who knew the area, it came off more like he'd just rented "Days of Thunder" ("the campaigns are trading paint," "John McCain is getting a little loose").  The crowd politely laughed (Wake Forest not being a gearhead gathering ground), but Joe Biden is not the guy who needs these kinds of throwaway lines.  At this outdoor rally, Biden spoke at a volume you'd expect to hear in your living room (a conversation, not theatre surround-sound).  In a 'those-who-talk-loudest-wins' campaign, his tone was a nice change of pace.

The crowd's enthusiasm, compared to the Palin Elon rally, reflected Biden's low-key approach.  Like Palin, Biden likely didn't convert many newcomers.  At this point in the campaign, it's all about energizing the base.  Spectators grooved with Biden's early voting drum beat, but when his speech was over, poof!  I've never seen so many people disappear so quickly.  It's like there was a collective "we got it, we're gone!"

Two campaigns with completely different ideologies and approaches.  One goal:  vote for me.

For some more great photos, you can check out FOX8 Photojournalist Chris Weaver's Flickr page.

John McCain and Sarah Palin are not going to give up on North Carolina without playing all nine innings.

Thursday, the GOP vice-presidential nominee, spoke to an enthusiastic crowd at Elon's Latham Park. Senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr gushed appropriately for Palin (Dole spent a fair amount of time throwing fastballs at her democratic challenger, Kay Hagan).


I've been to plenty of political rallies in my life, but this was the first I've covered as a Web producer. Other than almost going blind trying to read a laptop screen without a cloud in the sky, it was interesting. Those of you watching the live-streaming on our site saw more than I did.

Unfortunately, I didn't miss a note of Hank Williams Jr's performance. I'm a Bocephus fan, but Hank with just an electric guitar (and his salute to feedback) lacks something (a band). He performed a traditional version of the Star Spangled Banner (somewhat rare these days).

Palin hit all her marks with her stump speech. She was primarily preaching to the choir, but keeping the base wired up and fired up is possibly her biggest strength.

There was also entertainment around the ball park after the event.
Artist Rodney Hall from Beulaville proudly showed off his enormous painting of Palin (potential Roy's Folks here?)

There were other characters,
pushing everything from campaign items 

to opposing points of view.

With all the hype surrounding tonight's vice-presidential debate, you'd think Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were competing to be the next American Idol.

Many will watch, even more with over-analyze with a Zapruder film-like intensity.  Yet in the end, it will change few opinions about either candidate.

Lloyd Bentsen's oral disembowelment of fellow Senator Dan Quayle in 1988 ("Sir, you're no Jack Kennedy") is the only highlight in modern day vice-presidential debate lore.  It was the only body blow democrats landed in the Bush-Dukakis non-race.  

Yes the debate is important.  Yes, we need to more about the people who could be a 'heartbeat away from the presidency.'  But let's keep in perspective to the entire campaign.     

So get ready for tonight's show about nothing.  No, not Seinfeld (which airs after tonight's FOX8 10:00 News (pardon the shameless plug).  The debate.

Despite rain that could postpone many a high school football game in these parts, a crowd of 20,000 (estimated by Greensboro Captain J. E. Wolfe) attended Saturday's Barack Obama/Joe Biden rally in front of the The Depot.

The entire event was live-streamed on myfoxwghp.com and will have coverage on this evening's  FOX8 News at 7 p.m. (after the baseball game) and 10:00 p.m.

We want to know your take on the speeches at today's rally, whether you watched it online or were there. 

I think I've found the right word to describe the tone of the Dole/Hagan Senate campaign:  caterwauling.  

The American Heritage Dictionary provides three definitions:

1. To cry or screech like a cat in heat
2. To make a shrill, discordant sound
3. To have a noisy argument
   

I hesitate to use the first, because I don't necessarily want to disparage cats.  But I'm already getting sick of the third party ads (the ones not paid or produced by the candidates' campaigns) and we've still got 50 days until the election.    

By contrast, the governor's race has been suspiciously calm, quiet and borderline polite.  Considering how the primaries went, I figured the McCrory/Purdue air assault would've started by Labor Day.

Attack ads are like watching reality based TV.  You know they're not good for you, but you watch anyway.  There will be so many by the last week of the campaign, you won't be able to avoid them.

Speaking of reality, attack ads are good for television stations, so I shouldn't complain too loudly.    

I love mom & pop shops.  Local business owners who fight the good fight and usually survive because they work hard and treat people like they're actually glad to see you.

We're losing one such place next week with the closing of BB's Compact Discs in Greensboro's Quaker Village.  

A few years after they opened, I bought my first CD player.  The next year, my goal was to find my favorite albums on CD.  Many a weekend afternoon was spent going through BB's used CD's and occasionally finding a rare treasure.    

Duncan Dunn (the pop, in this case) kept the old album store ambiance alive for a long time.  Anytime I came back to the Piedmont, I always tried to fit in a trip to BB's.  Thanks for adding to my life's soundtrack Duncan.  Good luck.  

Here is a chance for you to pass along your good thoughts and prayers for Matt Gfeller and his family.  Matt suffered a serious brain injury during Friday night's football game between Reynolds and Page high schools.