Orr in a pickle

The N&O today reports yet another entrant into the lieutenant governor's race, this time it's Walter Dalton. Dalton joins Dan Besse, Hampton Dellinger, and Pat Smathers in a literal run for the money. From what I can tell, they're all good guys - which means the winner's going to be the one with the deepest pockets, best connections, and most powerful fundraising machine.

Which brings us to the end of the N&O article and the point of this entry. Judge Bob Orr.

Also Monday, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Orr announced he will step down as executive director of a conservative legal group he helped create to devote more time to his campaign.

Orr, who announced in late January his plan to run for governor, said he will leave the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law sometime next month. The former state Supreme Court judge said he will continue a law practice and possibly perform contract work for the institute. Orr said he has hired a campaign finance director and expects a campaign kickoff event in late April or May.

From what I can tell as an occasional visitor to Orr's Institute for Constitutional Law, the sold-out judge has it made in the shade being on the short leash of Art Pope. Orr hasn't written one of his so-called Cornerstone Commentaries in more than half a year, and that latest update to the site is a press release from January.

In other words, Art Pope is paying Bob Orr to either (1) do nothing, or (2) run for governor. Which, of course, is where the pickle comes into play.

You see, Orr isn't an independently wealthy member of the Party of Greed like Fred Smith and Bill Graham. Those guys can (and do) spend like it's going out of style, both having proven they have more money than sense. Sponge Bob, on the other hand, is living off the largess of Puppetmaster Pope. The problem is, Pope is a polarizing extremist, cut from the same piece of cloth as Karl Rove. He's hell bent on remaking the NCPOG in his own image, which causes no end of consternation among moderate Republicans who are sick of losing all the time.

So where does that leave Bob Orr? Between a rock and a hard place. In a pickle, so to speak. He needs Art Pope to keep covering his expenses and fund his gubernatorial campaign. But when people realize he's the Puppetmaster's boy through and through, well, things could begin to unravel.

Most interesting of all will be Art Pope's next generation of campaign manipulation communications. There's no way Orr is going to raise enough money for this race on his own, which means he's going to have to be propped up by Pope's electioneering organization. Art Pope mastered the good old 4999 play last year, skating just under the letter of the law by spending corporate money to send out batches of mail pieces without going over the 5000 limit. Classy guy, no?

A