Exile on Jones Street

Ah, good morning. A cool 68 here in the Piedmont.
Oregon and Kentucky voting away. My guess is that very soon this election will not be about blogging.
Meanwhile, in a provincial capital not far away:
• Fitz -- short session promising to be short
• Geddings still having hard time getting sympathy from the justice system
• Wachovia number two, BoA number five on write-down per employee list
• Binker on Hagan/Dole

Oh dear, the session's started.
Chris says its a decent start on the budget.
The N&O says sin taxes won't fly.
Catch all the action here. Play by play.
A liquor tax hike to help fund mental health has been tried before. The beer wholesalers gave every legislator a mug with a red line about a third of the way down, representing how much of your beverage cost was for taxes. The sad thing about the debate was that it was more about taxes and equity and less about mental health.

. . . And in the spring of 2008, many more people voted.
• Ed's vocabulary lesson about the use of the word elites
• Can't keep the campaigning straight without a scorecard
• You can always tell the important political stories. They're the ones with anecdotal leads.
• The absentee count is pushing half a million (right, top). Past results in case you're curious.

Morning. I'll be brief:
• No sanctions for the Heels/Obama practice. Hi Anne.
• Glazier want to end abstinence only education
• Accountability lacking in school punishments
• Gas tax holiday -- yeehaw, we're saving $25 and calling it a day.

Spent a little time in the Dean Dome last night. I can hardly wait to hear what CNN says I think of it all.
Meanwhile,
• Picking up on a pattern: Newspaper runs big take out thumbsucker fretting over the dying newspaper industry then a few weeks later offers 'voluntary' early retirement packages to most of the people making decent money. Word from the newsroom is that many of the senior people got an offer.
• Fresh from Italy, the Guv endorses Hillary. I can hardly wait for CNN to remind me that he is our most popular Governor evah.

Gosh golly that was quite a night in politics. Hmmm. What's next?
The answer would be us in the NC (well, there's Guam) and my home state of Indiana.
Yup, NC is in play. I know this because in my capacity as small town newspaper editor I got several phone calls from presidential campaigns yesterday. That and reports of hobbits in Person County.
So, the jets are fueled and Indigestion 2008 is headed to the Tar Heel state.
• Bill Clinton is in Hillsboro (the bus tour stopped there in 1992) and Elon, Asheboro, Thomasville, and Statesville

Damn. Woke up with butterflies. Go read some Pennsylvania stuff.
Around here, things are hopping as the election stars align.
Endorsements are starting to fly fast and furious.
Look for a Legislators (and others) for Obama announcement soon.
Meanwhile Ellie Kinnaird gets an endorsement from Marc Basnight. Via Sen. Basnight this am:

To the editor:

Ellie Kinnaird is the type of public servant we all aspire to be. I can think of few others who care so genuinely about their fellow citizens, and work so tirelessly on their behalf. Her work in the State Senate has brought real benefits to Orange and Person counties, and to all the people of North Carolina.

Good Monday to ya.
Bank of America reported a 77 percent drop in profit this am. Char-O story on it.
Meanwhile,
• Clintons on the road in NC again.
• Getting down to the wire in Pennsyllvania
• And Over There

New air quality standards and it's Code Orange already. Keep up with your crappy air here.
• Debate?/No debate?
• Non-debating getting trendy.
• Moore hires GOP lawyer over public records suit
• Mental health system could see major shift

Spring's back BTW. Must plan weekend.
• Piedmont Farm Tour is this weekend. C'mon ya hippies.
• Top story in this week's Citizen is word of a big Obama rally in Cboro
• Speaking of rallies, here's the traffic report for today's.
• Superdelegates Watt and Price go for Obama. There's talk that so will most of the Dems in the delegation, 'cept Schuler.
• Moore and Perdue are fixin' to debate, uh, somewhere