Michael Munger

(with apologies to Louis Malle)

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of lunch with Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Michael Munger. Since he openly invited me to that lunch here on BlueNC, and I accepted, I reckon he won't mind if I share some of my thoughts on the experience with my fellow wild-eyed progressives.

Please join us tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a live-blog chat with Dr. Michael Munger, Libertarian candidate for governor. Dr. Munger has been fairly active at BlueNC and introduced himself here long before many Democrats found us. Whether you support his candidacy or not, tonight's chat provides us with a great opportunity to learn.

Please leave your questions for Dr. Munger on this thread.

We've had a few announcements lately and some non-announcment, announcements. So, I thought it was time to do a little digging and see what candidates have in the way of websites. I'm also going to look at our Democratic leaders, at least those that I know or those who are "progressive" leaning. The grades will be based on the following, which is my take of what the leading candidates are doing nationwide.

F - no website except government site.
D - website with no online contact info (phone/address only) that looks like it was made in Dreamweaver in the 90s.
C - website has online contact info, but is out-of-date with news/bills/action that is listed.
B - website has all of the above and appears to be updated on a regular basis, has a photo page, and a way to donate online.
A - website has all of the above, plus a blog or chatroom, and links to Flickr/YouTube/MySpace/Facebook sites.

Over the next year, you're going to see lots of politicians trying to polish their green credentials. It's already happening in the race for governor, with Moore and Perdue both jockeying to be the candidate of clean air and water, renewable energy and more. And Republican Fredly Smith likes to chatter about his environmental commitments, even as he makes millions building highways and converting heartland into upscale golf communities.

Which raises this question: Are you FOR or AGAINST the US Navy's plans for an Outlying Landing Field on Site C near the National Wildlife Refuge?

I'm not a single issue voter by any stretch, but I do expect to know where candidates and elected officials stand. So far, the "reporters" in the mainstream media haven't been willing to ask these kinds of hard questions. Guess it's up to us.

Back in December, I wrote an entry about Michael Munger, who is hoping to run for NC Governor on the Libertarian ticket. I gave him a deservedly hard time, but I want to circle back with a few additional comments. But mostly I want to say how much I like his style.

In response to my post, Mr. Munger wrote an extended entry on his own blog, which I very much enjoyed reading. You can find it here.

Basically a fair presentation, I'd say. Anglico lists several of my issue claims, and mocks them, but he is at least focusing on stuff I really did say. And since some of the mocking is actually funny, I have to give him credit: good on ya, man!

I put on my hip waders tonight for a stroll through the dark alleys of John Locke Land and found a whole new sideshow being built in the circus. It's like the Man Who Ate His Brain and the Hall of Mirrors all rolled into one, with the official title: The Faculty Affiliate Network, a John Locke Foundation Project.

The list of "faculty" in this so-called network ranges from hard-core Pope Puppets like Roy Cordato, to ex-pols like Jim Martin, to a host of NCSU professors, to a few people from Duke. One of the Dukies, Mr. Michael Munger, is mounting a run for governor in the Libertarian Party in 2008.