Obama Urges Tax Deal, Talks "Sputknik" In North Carolina: 2012 Campaign Trail

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Speaking In N.C., Obama Weighs In On Tax Cut Debate


President Barack Obama warned Monday the United States faces a new "Sputnik moment" in an increasingly one-world economy and said it must move dramatically to hold its place as global leader.

Obama pressed anew in a North Carolina speech for an accommodation with Republicans on extending Bush era tax cuts, saying he would cede ground in his positions in order to help lawmakers reach a bipartisan compromise.

The president signaled a deal could be close, and said "we've got to make sure we're coming up with a solution, even if it's not 100 percent what I want or 100 percent what the Republicans want."

The president used much of his 10-day Asian tour recently to argue America's case for more open markets for U.S. goods, and in his remarks Monday at the Forsyth Technical Community College, he carried the appeal even further.

Proclaiming a "new Sputnik moment," Obama recalled the shock in this country over the Soviet Union's launch of the first satellite in 1957 and the national response that put America in the forefront of technology development. He said the most important competition for America today is not between Democrats and Republicans but with other nations.

"The hard truth is this: in the race for the future, America is in danger of falling behind," he warned.

In Washington, Democrats and Republicans are seeking a compromise in Capitol Hill talks on extending the Bush-era tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of the year. An outline is emerging that would temporarily extend the cuts for all taxpayers and extend jobless benefits for millions of American.

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Obama said lawmakers are still engaged in "serious debate" as they work through differences. He reiterated his opposition to a permanent extension of tax cuts for top income earners, saying the country couldn't afford them.

The negotiations between the administration and lawmakers of both parties have centered on a two-year extension of current rates.

With the nation's unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, Obama also said it was equally important for lawmakers to pass an extension of the jobless benefits.

Republicans have insisted that any extension of jobless aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. The White House opposes that, saying such cuts are economically damaging during a weak recovery.

With the nation's unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, Obama said it was equally important for lawmakers to pass an extension of the jobless benefits. Republicans have insisted that the benefits be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. The White House opposes that, saying such cuts are economically damaging during a weak recovery.

A month after his party suffered sweeping defeats in the midterm elections, Obama said it's time for lawmakers to stop making decisions based on the political implications for the next election.

"I believe that right now there are bigger issues at stake for our country than politics," he said.

During his three-hour stop in North Carolina, Obama also offered a glimpse of his 2011 agenda as he called for new investments that would put the U.S. in a better competitive position in the world.

Obama spoke in general terms, mentioning future investments in areas like education and infrastructure, though he outlined no specific initiatives he would promote. White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama would likely speak about some of his plans in his State of the Union address early next year.

The president also said America's competitiveness would be buoyed by favorable trade agreements, like the free trade deal completed with South Korea last week. Obama dismissed critics who argue that trade deals will hurt businesses at home, arguing instead that American companies will get a boost by expanding their markets overseas.


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Sources: Fox News, Meet The Press, MSNBC, WCNC, Google Maps

Obama's 4th North Carolina Trip: 2012 Re-Election Bid

Obama Scheduled To Visit Winston-Salem Area


President Barack Obama will travel to the Winston-Salem area on Monday for an official event related to the economy.

The White House refused to release further details, but WXII-TV in Winston-Salem reported that Obama will visit Forsyth Technical Community College.

It would be Obama's fourth trip to North Carolina since he became president. He last visited in April, a largely off-the-record weekend vacation in Asheville with his wife, Michelle.

A few weeks before that trip, he came to Charlotte to tout the health reform bill.

With two years before the next presidential election, North Carolina remains a politically important state for Obama. He won the state narrowly in 2008.

Republicans have done better since then, taking over the North Carolina State General Assembly in November.

But in Congress, the state lost just one Democrat, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington, who lost in his largely rural district to tea party activist Renee Ellmers.

In North Carolina, Obama remains in a close race with four potential GOP candidates, according to a survey released Monday by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm in Raleigh.

He's statistically tied with Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, according to the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.

The same survey showed a 45 percent job approval rating for Obama in the state, with 51 percent disapproving.

On Monday, Obama will head to the hometown of Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, who won a second term in November. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, is from neighboring Greensboro.














Pat McCrory Leads Perdue In Rematch


PPP's first poll of the 2012 Governor's race in North Carolina finds Pat McCrory well ahead of Bev Perdue in a hypothetical rematch of their 2008 contest, 49-37. Perdue also trails NC GOP chair Tom Fetzer in a possible contest, although only by a 42-40 margin.

Part of the reason for Perdue's dicey early standing is her continued poor approval ratings. Only 33% of voters in the state approve of the job she's doing while 49% disapprove. But the other part is that Pat McCrory is a pretty well liked politician. Although a lot of folks have already forgotten who he is- 45% of voters in the state have no opinion of him- those who do remember him from 2 years ago generally look upon him fondly. 34% have a favorable view of him to only 20% with a negative one.

Republicans (49/11 spread) and independents (34/18) are pretty overwhelmingly positive toward him and even with Democrats there are almost as many- 24%- with a positive opinion of him as there are- 27% with a negative one.

McCrory leads Perdue 58-27 with Independents.

By comparison PPP's final 2008 poll found him up just 7 points on Perdue with them.




McCrory is also getting 25% of Democrats, compared to 17% we found him with on our final 2008 poll. And McCrory also does a good job of keeping Republicans in line- Perdue gets only 5% of the GOP vote at this point in time, compared to 10% she was receiving at the end of the last election.

There's not a lot of doubt that McCrory would defeat Perdue if the election was held today. But of course it's not. Earlier this month the Governor of Arizona, who had trailed by a good deal in polling throughout much of 2009, and the Governor of Illinois, who trailed by a good deal in polling throughout pretty much all of 2010, were both reelected. Perdue has a lot of work to do with Democrats and independents between now and November of 2012, but it's not impossible for someone in her current position to win reelection.



The most interesting thing about Fetzer's numbers might be that as many press conferences as he held this year, 70% of voters across the state don't know who he is. And when you get outside the Triangle that number rises closer to 80%. Democrats dislike Fetzer more strongly (8/27) than Republicans like him (16/9). Independents have a dim view of Fetzer as well at 9/16. Given McCrory's strength Fetzer's electoral prospects in 2012 might look brighter in a race for Lieutenant Governor than the big office.

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Pat McCrory Prepares For 2012 Rematch As Bev Perdue Continues To Screw Up


Pat McCrory's calendar seems penciled with listings for someone ready for a rematch with Gov. Beverly Perdue.

McCrory, who stepped down as Charlotte mayor after 16 years last fall, has become a popular speaker statewide on the Republican Party's chicken dinner circuit, headlining many GOP fundraisers. He's been a frequent visitor on local and even national television political roundtables after narrowly losing to Perdue in November 2008.

Now he has started a political action committee to raise money for legislative candidates and highlight issues he promoted in the 2008 race, including transportation, criminal justice and getting rid of what he called "a culture of corruption" in state government.

"North Carolina state government is in a mess," the 53-year-old McCrory said in a video announcing his New Leadership PAC and identifying Democrats, including Perdue, whom he believes are part of the problem. "It's time for new leadership in our state and it must start now in 2010."

What about 2012?

McCrory said in an interview he's going to strongly consider a repeat gubernatorial bid. A longtime observer of his political career is more certain.

"He's going to run for governor," said Ted Arrington, a political science professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Arrington said it's a challenge for McCrory to keep his name in front of the general public now that he's the ex-mayor. He also needs to avoid negative publicity that could harm him politically while satisfying both the business community that backed him for years and the new tea party movement to avoid a bruising GOP primary.

"I think he's still popular, but he's just disappeared from everything," Arrington said. "He's behind the scenes. He's working the party leaders."

McCrory almost became just the third Republican since 1901 to move to the Executive Mansion in Raleigh when he lost to Perdue by 3 percentage points in the closest governor's race in 36 years. A month later, he announced he wouldn't seek an eighth two-year term as mayor in 2009.

Since leaving the mayor's post, McCrory joined a Charlotte law firm as a public policy consultant in addition to working with his brother's business and boosted his outside political involvement. He kicked off the New Leadership PAC this spring with a mass fundraising letter. The PAC's treasurer is Jack Hawke, McCrory's chief political consultant in the 2008 campaign.

A political action committee is a common tool for someone interested in running for federal office such as president. John Edwards had one, as does current Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But it's unusual for someone seeking a North Carolina state government office.

McCrory said he plans to use social networking, electronic town hall meetings and other technology to communicate with supporters about candidates and issues. He said President Obama's use of technology during the 2008 campaign played a role in helping Perdue win by energizing Democrats to vote.



"I felt the impact first hand in my race, and I want to help other candidates not be behind the 8-ball in that area," McCrory said.

The political committee collected nearly $25,000 by mid-April. Retired accountant Ken Collins of Monroe gave $100 to McCrory's new venture because he said the ex-mayor "seems to be a guy that can get along across political lines. You can't say that about everybody."

State Democratic Party executive director Andrew Whalen said the ex-mayor's New Leadership PAC "seems to be nothing more than an attempt to repackage those same failed ideas from his failed gubernatorial campaign."

McCrory also went on the defensive in February when the campaign committee acknowledged it failed to report two helicopter flights in the waning days of his 2008 bid. Perdue and former Gov. Mike Easley have taken heat for dozens of flight disclosures over the past year. The Democratic Party made one of those flights the centerpiece of a news conference.

The PAC is not the only effort by McCrory to stay on the political radar screen. During his last year as mayor, McCrory was asked to speak to large crowds in person and on the air about his concerns with the federal stimulus package and President Obama's health care overhaul.

McCrory was the only speaker to get a standing ovation from more than 1,000 conservative and tea party supporters meeting last September in Raleigh to hear Obama's address on health care to a joint session of Congress. Helping social and fiscal conservative feel comfortable with McCrory could help him win over the Republican base and avoid a tough primary in 2012.

Arrington said McCrory's strategy to attempt to remain salient after his failed gubernatorial shows he's not the same guy who won a Charlotte city council seat as a relative political unknown in 1989.

"He started out in politics a very naive fellow," Arrington said. "He's learned a lot."






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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Public Policy Polling, WCNC, WRAL, Youtube, Google Maps

NC Man Wrongly Accused & Imprisoned For 14 Years Finally Goes Free....Possible Civil Rights Lawsuit

News & Observer----

DNA exonerates a second Forsyth Inmate


While Joseph Abbitt grew older in prison, forensic science grew more sophisticated, enough to prove the truth he'd been telling since 1991.

Abbitt walked out of jail Wednesday, 14 years after a jury found that he raped two teenage sisters in the early morning darkness as they dressed for school. He swore his innocence from the day police found him, which, at the time, sounded like hot air from a man who had seen plenty of trouble on the streets of Winston-Salem.

On Wednesday, new DNA tests on long-kept evidence proved that an unidentified man had violated the girls.

"We're here today not because of any wrongdoing by any one person," David Hall, a Forsyth County assistant district attorney, told the judge. "We're here because of the inexact science long ago. Science has marched on over the years."

Abbitt is the seventh man in North Carolina exonerated by DNA evidence years after being sentenced. Nationally, he joins 241 men exonerated by more sophisticated testing of DNA; three quarters of them, like Abbitt, had been wrongly identified by witnesses. An untold number of others never had the chance to prove their innocence because evidence from the crime was destroyed long before the state passed laws requiring that the pieces be kept forever.

As these things go, Abbitt, 49, was lucky. He was convicted in Forsyth County, where the exoneration of another man had weighed on the conscience of the district attorney.

Darryl Hunt was freed in 2003 after serving 18 years for the rape and murder of a Winston-Salem woman. His innocence was a sucker punch for Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith.

"We did not want another Darryl Hunt case," Keith said. "I couldn't take it."

Keith wanted to sleep through the night not wondering whether his office had banished other innocent men to prison. In 2005, his office compiled a list of every suspect from Forsyth County in prison -- 2,247 total. Keith mailed each a letter, advising the inmates that if they thought a new DNA test would help prove a claim of innocence, he'd make the test happen.

Only 150 inmates took him up on the offer. Of those, 80 were reviewed by the local bar association and students at Wake Forest University Law School, who looked for cases that had evidence that could be tested. Only Abbitt's case resulted in exoneration.

Abbitt appealed directly to the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence, a nonprofit group dedicated to helping prisoners who believe they were wrongly convicted. In 2008, Christine Mumma, the center's director, solicited the help of Keith and the Winston-Salem police department to look for any shred of evidence remaining in Abbitt's case.

In one of the department's six warehouses, Winston-Salem Capt. David Clayton hit pay dirt: the girls' two rape kit exams, undisturbed since the day the state lab sent them back with a report saying it couldn't get a positive read. Clayton immediately drove them to a state lab for more testing. The kits were eventually sent to a private lab for more sophisticated work.

A logical suspect

In 1995, Abbitt's conviction made sense. He'd been in trouble with the law before; he had even been charged in another sex crime years before. The girls, 15 and 13 at the time of the crime, knew him, and said, with certainty, that he was the man who snuck into their house and raped them at knife-point. They saw paint on his shoes and pant-legs; Abbitt had been working as a painter.

Abbitt always swore his innocence. His family believed him and never thought a jury would convict him.

"We all knew he didn't do it," his brother Thurmond Abbitt said Wednesday. "It hurt to watch that fall upon him."

A hulking man in a beige dress shirt and glasses, Joseph Abbitt wept as a judge granted his freedom. Abbitt hung his head and shook with sobs; Mumma rubbed his arm.

The judge offered an apology. Abbitt nodded.

When Abbitt finally spoke, he did not rant against the system that wronged him. Instead, he focused on the girls violated by someone years before.

"I pray for those two young victims every day," Abbitt told a judge. "I hope they catch the one who did this because these two young girls are still the victims of this awful crime."

Keith plans to do that. On Wednesday, a judge signed an order allowing $5,000 to pay for more DNA tests at a private lab, where they hope to decipher the signature of the real rapist.



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Sources: News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Winston-Salem Journal, Google Maps