PAT MCCRORY CONCEDES TO ROY COOPER AFTER HB2 BACKLASH & BACKPEDALING

PAT MCCRORY CONCEDES TO ROY COOPER AFTER HB2 BACKLASH & BACKPEDALING:

MCCRORY DIDN'T LOSE DUE TO PASSAGE OF HB2. IT WAS HIS BACKPEDALING.


Sources: CBS News, Wall Street Journal, YouTube


***** Pat McCrory Concedes North Carolina Governor’s Race to Roy Cooper:

The Republican incumbent had protested the result, but his opponent’s vote lead grew.

RALEIGH, N.C.—Republican Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina conceded his bid for re-election to Democrat Roy Cooper on Monday, ending a monthlong skirmish over the incumbent’s unsubstantiated claims of voting irregularity.

The governor’s race was extremely close, but the tally of absentee and provisional votes drove Mr. Cooper’s lead to more than 10,000 votes, up from about 5,000 votes out of 4.7 million cast in unofficial results on Election Day.

Mr. McCrory’s team had filed protests in dozens of counties, claiming that he was behind in the vote because of fraud.

But local boards of election, dominated by Republicans and appointed by Mr. McCrory, had found no widespread evidence of wrongdoing.

In a video statement, Mr. McCrory said “the majority of our citizens have spoken,” and he congratulated Mr. Cooper, the attorney general, and said he would work to ensure a smooth transition.

The gubernatorial race was an outlier in North Carolina, which elected President-elect Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Burr and other Republicans running statewide for treasurer and lieutenant governor.

But Mr. McCrory lost the state’s two biggest metropolitan areas of Charlotte and Raleigh, both of which he carried in 2012.

Many voters said they disapproved of Mr. McCrory’s championing of a law restricting public bathroom use by transgender people.

Mr. Cooper thanked Mr. McCrory for his service and called for unity after a “divisive election season.” In a statement, he said, “I know there is more that unites us than divides us.”

The governor-elect said his priorities would be investing in schools and supporting working families.

But the GOP still has veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature, and his allies say it is likely that he will spend much of his time seeking to block a legislative agenda rather than advance his own.

Mr. McCrory, who was first elected in 2012, had solicited supporters for funds to help pay for legal costs in challenging the results. His team’s allegations of fraud prompted Republicans to pledge to change election laws if necessary when the legislature reconvenes early next year.

Election law has been a contentious topic in North Carolina. Last summer, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a voter ID law and other restrictions passed by the state in 2013, saying they disproportionately affected black voters.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a separate challenge to North Carolina’s congressional maps, as Democrats say Republicans inappropriately drew districts based on race.

Renee Ellmers (R) Still Leading Etheridge; Heads To D.C. Monday

Ellmers Ready To Take Office In N.C. Second District


In a speech in Durham Saturday, Congressional candidate Renee Ellmers said she is ready to take office.

Ellmers, a Republican, leads incumbent Democrat Bob Etheridge by about 1,400 votes in the race for North Carolina’s Second Congressional District.

Etheridge has called for a recount in his bid to keep the seat, but Ellmers said she wants to get to work.

"I'm going forward as if we're not in this recount situation, because I have so much to learn,” Ellmers said Saturday.

Beginning Monday, she’ll be in Washington, D.C., attending orientation for new members of Congress and assembling a staff. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, her lawyers will monitor the recount.

According to the State Board of Elections, Ellmers received 93,893 votes in the Second District race to Etheridge's 92,404. The 1,489-vote gap is within the 1 percent threshold outlined under state law for Etheridge to seek a recount.

"As more votes were counted over the last week, it became increasingly clear that this race is too close to call and a recount is warranted,” Etheridge said in a statement Friday.

Ellmers is confident that her lead is insurmountable.

The State Board of Elections has until Nov. 23 to announce certified, final results.


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Sources: WRAL, Youtube, Google Maps

Hoffman Revokes His Concession, Accuses ACORN Of Voter Fraud

Hoffman alleges vote fraud in NY 23


Even as he faces near-impossible odds of pulling ahead in the count, Doug Hoffman announced Wednesday night that he is officially revoking his concession from Election Night, and is accusing labor unions and ACORN of stealing the election for Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.).

Hoffman posted a message on his campaign site Wednesday alleging dirty tricks by Democrats, and is asking for additional campaign contributions to fund a legal challenge to the election results.

“As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens," Hoffman wrote on his campaign site. "Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.”

Despite his unfailing optimism, Hoffman currently faces next-to-no chance of pulling ahead, with nearly half of the absentee ballots counted. The Watertown Daily Times reports that Hoffman currently trails Owens by 2,832 votes, with 4,262 absentee ballots left to be counted, with him only picking up a net of 344 votes in the process.

Hoffman would need to win nearly 80 percent of the outstanding absentee ballots to win. St. Lawrence, Oswego, Jefferson, Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties still have to finish their absentee count – with much of the remaining votes coming from Democratic strongholds that Owens carried on Election Night.

And Hoffman's claims are being undermined by his own staff and Republican election workers in the district. His campaign adviser, Rob Ryan, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that the campaign "knows chances for a victory grow more remote with each passing day."

The Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner told the Watertown Daily Times that Hoffman's allegations were “absolutely false.”

But that's not stopping Hoffman from crying foul.

"The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can't let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy," he wrote.

"We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned. So long as we remain the "land of the free," we MUST ensure every vote is counted. Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime."



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Sources: Politico, CBS News, Google Maps

N.Y. 23 Vote Recount Margin Narrows...Hoffman Unconcedes

Not so fast: N.Y.-23 vote margin narrows


Rep. Bill Owens (D) was sworn into Congress last week after Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman conceded in New York's special election, but a report today says Owens's margin of victory is steadily narrowing.

Hoffman conceded the race after receiving news that he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night. And Hoffman had barely won in Oswego County, which was thought to be a Hoffman stronghold.

But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported Thursday that votes may have been undercounted in Oswego County and other areas of the 23rd district.

More from the Post-Standard:

Now a recanvassing in the 11-county district shows that Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

In Oswego County, where Hoffman was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes — 12,748 to 11,000.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed, said John Conklin, communications director for the state Board of Elections. ...

Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd district, and therefore the state had not certified the election. But the letter noted that Owens still led by about 3,000 votes, and that the special election was not contested — two factors that legally allowed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to swear in Owens on Friday.

"We sent a letter to the clerk laying out the totals," Conklin said. "The key is that Hoffman conceded, which means the race is not contested. However, all ballots will be counted, and if the result changes, Owens will have to be removed."

Owens was sworn in on Friday before the House voted on healthcare reform legislation Saturday night. Owens and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a special election winner also sworn in last week, played a critical role in passing the legislation. The House approved the bill by a 220-215 margin with the support of one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao (La.)

It still remains unlikely that Hoffman wins the race. With just over 10,000 ballots distributed and Hoffman still trailing by 3,000 votes, he would have to take just over 65 percent of absentee ballots. That is assuming all 10,000-plus ballots will be returned. Hoffman campaign manager Rob Ryan also acknowledged to the Post-Standard that the prospects of victory remained dim.

"When people look back at this race, it was a remote possibility that Doug Hoffman would be a contender," Ryan said. "But miracles do happen."





Doug Hoffman seriously considering 2010 run


Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who lost the hotly contsted New York special House election, said Thursday that he "seriously considering" another run at the seat next year.

In an interview with the conservative magazine Human Events, Hoffman said the key to returning the district into Republican hands is to hold an open primary.

Hoffman challeneged Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava from the right after conservatives complained that she held too many liberal positions. Conservatives also pointed out that she was selected by less than a dozen party chairmen in the 23rd district as opposed to a primary election.

After Scozzafava dropped out three days before Election Day, Hoffman was shown to have a lead in the polls. But Democratic candidate Bill Owens won the election by a margin of 49 to 47 percent after earning Scozzafava's endorsement. Owens became the first Democrat to represent the district since the mid-19th century.

New York State GOP chairman Ed Cox told the publication he has discussed the issue of open primaries with Hoffman and is open to the idea.

Hoffman credited several national leaders and tea party activists for propelling his upstart campaign.

"They gave our campaign legs," he said. "And I think when they canvassed and won over voters, they demonstrated we are a not a 'fringe' or 'crazy' movement."

He specifically thanked ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), former Sen. Fred Thompson, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for backing his campaign.

Hoffman's announcement comes on a day reports surfaced that Owens lead over Hoffman has shrunk by about 2,000 voters after recanvassing. But observers say it is unlikely the result of the election will be overturned.



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Sources: The Hill, Human Events, ABC News, Syracuse News, Google Maps

Iran Updates: Dueling Rallies, Limited Recount of Votes...Pres. Obama Speaks Cautiously, Deeply Troubled By Escalating Events

MSNBC----

"There are people who want to see greater openness."

"I am deeply troubled by the violence that I've been seeing on television."

"I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability for folks to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values and need to be respected."

President Barack Obama....June 16, 2009

Iran’s Islamic leadership agreed to conduct a limited recount of votes following last week’s disputed presidential election, a spokesman said Tuesday, as thousands of people took to Tehran’s streets.

Iranian state media said the government organized a massive rally to demand punishment for those who violently protested the announced results of Friday’s balloting, which the government said had been won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed he won the election and has demanded a new election.

Authorities banned all foreign news reporting from the streets, making it difficult for Western media to confirm the reports that thousands of Iranians had gathered for demonstrations and counterdemonstrations Tuesday.

Reports from eyewitnesses said gunfire came from the roof of a building in Tehran used by a state-backed militia after some supporters of Mousavi set fire to the building and tried to storm it.

Eyewitnesses said violence broke out at a rally in central Tehran, where plainclothes militia beat pro-reform protesters with sticks. Some of the plainclothes officials were reported to be chanting “Death to America.”

In Washington, President Barack Obama acknowledged that he was in a difficult position in trying to craft the U.S. response to the unrest in Iran, which has seen Washington as a bitter enemy for 30 years.

“I think that the world has deep concerns about the election,” Obama said at a news conference Tuesday with the visiting president of South Korea. But he said it would not be “productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling ... in Iranian elections.”

The president said he stood with “the universal principle that people’s voices should be heard and not suppressed,” but he stressed that “how that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide.”

Republicans criticized Obama for not being tougher on Tehran. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on NBC’s TODAY show that Obama should speak out about Iran’s “corrupt, flawed sham of an election.”

Mousavi backers blanket streets:

NBC News staff in Tehran were not allowed to report from the streets or to send video supporting any reports. But an NBC News producer sent messages describing some of the scene at the Mousavi rally.

The crowd reached about 100,000 people in less than three hours. Images of Mousavi were spray-painted in green on every street corner, and supporters carried banners reading “Mir Hossein Mousavi our true president.”

The crowd remained peaceful, sending messages to one another to stay calm and not to chant anything hostile.

With traditional reporting silenced and e-mail and many Web sites shut down by the government, much of the information from Tehran was coming through social media Internet services like Twitter.com and Facebook.com, which can be accessed through mobile devices and cell phone networks.

Twitter postponed a scheduled blackout for maintenance Tuesday so as not to silence the protesters after the U.S. State Department lobbied it to keep its service running during the unrest, a State Department official said. The official said the United States wanted to highlight “Twitter’s role as an important means of communication — not with us — but horizontally in Iran.”

Messages from people claiming to be eyewitnesses to the violence were flowing into Twitter at the rate of hundreds a minute. Numerous reports of gunfire were being posted, and videos purporting to capture demonstrators’ being beaten — and, in at least one case, killed — were also being published on YouTube.com.

“After this is all over, the people of Iran will always remember how people from all over the world supported them,” said a message that appeared to come from Tehran.

One Twitter user called the banned communications “cyberwarfare at its best,” and there were unconfirmed reports that Iranian security forces were fighting back by creating their own Twitter accounts to spread their version of events.

The independent, nontraditional reporting from participants illustrated the difficulty Iranian authorities were having in clamping down on the protesters and the worldwide attention that is bolstering their actions.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and experts in Islamic, to investigate the election results after he met with Mousavi on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted on state TV as saying the recount would be limited to voting sites where candidates claim irregularities took place. But he did not rule out the possibility of canceling the results entirely, which would be an unprecedented step.

There was no immediate word from Mousavi on the announcement, who had said Monday that he was not hopeful that the council would address his charges.

As waves of messages went out alleging that seven people had been killed after crowds tried to storm a compound linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guard, Iranian state radio decided Tuesday to confirm the reports, calling the demonstration an “unauthorized gathering.”

Government seeks to cool passions:

The huge rallies also showed the resolve of Mousavi’s backers and have pushed Iran’s Islamic establishment into attempts to cool the tensions after days of unrest.

The death toll reported Tuesday was the first in Tehran since the post-election turmoil gripped Iran and could be a further rallying point in a culture that venerates martyrs and often marks their death with memorials.

Mousavi said in a message in his Web site that he would not be attending any rally, and he asked his supporters to “not fall in the trap of street riots” and to “exercise self-restraint.”

Ahmadinejad traveled to Russia on Tuesday after delaying the trip for a day. He did not mention the election or the unrest, instead focusing his rhetoric on the United States.

“America is enveloped in economic and political crises, and there is no hope for their resolution,” he said through an interpreter. “Allies of the United States are not capable of easing these crises.”

A Web site run by Iran’s former reformist vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, said he had been arrested by security officers, but it provided no further details. Abtahi’s Web site, which is popular among young Iranians, has reported extensively on the alleged vote fraud after Friday’s election.

Britain and Germany, meanwhile, joined the calls of alarm over the rising confrontations in Iran. In Paris, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to discuss the allegations of vote-tampering and the violence.


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Sources: MSNBC, Day Life, Google Maps