Joining the growing list of media outlets who wouldn't know an expert if he sat in their laps:

Chris Hayes, a legislative analyst for Civitas, said Parfitt's low name recognition because of having never run before could be one of the reasons for the difference - as could Dawkins' familiarity among voters from his time on the City Council and the fact that his father was mayor for six terms.

But there could be other factors that come into play, too, Hayes said. "Unaffiliated voters, who are currently divided in their choice of candidate," he said, "may play a crucial role in this race."

In one little blurb, Hayes has cast the Democrat as having no experience, and the Republican as having both experience and well-loved father/mayor.

We're turning up the heat on our GOTV here at Democracy North Carolina and we need your help with our virtual phone bank! We have phone lists of targeted voters (African-American senior citizens, college voters, etc.) who need a nudge to return to the polls in 2010 and we need your help phoning them with Early Voting and other information. Sign up on-line, we'll send you a list of about 40 names plus suggested scripts, and you can work from home or your office. And please help us spread the word by sending this opportunity to people you think might want to help! Thanks -- and Happy Voting in 2010.

Sign up on-line here: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6601/signup_page/phonebankingvolunteer

From a telephone Interview with Michele Miller Houck, President of the North Carolina Women’s Political Caucus:

With Election Day coming in just over a week, Michele Miller Houck of Charlotte and I talked on Sunday. Houck has been working to rebuild the North Carolina Women’s Political Caucus (NCWPC ) as a state-wide bi-partisan group that supports pro-choice women for political office.

The Caucus has been focused on only a few Legislative races this year, but it also endorsed Secretary of State Elaine Marshall for the U. S. Senate. Marshall is challenging the Republican incumbent Senator Richard Burr of Winston-Salem. Marshall is also endorsed by the National Women’s Political Caucus.

And the NAACP is not happy with their choices:

A proposal by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to close eight urban schools, where less than 10 percent of the total enrollment is white, has sparked bitter debate and action by state and local NAACP leaders accusing CMS of racism.

But to some, it's the latest twist in a cycle of discrimination that dates back to Jim Crow schools, continued with urban renewal projects that razed black neighborhoods, and gathered new force when courts dismantled CMS' desegregation plan about 10 years ago.

I've spent the last few hours trying to work this thing backwards, so follow me if you're interested:

Wise words from our Secretary of State:

“Prosperity belongs to all if we work for it,” Marshall said to the crowd. “We do not believe the budget should be balanced on the backs of the middle class. The millionaires need to pay their fair share.”

Women are entitled to equal pay for equal work, she said. “This is not a women’s issue; it’s a family issue,” Marshall said.

That's exactly right. Inequality in pay doesn't just impact the (female) earner, it puts her children at a disadvantage as well, if she's also a mom. And there's about 10 million single moms out there, with some 15 million kids they're raising. And only about 1 in 4 receive any type of government assistance.

As a species, human beings leave much to be desired. Not to say we haven't made some significant contributions, but that doesn't make us the sharpest knives in the drawer. For example, everybody knew who the real Clarence Thomas was during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Reporters knew. His colleagues knew. Congress knew. Everybody knew, including his ardent defenders. Yet we turned a blind eye. We allowed a liar and a pervert to be appointed to the highest court in the land. For life. Everybody knew it and we still we let it happen.

No matter how much that turns your stomach, we're letting something far worse happen right now. We're letting businesses buy our government. Art Pope. Fred Eschelman. Karl Rove. The US Chamber of Commerce. Foreign corporations. They are buying the United States of America one vote at a time, and they are doing it as we speak. It is every bit a coup. Everybody knows. And still we let it happen?

Are we sailing on a ship of fools?

Though many of the projects and foundations funded by Art Pope are upfront about their conservative bent, the North Carolina History Project (northcarolinahistory.org/) bills itself as "an edited, evolving, and free online encyclopedia of North Carolina that also includes commentaries, lesson plans, and a community calendar" and its website as "a special project of the John Locke Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank in Raleigh, North Carolina." However, an extensive study of their work reveals that the NCHP champions subjects that fit into a conservative, anti-feminist worldview while glossing over the bigoted legacy of conservative icons such as Jesse Helms.

Upset over NPR's firing of Juan Williams:

Volunteers taking calls during WUNC Radio’s annual fall fund-raiser this week are hearing from listeners who have strong opinions about the firing of NPR news analyst Juan Williams.

“We’ve heard from quite a number of people upset that he was let go,” said David Brower, WUNC’s programming director. Brower said he personally talked to 19 people Thursday night after they called in on pledge lines.

The thing is (and you should already know this), most of those people barking on the phone aren't regular NPR listeners, they're reactionary sheep responding to this viral conservative e-mail:

From our friends at the Watch. A "human life amendment" is a proposal to add a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution that would confer a constitutionally protected right to life and equal protection from the moment of conception - that is, on every fertilized egg. Obviously, for a group that supports such a remarkably extreme position, anything eroding reproductive freedom is likely to be fair game in the 2011 legislature. Indeed, several conservative candidates have stated explicitly that they would favor laws banning abortions in all circumstances - even in cases of child rape and incest.

Hi folks.

As you may know, I am supporting my friend and mentor Stan Hammer in his race for the Court of Appeals seat vacated by Judge Wynn when he was deservedly elevated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Stan is eminently qualified by experience, ability, and temperament to be an outstanding Court of Appeals Judge.

Here are two ads his campaign has just released. Let me know what you think, and please remember to flip your ballot and vote for the judges. You get to choose your top three in this race - please don't hesitate to do so. There is no way your second and third choices can hurt your first. They only count if your first choice is not in the runoff.

I hope you will join me in supporting Stan Hammer. Click through to see the vids.

The first one is called "EXPERIENCE."

King freaks out over the removal of Christian flag from war memorial:

The city council decided last month to remove the flag from above the monument in Central Park after a resident complained, and after city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State urging them to remove it.

Since Sept. 22, the vigil has been bolstered by home-cooked food delivered by supporters, sleeping bags and blankets donated by a West Virginia man and offers of support from New York to Louisiana.

"Today we ride to the Holy Land!...I mean, North Carolina...whatever, glory awaits us wherever we go! Ride!"

By Jennifer Rennicks, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.   Cross-posted from Facing South

At two weeks and counting, we are officially in the home stretch of the 2010 midterm election season.

Every election cycle in our country brings candidates together to debate the issues and pundits together to analyze those comments before allowing citizens to have the final say in the voting booths. This year, however, big money -- especially dirty money from fossil fuel energy interests -- may have the final say in influencing the outcome of the elections.

NCGOP family values:
Lying, hypocrisy, and cowardice