News-Record.com

Got that voting itch, but don't know what to do now that Election Day is over?

Check this out: We started this to let you give your thoughts on what you want U.S. Senator-elect Kay Hagan to focus on in her early days in office. The war? Economy? Immigration? Something else?

Go and scratch that voting itch!

Former state Sen. Hugh Webster, the Republican nominee for the 13th Congressional District House seat now held by Democrat Brad Miller, has received a notice from the N.C. State Board of Certified Public Accountants asking him to "cease and desist" using the term "certified public accountant" on a sign at his office on West Main Street in Yanceyville.

Webster says he has covered up the offending words on the sign and has formally consented to abide by the order, which prevents civil action by the board. He also calls the notice "political bull----."

Webster says the sign has been on the building for about 30 years, but that he ceased being a CPA several years ago.

The order was issued about a month ago.

Are you craving more of the map-cap fun in the 6th Congressional District race that pits Teresa Bratton, a democratic pediatrician, versus Republican incumbent Howard Coble? Then let's do lunch with the League of Women Voters who just passed on this announcement:

League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Haywood Duke Meeting Room
605 N. Greene St. near downtown Greensboro

Candidate Forum
Sixth Congressional District

Representative Howard Coble
Republican Incumbent

Dr. Teresa Sue Bratton
Democrat, Challenger

Moderator Dr. David Olson

The October 21 program is free. Reservations are necessary if you’d like to have lunch at a cost of $8.00 per person. Make reservations by Friday, October 17 and please arrive at noon on the 21st if you plan to have lunch.

Reservations: tkwhitacre@triad.rr.com or call Marlene Pratto at 336-275-4422 or Trudy Whitacre at 643-2131.

Teresa Sue Bratton, the Democrat challenging Republican incumbent Howard Coble, got some love recently from NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin. About three-quarters of the way through this online piece, Rudin posts a picture of Bratton's campaign button.

He writes:

Back in 2006, we initiated this feature, by which we asked you to send in campaign buttons for candidates for the Senate, House and governor. Our end of the bargain — aside from satisfying Ken Rudin's button craze, which is bordering on the unhealthy — would be to feature the candidates in a "Meet the Challenger" section.

This week: Teresa Sue Bratton, a Democrat running in North Carolina's 6th District, and Doug Cloud, a Republican in Washington's 6th CD.

Bratton, a pediatric allergist in her first race, faces an uphill battle against 77-year-old Republican incumbent Howard Coble, first elected in 1984, in a state that is likely and a district that is almost assuredly to go for John McCain. Coble, who usually tops 70 percent of the vote, is known for his constituent service, but Bratton thinks this is her time, given the fact that "people see a crisis in health care, in our economy and our environment." Bratton points to Coble's 2007 vote against reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program as one of the reasons she says it's time for a change. On the environment, she has a plan to reduce the impact of climate change "by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improving air and water quality, and making our food supply and housing stock safer." In Iraq, she believes in an "orderly withdrawal of troops ... as soon as possible," but she supports an increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

A look at where some of the candidates on the Guilford County ballot are in the next few days:

TODAY
U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan
10:30 a.m.: News conference on crime and gang violence. Several Charlotte officials plan to endorse her. Mecklenburg County Historical Courthouse, 700 E. Trade St., Charlotte.
1:45 p.m.: Addresses a meeting of the N.C. Correctional Association. N.C. Cooperative Extension, Randolph County Center, 112 West Walker Ave., Asheboro.

Gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory
11 a.m.: Speaks at the N.C. Association of County Commissioners annual conference. New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, Colonial Capital Ballroom A, 203 South Front St., New Bern.

Gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue
4 p.m.: Speaks at the N.C. Association of County Commissioners annual conference. New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, Colonial Capital Ballroom A, 203 South Front St., New Bern.

U.S. House District Rep. Brad Miller
12:30 p.m.: Gives keynote speech at the Kiwanis Club Luncheon. Highland United Methodist Church, 1901 Ridge Road, Raleigh.

SATURDAY
U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan
11:30 a.m.: Attending an open house at her campaign headquarters, 700 N. Eugene St., Greensboro.
2 p.m.: Participates in a crime and gangs round-table. N.C. Central University, Whiting Justice Building, Room 324, Corner of Nelson and Lincoln Street, Durham.

SUNDAY
Gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory
2 p.m.: Attends Alamance County Republican Party Headquarters grand opening, 16 Northeast Court Square, Graham.
6 p.m.: Speaks to the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club, Starmount Forest Country Club, One Sam Snead Dr., Greensboro.

UPDATE: Adds Hagan's open house on Saturday and McCrory's events Sunday; removes Thursday's events.

From today's paper: a look at the three Democrats who want to take on Republican Rep. Howard Coble in the 6th Congressional District.

Previously:

• The Democratic primary in the 28th state Senate District.
• The Republican Primary in the 61st state House District.

The Democrats hoping to win their party's nomination in the 6th Congressional District debated at Guilford College Tuesday night. The winner of the primary will go on to face Republican Howard Coble this fall.

Democrats in the race include Teresa Sue Bratton, Johnny Carter and Jay Ovittore.

Along with a colleague from the Lexington Dispatch, I had the opportunity to ask some questions of the candidates. Some of the highlights from my notes follow.

On Iraq

Ovittore and Bratton they would only vote for further funding of the war in Iraq if it was tied to timetables for withdrawal. Carter said that he would not vote for further military funding but that the U.S. needed to pay for the continued rebuilding of the country.

On Health Care

Carter said that he would put everyone under a national healthcare system.

Ovittore also advocated for a single-payer system.

Bratton said that she did not favor an immediate shift to a single payer or national health care system. She said that we should create a national nonprofit health care company that would cover those without private health insurance. If the country gradually moved to the point of single payer system, Bratton said that would be fine but that she did not want to outlaw an entire industry over night.

On gay marriage

Bratton said she would vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act passed under then-President Clinton, which allows states not to recognize marriages made in other states if they involve same sex unions. Bratton said she supports civil unions for same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

Carter said that gay people were being denied rights that others have. He said he was in favor of equitable treatment of all people and didn't see the reason for DOMA being passed.

Ovittore said that he would not only vote to repeal DOMA but would push for a law that would force states to recognize marriages made legal elsewhere, including same-sex unions.

Closings

Ovittore said: "I am the only candidate up here who can beat Howard Coble Nov. 4."

Carter invited people to read his policy positions on his website: "They're coming basically from common sense."

Bratton said she could assemble a coalition that can be Coble in the fall: "I'm a centrist and I believe I can attract Democrats, Republicans and Independents who are worried about their future and the future of our children."

Jay Ovittore endorsed Senate candidate Jim Neal in a blog post on the BlueNC site. This is a bit of an internecine feuding. Ovittore is from Guilford County, as is state Sen. Kay Hagan, Neal's primary opposition in the primary.

From the post:

I have tried to work with both camps in the Senate race and the only one that will give me the time of day is Jim's. The straw that broke the camels back however, Kay Hagan will speak at one of my primary opponent's events. This is after pledging to help my campaign and never following through.

For those of you asking what sort of effect this sort of thing has, I don't know. Ovittore is not a well known commodity and it seems unlikely he's going to swing a lot of voters in state races. Still, he seems to be well-liked by some activists, so maybe those who were fence-sitting in the Senate race might be pushed over the Neal camp.

Just by way of information, the other candidates in Ovittore's primary - 6th Congressional District, now held by Rep. Howard Coble - are Teressa Sue Bratton and Johnny J. Carter. Hagan and Bratton seem to be on pretty good terms.

For those wondering, political consultants would agree with Ovittore when he starts out his post by saying he shouldn't be endorsing anyone. Candidates with their own primaries tend to stay out of one another's' primaries since they run the risk of hacking off potential friends and supporters. That's doubly true in the case of Hagan, who is by far the most influential sitting legislator from Guilford County and backed by a number of local politicos.

There are two Democrats officially filed to run in the 6th Congressional District according to the State Board of Elections.

Johnny Carter, of Summerfield, has made his bid official. He's been noted here before.

New to the race is Teresa Sue Bratton of Greensboro. I met her at a Democratic gathering Tuesday night. She is a pediatric allergist and says she got into the race after being aggravated by Republican incumbent Howard Coble's vote against SCHIP expansion.

She said that she was in the process of hiring on a campaign manager.

Jay Ovittore, who has announced a run, isn't on the SBOE list yet.

In this comment to a recent post David Crawford said he's no longer running for Congress this year. He also writes that he will support Johnny Carter over Jay Ovittore in the primary. The winner of the Democratic primary will take on Republican incumbent Howard Coble.

Crawford filed to run and then aborted his City Council campaign against Mike Barber last year. Crawford has switched his Myspace page to a 2009 council campaign mode.

From a Charlotte Observer article about the attendence (or lack there of) for North Carolina's federal delegation:

Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican, missed 59 votes, tied with GOP Rep. Howard Coble of Greensboro, for the second-largest number of missed votes in the delegation.

That's 59 of nearly 1,200 votes, or a miss rate of 4.8 percent or so.

Yes! Weekly columnist and local talk show host Jim Longworth has said he won't let Jay Ovittore on his air. Ovittore is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in the 6th Congressional District.

This is reminiscent somewhat of Longworth's complaints about Brad Miller in 2006, when Miller declined to come on his show. I can't say that the tiff hurt Miller in the polls any.

Triad Today is an independent production, not part of a news operation. (ABC 45 where the show is produced doesn't have a news department.)

This is the second time today that this story has sparked some sort of public tussle.

Hat tip: Blue NC

Bill Wright, the chairman of the Guilford County GOP, has a letter to the editor today regarding our story on Coble's age and whether he'll retire. From the letter:

But perhaps the article says even more about Jay Ovittore, an announced Democratic challenger. Ovittore suggested that anyone who has served as long as Coble begins to get cynical and corrupt.

I have known Coble for many years and shared the platform with him at numerous events, especially programs honoring our veterans and ex-POWs. Coble is a man of the people, visible throughout the 6th District. He is constantly meeting with constituent groups, area businesses, speaking to schoolchildren, veterans' groups and listening to the concerns of voters. He has assembled a talented and committed staff that provides perhaps the best constituent service of anyone in Congress.

So is Wright right? Can you serve in Washington for more than two decades and still be a "man of the people?" Or do age and length of service eventually take their toll?

From a story in Sunday's paper:

GREENSBORO -- Howard Coble will be the first to admit he's no spring chicken -- or any other cliché you want to use.

"Let's face it, 76 is getting long in the tooth," Coble said Friday after driving home from Washington the day before.

The Greensboro Republican has reached an age when most of his peers think about retiring rather than asking the voters for another term.

It's possible that during the upcoming election campaign, voters could start thinking about the fact that Coble will be 79 before the next Congress adjourns in 2010.

"Surprisingly enough, I don't recall a constituent ever saying that," Coble said.

According to the House clerk's office, the average age of a U.S. representative when the current term began was 55, and the average congressman had served 9.3 years. Coble was first elected in 1984 and was out of high school before that average congressman was born.

While he said he is "nearing the end of his legislative career" and won't "be up there eternally," Coble also said he intends to win another term.

Click here to read the whole thing.

Coble refused to say when he might retire, so I'll put it to you. How old is too old to be knocking about up in D.C.?