A Small victory
T. Dianne Bellamy-Small almost pulled a Don Vaughan during the stretch run of the campaign in District 1.
Bellamy-Small's sizeable primary margin nearly disappeared Tuesday as challenger Luther T. Falls Jr. fell by only 50 votes.
Small blamed an "African American leader" who assailed her "full force."
Would that be state Rep. Earl Jones, who held the District 1 seat for 18 years?
"Uh huh," she said.
Jones's newspaper, the Greensboro Times, attacked Bellamy-Small as unresponsive to constituents and also criticized her support for changes in how food vendors are handled at N.C. A&T's homecoming.
But Bellamy-Small may want to blame herself, too.
She has until only recently begun to talk to reporters again and she may be the polar-opposite of Councilwoman elect Goldie Wells, who is warm and open. Bellamy-Small is not warm and open.
She does not return phone calls.
She likes to tick off lists of places she's been and things she has done.
But has she really tried to connect to constituents as a person, one to one?
I'm not sure she has. And it nearly cost her on Nov. 8.