Raleigh, N.C. — ‘Well you crazy people, is this the Democratic party or what?” That was David Parker, the embattled chairman of the North Carolina Democratic party, announcing on May 12 that he would continue to lead the state’s Democrats through the rest of the 2012 election cycle despite widespread criticism for his handling of a sexual-harassment scandal at party headquarters in Raleigh. Parker was using “crazy people” as a term of endearment for the hundreds of Democratic activists in the room. But many state and national Democrats — including those managing President Obama’s reelection campaign — think Parker is nuts, that any Democrats who would vote to keep him in power are nuts, and that the decision to hold the Democratic national convention in North Carolina may prove to be catastrophically nuts.
Political parties have to hold their nominating conventions somewhere, and it makes sense to try to leverage them to political benefit in a battleground state. North Carolina certainly qualifies; in 2008, the Tar Heel State voted Democratic for president for the first time since 1976, albeit by only 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million cast. This year, the battle for North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes will be fierce. If you average the results of the last three statewide polls, President Obama and Mitt Romney can each claim about 46 percent support.
Comments