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Thursday Wrap-up
posted at 2007-10-26 00:01 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
“I’d like to introduce you to a hero.”
That’s how NC Dem chair Jerry Meek introduced Daniel Johnson in an email newsletter today. Johnson is the new Democratic candidate for Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Congressional seat.
"Pledging to represent the values of North Carolina with character and integrity, Navy hero Daniel Johnson announced today that he is running to represent North Carolina's 10th Congressional District in the United States Congress.”
No offense to Johnson, but the party seems a whole lot more enthused about his candidacy than that of (openly gay) US Senate hopeful Jim Neal. Party officials say that’s because Neal could still face a primary. But unless I miss my guess, Johnson still could, too. Maybe the “big tent” isn’t quite as big as its billing.
Speaking of which, rumor has it Guilford Dem Kay Hagan will announce her entry into the Senate race early next week. According to the grapevine, DC Dems have been lobbying Hagan hard, worried that Neal’s orientation could be a drag on down-ballot '08 races. (You might think the presidential race would counter that. Or maybe you wouldn't.)
21st-century jobs…
20th-century outcomes. Okay, that’s a generalization, sort of, but times are tough for the white collar jobs that are supposed to be the backbone of NC’s new economy.
- Yesterday, pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline announced imminent job cuts after revenues, profits, and shares all went south.
- Earlier this week, two Charlotte-based banks delivered bad news: Bank of America plans to cut 3000 jobs, while Wachovia announced it’s cutting 200. Not all those cuts will be in Charlotte, of course. But it’s a safe bet many of them will be.
- Google lost its bidding war with Microsoft yesterday over social networking start-up Facebook.
- Concord’s CT Communications will lay off 121 – a quarter of its workforce – in November, fallout from its acquisition by Arkansas telecom Windstream.
The housing market isn’t faring much better. Despite cheerful press from the NC Realtors’ Association, new numbers out yesterday in the Wall St Journal show Raleigh’s inventory of unsold houses is up 22% over last year - the fifth biggest jump in top US markets, just behind Seattle, Portland, Nashville, and Miami. On the bright side, NC’s mortgage default rate is still better than average - for now, anyway.
Good news for the Perdues
A federal judge in New Bern today found Lt. Gov Bev Perdue’s sons not at fault in a civil suit over a 2003 nighttime boat collision. That has to be a big relief to Perdue, who already has her hands full with her ’08 gubernatorial run. New Bern’s Francine Sawyer had this rundown; the N&O’s Ben Niolet has more here.
Dang it!
The Capitol Press Corps lost another one today. Wilmington’s Mark Schreiner is leaving the news biz after 16 years to take a job that’ll let him come home for dinner. He’s headed over to Duke Hospitals, where he’ll be working in internal communications. State Rep. Thomas Wright probably won’t miss him, but the rest of us sure will. Good luck, Mark!
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