Consequences: NC’s Pat McCrory Might be the Next Tom Corbett

by Myron Pitts, Fayetteville Observer, August 11, 2013.

The governor’s race in Pennsylvania might not seem to have any connection to the situation here in NC.

But our governor, Pat McCrory, might want to tune in.

In PA, Republican Tom Corbett is a dead man walking, according to polls that show him badly trailing just about any Democrat who is willing to put his or name in the race. Corbett is at 38 percent job approval.

Republican McCrory is at 40 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. It represents a precipitous 15-point drop from June, according to Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning but well-regarded firm.

What is striking is that Corbett and the legislature in Pennsylvania pursued a nearly identical legislative course as McCrory and the N.C. General Assembly.

Namely: Voter ID; cuts to education and diminishment of teachers; cuts to programs for the poor; refusal to accept federal Medicaid money and refusal to set up Obamacare health care exchanges; big tax breaks for corporations, etc.

McCrory has additionally hanging over him that he was not honest about whether he would restrict abortion access. He said point-blank he wouldn’t, but wound up supporting a bill expected to close most abortion clinics.

One-term President George H.W. Bush, with his “no new taxes” pledge, is a prominent example of what happens when you do precisely that which you told voters you would not do.

McCrory, rather than meet with the other side on the abortion access issue, offered activists cookies once the legislative session was all done. It was a truly tone-deaf stunt – and a possibly sexist one to boot -- that completely back-fired. The women put the cookies back in front of his mansion with a sign saying they’d rather have their rights instead.

As I’ve pointed out before, McCrory will run on a presidential year in 2016 at a time when Hillary Clinton might be a the top of the ticket. You think the women vote’s going to be mobilized for that one?

I also point out – again – that in 2012, Democratic candidates in N.C. won more actual votes in both the state races and the races for U.S congress.

McCrory, with that low approval rating, is one decently funded opponent or opponents away from being in Corbett’s place.

He should hope Sen. Kay Hagan takes a pass on running for governor, after she will have successfully defended her Senate seat next year. She’d knock him off, for certain.