It's the schools, stupid

Published March 12, 2014

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, March 11, 2014.

Governor McCrory may have coal ash on his hands, but I bet most voters have education on their minds. So, does focusing on the Dan River disaster distract Democrats from a stronger issue?

The spill is a tempting target. There’s the McCrory-Duke tie. You can tell the Governor is sensitive about it. When he says we should “keep the politics out,” that’s code for: This will hurt me politically.

Then the N&O reported: “McCrory seemed miffed that he is receiving a good bit of the scrutiny because of his three-decade tenure at Duke Energy.” He said, “It’s as though I actually went there with a shovel. I’m waiting for that accusation.”

Then there’s DENR’s emphasis on being “customer friendly” to companies like Duke.

Then Duke’s CEO picks the worst possible time to say that customers will pay for the cleanup.

But the Elon Poll noted this week that, even after the flood (so to speak) of coverage, 64 percent of North Carolina’s registered voters “said they had heard little or nothing about the spill.”

Remember: Real people aren’t nearly as consumed with these things as we junkies are.

But education is different. Voters are paying a lot of attention to that. They know what the Republicans have done, and they don’t like it.

That’s why McCrory was backing away from his record on education even faster than from Duke. He admitted that the misnamed “teacher tenure law” needs to be changed. And Rep. Chuck McGrady admits that legislators are getting an earful about education at home.

The coal ash story will play out for a long time. Give that fish some line. And keep reeling in education.

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