The post-election rhetoric about the Wake County school board election results is pretty high now.

As noted in today's article, commentators on the left are exuberant. Those on the right are unhappy.

One of the challenges facing the new Democratic board majority is trying to bridge the gap. Or will it be two years of fighting before the 2013 elections?

The Huffington Post is calling the Wake County school board election results a case of how "voters repudiated the Tea Party agenda backed by North Carolina's notorious political boss, Art Pope."

In a piece today for the liberal Huffington Post, Michael Carmichael writes that Democratic election victories across North Carolina were a "landslide." But Carmichael says "the coup de grace took place in Boss Pope's backyard." He writes that the election victory by Kevin Hill is "a major embarrassment" for Pope.

"In the run-off for the controlling seat on the Wake County School Board, progressive Democrat Kevin Hill defeated Pope's Tea Party Republican candidate, Heather Losurdo," Carmichael writes. "Hill stalwartly opposed the Pope-orchestrated re-segregation of Wake County Schools, while Losurdo supported the return to 'neighborhood schools,' a code for the end of cultural, racial and ethnic diversity."

The Huffington Post is calling the Wake County school board election results "a populist backlash" against Art Pope, the Koch brothers and the Tea Party movement.

In a column today for the liberal Huffington Post, Michael Carmichael writes that "Pope's ultra-conservative ticket fell under the crushing weight of a populist uprising merged with a Democratic steamroller in the highly anticipated elections for Wake County School Board."

"Knowledgeable political observers in Wake County believe that the majority of the school board will return to Democratic control when Kevin Hill's runoff is held on November 8th," writes Carmichael, a Visiting Scholar at Duke University. "If those predictions prove correct, Hill's election will bring to an end two harrowing years of reactionary radicalism and re-segregation led by Pope and his now defeated henchman, Ray (sic) Margiotta."

Do 2007 donations from the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity to Wake CARES during the mandatory year-round lawsuit constitute grounds for linking the conservative Koch brothers to the 2009 Wake County school board elections?

That's how the left-wing cable news network MSNBC is trying to tie the Koch brothers to the new school board majority that ended the diversity policy. It was part of a segment on Wake County schools titled "Repealing the 20th Century" that aired Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Last Word" show.

"Now there are multiple reports directly or indirectly linking the Koch brothers — those mysterious right-wing billionaires behind the Astroturf-group Americans for Prosperity — to the Republican school board members who are actively pushing to resegregate Wake County schools," said Melissa Harris-Perry, the show's guest host. "To be fair, it's not entirely clear just how much money the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity put behind the candidates in 2009."

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The efforts to increase minority and overall student enrollment in Wake County's Algebra I middle school classes will be under the microscope in more ways than one today.

School board vice chairman John Tedesco, head of the economically disadvantaged student performance task force, said today's special meeting will look at the draft policy on increasing Algebra I enrollment. He said he's also expecting detailed school-by-school placement data for 2011-12, along with information on what's being done to increase enrollment among students identified by EVAAS as being Algebra I ready.

In addition, Tedesco said a writer from the Huffington Post plans to attend today's meeting. The liberal web site has run several articles critical of the new school board majority, including this story on Monday.

The meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. at Brentwood Elementary School, 3426 Ingram Road in North Raleigh.

UPDATE

Click here to view the meeting agenda. Tedesco is being interviewed by the Huffington Post writer. Her presence got WRAL to attend today's meeting.

I will have a much more detailed post, including the handouts from the meeting, later. But for now here's the online story from the meeting.

Americans for Prosperity is seeing some partial success in its efforts to get retractions of claims that the group financially backed the winning Wake County school board candidates in 2009.

The Huffington Post posted a correction today to the statement it made in an online Monday article about the school board candidates having been "bankrolled" by AFP. To try to beef up the story, it posts additional info today on AFP, such as the group's support of the Wake CARES lawsuit and a story earlier this year in Newsweek.

But Robert Greenwald, the director of the new film that came out Monday, isn't issuing a retraction. Neither is Sue Sturgis of the liberal Institute for Southern Studies.

UPDATE

Sue Sturgis has added a clarification to a blog post she wrote Monday about the video.

Dallas Woodhouse, president of the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity, is calling the new video linking the conservative group with the 2009 Wake County school board elections "a series of outright lies" and libelous."

In a statement today, Woodhouse said AFP's legal team has asked for retractions from Brave News Films and The Huffington Post for claiming that AFP bankrolled the winning school board candidates in 2009. Both liberal groups made the claim to try to charge that the conservative Koch brothers, who founded Americans for Prosperity, are responsible for the end of Wake's diversity policy and the resulting student assignment changes.

"Americans for Prosperity did not spend one single dime on those elections nor did AFP spend funds on independent electioneering communication activities during that election cycle," Woodhouse said in the statement. "Moreover, Americans for Prosperity was not engaged in any nonpartisan Get-Out-The-Vote activity or in issuing any voter education material. In sum, Americans for Prosperity had no presence during the 2009 Wake County School Board race."

A new video from a liberal group is accusing the conservative Koch brothers of having bought the Wake County school board elections in 2009 in an attempt to resegregate the school system.

The 11-minute video, released today by Brave New Films founded by Robert Greenwald, is part of a series of films attacking the Koch brothers. For this film, a variety of local supporters of the old diversity policy go on to blame the Koch brothers for the 2009 election results and ignore the notion that there was any large grassroots support for the changes.

"In 2009, the Koch brothers tried the destroy the Wake County Public School system," says a blurb flashed on the screen.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR RESPONSE FROM DALLAS WOODHOUSE AND FOR A LINK FOR AN INTERVIEW ROBERT GREENWALD GAVE TO MSNBC ON MONDAY ABOUT THE FILM

News today of the resignation of the U.S. Attorney in Raleigh, George Holding, has received some national attention because of the connections to the John Edwards case.

One of the national sites goofed in a way we think would bring a few chuckles around here. (And, yes, we all make mistakes.)

The Huffington Post headline:

"Mike Easley Resigning:

John Edwards Investigation Prosecutor

Quitting After Indictment"

The HuffPost also included three photos of Easley, the former North Carolina governor, with its story.

The article itself was an AP version that accurately reported that George Holding is the federal prosecutor who is stepping aside.

Easley, of course, was a target of Holding.

Easley pleaded guilty to a felony in state court as part of plea deal last year that ended the federal probe of his behavior.