Palin's exceptional femininity, etc.

Regarding your Oct. 22 article “Health plans look clear as mud”:

Although the heightened interest in health care issues pleases me, I question the assumption that usually drives the debate: The assumption that we actually have a health care system whose advantages and disadvantages can be debated.

While we in this nation enjoy some of the best facilities and services anywhere, they certainly don’t function as anything close to a “system.” If they did, I wouldn’t find myself having to drop contributions into countertop jars for folks who need life-saving surgery.

I respect the fact that many voters oppose universal health care on principle. I do not respect the posturing of politicians who spit the insult “socialized medicine” at every differing idea — while happily spending, on medical care for themselves and their own families, every penny our taxes provide.

Let’s debate, and even argue, health care issues. Perhaps we can at least agree that, when we vote, we should know which candidates embrace the insurance they would deny others.

Surely theirs is elitist selfishness, funded by socialized hypocrisy.

Robert Mariner
Greenville

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 On Sunday, The N&O published an analysis of Barack Obama and John McCain’s health care plans that stated both plans might speed the demise of employer-sponsored insurance. Unfortunately for North Carolinians, the demise of employer-sponsored insurance is already a fact of life.

The article noted that the percentage of Americans with employer-sponsored insurance has remained nearly unchanged since 1994. The article, however, failed to mention that an Economic Policy Institute report released this month found that 52,528 North Carolinians have lost their employer-sponsored coverage since 2000. North Carolina’s rate of decline is only better than two states, Missouri and South Carolina. Children are particularly hard hit by the loss of insurance.

Action for Children’s 2008 Child Health Report Card found that more than 1 in 8 children in North Carolina were uninsured in 2007, an increase from the 1-in-9 benchmark in 2002. That means more than 300,000 children do not have access to preventative care and do not receive health information from a skilled provider.

Without employer-sponsored insurance, our government must expand children’s coverage through programs like N.C. Kids Care. On Nov. 4, no matter which candidate is chosen, there is no debating that our children need improved health insurance coverage.

Barbara Bradley
President & CEO, Action for Children North Carolina
Raleigh

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You reported in Dome on Oct. 22 that “Obama’s campaign made sure to temper the liberal image” of James Taylor’s concert by including the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, an opening prayer, and “America the Beautiful.”

I agree that using these symbols is good politics. I also think that these symbols represent sincerely and deeply held values of most Obama supporters and that we share these values with most Americans. We love our country. We believe in liberty and justice for all people. We believe in brotherhood and sisterhood. We want our nation to live up to its ideals.

James Taylor himself, after reverently singing “America the Beautiful” to an audience of families and people of all ages, spoke passionately of our nation and its ideals and the importance of voting for patriotic citizens.

Paul Lindsay
Chapel Hill

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While I was talking with friend about the election, I realized what upsets me most is that people are not voting for who will do the best job. They are voting for the popular kid.

I remember in school how student body president was usually won by the most popular kid, and not the kid who had ideas that would help the student body and would constructively communicate with the administration. Once the cool kid won, nothing got done and nothing changed.

My friend reminded me that I am knowledgeable on the parties and the issues. I have read what the candidates stand for. So I challenge all citizens who have not voted yet to take time before they vote to study the issues. Forget the endless advertisements on television and the media. Study what each candidate stands for, but more importantly, read how they will accomplish it. Vote on your beliefs and not what is cool to do.

America does not need a cool president. America needs a dedicated person who will work hard for our country during this difficult time. You might just find the unpopular kid can get the job done!

Margaret Feldman
Apex

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I am very tired of having to vote against a candidate rather than for one.  I felt a tinge of deep satisfaction when John McCain earlier promised a clean campaign.  This suggested we would hear how he plans to deal with the problems facing the presidency.

 The Oct. 30 N&O carried four items about the Democratic and Republican candidates.  The headlines:  “Obama tells Raleigh crowd he will sustain middle-class;”  “Michele Obama shares her faith;” “McCain says Obama policies would erode national security;” and “McCain:  Paper is aiding Obama.” A half-hour advertisement by Obama was devoted to explaining his approach to problems the president would face, not to criticizing his opponent. 

On the other side are a stream of brochures from the N.C. Republican State Executive Committee, one beginning “Obama: ‘he acted more as a friend to criminals that to cops.’”  Another begins “Barack Obama ‘has a very poor grasp of basic economic principles.’”  Their latest love letter proclaims “Obama supports driver’s licenses for those here illegally.”  Nothing about McCain in any of these.

I’ve decided how to vote.  Will other North Carolina voters detect the difference between the two approaches? 

Junius A. Davis
Chapel Hill

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The government in Wake County is structured so there is a check and balance system between the county commissioners and the school board. The commissioners’ role is to oversee funds and ensure that they are spent responsibly.

Recently some commissioners have abdicated this responsibility to the school system. Kenn Gardner has lived up to his responsibility time and again. He has identified tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in the last bond issue and the building program that could be set aside for future projects. He played a key role in setting the new procedure for purchasing land for school construction at a fair market value after the numerous questionable proposed land deals.

It is unclear whether the school system needs more funding. It would be very unwise to advance additional funds at this time, given the waste and lack of accountability within the system.

Stan Norwalk [Gardner’s opponent in a county commission race] believes more money will fix all that ails the schools, and unfortunately this is just not the case. Gardner has proven to be supportive of the families and citizens of Wake County as well as the school system. This is why he is the best choice and should be re-elected as a Wake County commissioner.

Kathleen Brennan
WakeCARES
Cary

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If this weren’t so serious, I would have been amused at the N&O headline “Obama tells Raleigh crowd he will sustain middle class”.

What all those mindless Obama followers and you media gurus cannot, or will not see is that he intends to not only sustain the middle class, he intends to make everyone a part of the middle class.

If he robs from the rich and gives to the poor, eventually, we’ll all have the same thing! Mediocrity will reign and the government will have to sustain us — hat sounds a lot like socialism to me!!

As a final note before the election,  I want you to know how very despicable the American media has become.  You do not even try to hide your extreme bias.  There are so many negative, factual aspects of Obama’s rise to power, and you have all successfully squelched all of it.  Aren’t you proud to call yourselves journalists? Unfortunately, you have long ago become pawns and shills for the left wing Democratic Party.

Look in the mirror and congratulate yourselves on successfully helping to destroy a powerful, free, and honest country. Your true journalistic purpose, your integrity and your requirement to report the unbiased truth have been totally abandoned.

Bill Gallagher
Raleigh

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Your endorsement of Sam “Jimmy” Ervin over experienced District Court Judge Kristin Ruth for the state Court of Appeals would be mystifying to me, except that he has a good ole boy name from a respected legal family.  I personally loved the work of his grandpa “Sam” back in the day, so I understand the collapsed judgment that Ervin might have some legal advantage over Ruth in the courtroom.

As you indicated, Judge Ruth is also qualified.  An award-winning judge, she recently received a federal grant for a house arrest program she designed to put delinquent parents back to work to support kids.  Her work has been studied internationally in legal conferences for shared best practices.

 She worked her way through law school, opened a family law practice and for the past 10 years has served without a political agenda to fairly rule over thousands of cases as a district court judge.  

In many of those cases, she and other judges had difficulty interpreting appellate decisions that were poorly written.  It was for that reason she answered a higher calling and specific need to represent the law in ways that would do more than protect North Carolina families — that would be easy to interpret and uphold for those who are charged with functioning in the courtroom every day.  

I represent the voices of many working mothers who need representation among the mostly males you have put forward in this long list of endorsements.  I am also a fan of having all of our media get back to reporting the news in impartial ways, give us a voter guide, but stop endorsing political candidates as if you have the inside track on who will best serve our state.

I object to this process, and to the endorsement, as you have apparently overlooked in the specific qualifications of these two candidates beyond the law school comparisons.  

Will the state be best served by an experienced utilities commissioner with a view of corporate law, or by someone who hears thousands of cases that impact millions of citizens each year?  Let your readers be the judge.  

Darelyn “DJ” Mitsch
Cary

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Some suggest the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s VP represents a strange milestone for women: the one where mediocre women can achieve the same success as mediocre men. For years unexceptional men have attained exceptional positions, while exceptional women have struggled to. So why doesn’t the Palin pick mark this feminist victory?

Because Palin is exceptional in the way women must be: her femininity. While Hillary Clinton was derided for her pant suits, Palin’s background as a beauty queen and mother of five, and her fitted skirts and stylish heels, remind us that whatever other assets a woman possesses, a quintessentially feminine gender performance is key.

If the photos accompanying Palin and Kay Bailey Hutchison were reversed, McCain’s choice would have likely been different. He guessed, rightly, that Palin’s smile, figure and maternalism would resonate with an American public still deeply invested in traditional and essentialist views of gender.

Yet women are to believe the highest ideals of feminism have been achieved when a woman candidate is deemed hot on “Saturday Night Live.”

In 2008, women are reminded that if we are not properly plucked, coiffed, and lip-sticked, (never missing a deadline, diaper-change, or bikini-wax) we may risk our very professional lives.

Amanda Marie Gengler
Visiting Assistant Professor
Barton College
Wilson

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We are proud to endorse the re-election campaign of state Rep. Ty Harrell because of the outstanding service he has given to citizens who live in the 41st District. His responsiveness, intelligence and nonpartisan collaboration with fellow lawmakers are reason enough for us to support his election to a second term.

Harrell’s campaign this year has been another reason for our endorsement. He has focused on the issues and his record, whether going door-to-door in his district, phoning the people he represents or holding his many District Dialogues.  He has campaigned tirelessly, but fairly.

That’s why we are disappointed to see Harrell’s challenger resort to vicious half-truths and personal attacks in the campaign’s waning days. We do not believe the people of the 41st District will be well served by that kind of leadership or that they want it.

We endorse Harrell because he has provided the best representation that the 41st District has seen in years. He has worked to improve our schools, fight eminent domain claims, and reduce the cost of health care

We urge our neighbors in the 41st District to re-elect Harrell.

Mayor Jan Faulkner, Morrisville
Mayor Charles Meeker, Raleigh
Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Cary

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I am honored to support Beverly Perdue for governor. I have known her for almost 20 years and followed her entire career in North Carolina elective politics.

 She has faithfully supported education, the environment, health care, care for the elderly, and care for the mentally ill. She has risen in North Carolina politics by solid performance in the state House, in the Senate, and as lieutenant governor.

Her election will bring to our state a remarkable combination of a long and brilliant career in state government, impressive advances in gubernatorial openness and transparency, and a style of leadership that is winsome, determined and ruggedly ambitious for our beloved North Carolina.

Paul Hardin
Chapel Hill
The writer is a former chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill

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By nominating Sarah Palin, John McCain put many of his political eggs square in the right-wing, evangelical basket of the Republican Party. That is not surprising, because catering to that religious base has worked in the past. What is surprising is that he continues to run a campaign based on fear instead of faith.

Contrary to inciting fear, the Word tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. The power of leadership, surrounding oneself with other strong leaders and welcoming varying opinions and ideas. The power of love, uniting people of different faiths and colors, for there is strength in unity and failure in division. The power of a sound mind, having a consistent message, an appreciation of intellect, but a humble spirit.

Barack Obama is the example of 2nd Timothy 1:7. Fear and faith cannot coexist.

Angela C. Townsend
Raleigh

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Several recent letters regarding The N&O’s Oct. 10 editorial endorsement of state Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam in Wake’s House District 37 have implied that he is either an ideologue or an idiot. He is neither. He is very smart and very cooperative in working across the aisle.

If you don’t believe me, ask about any member of the state House.  They will tell you he is one of their best lawmakers.  The most liberal members regularly ask him to help make their bills better — and he does.  He is an irreplaceable asset to the state’s law-making process.

As a point of disclosure, I have donated to Stam’s campaign, even though I don’t live in his district, because I think he makes North Carolina a better place to live.

Stam is a great legislator, an effective House minority leader and, in my judgment, would make the best majority leader this state has seen in quite some time.

Those of you who can should vote Stam.

Gary D. Gaddy
New Hope Township
Orange County

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There are moments in history, when a nation stands at a crossroad, frightened, uncertain, not knowing which direction to take, no less who should lead the way.

 On March 4, 1933, a man, paralyzed in body but not in spirit, spoke to a nation equally crippled by fear, by want, hungering for hope. If Americans choose Barack Obama, it would be wise of him to heed FDR’s words.

In his reference to the economic crisis:”The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. ... Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor ... without them it cannot live.”

 Obama must forge another New Deal that would lead once more to “The recognition of the American spirit. It is the strongest assurance for the recovery to endure.”

Eric Tommerdahl
Raleigh

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The Republican ads have made much of the fact that Joe Biden told an interviewer that Barack Obama, as new president, would quickly be tested to see how he would react in a crisis. As Biden later explained, whoever won the presidency would be so tested.

However, John McCain subsequently claimed that he had already been tested by being in the cockpit of a fighter on a carrier near Cuba at the time of the Cuban crisis. As this pilot, and as an honorable man, he was going to do what he was ordered to do. His test would determine if he had the training and ability to follow his orders.

The same can be said for almost all the military men on this mission, only a few of whom would be qualified to be a future president.

So in the future, the winner of this election will be put to a new test. For the good of this country, I hope that whoever wins the election will be up to the task.

William Fenner
Elm City

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We are in the ending stage of one of the sloppiest U.S. elections that I can remember. It is standard to use attack ads against each other and truth and integrity means little. From the presidential race down to the local races, they have now seemed to have decided that telling half-truths will confuse the voters enough to gain their support.

Let’s look at the candidates:

We have a largely unproven, very articulate young man who is leading in the presidential polls. He appears to be smart and a good candidate but we have no idea because there is nothing to show he can do the job.  

It is a little like a movie plot where the marketing people select the best image and do a great job of selling it.

Now on the other side we have a seasoned warrior and rebellious senator. He is not mainstream and does what he believes is right.  He also does not tell the whole story when talking about his opponent. Facts mean little, it is the spin that matters.

In history America has always seemed to produce the leader we need in a crisis. This time we may have goofed and are going to end up with a Madison Avenue image with no substance.

William Sarine
Raleigh

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I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind voting for the present Democratic nominee for president, since we know practically nothing good about his background.  
He has very little experience compared to other candidates.  Granted he is a smooth talker and seems to have many people fooled with all the promises he has made.  Frankly, I cannot believe he can possibly accomplish all he promises.  

If you remember before the election of 2006, consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high, regular gas was $2.19 a gallon and the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.  Then a Democratic Congress was voted in and consumer confidence plummeted, gasoline has soared, unemployment has gone up, home equity has dropped and many are in foreclosure.  

So many things have been blamed on the Republicans, when the Democrats are the ones who have held back and not voted on or passed practically anything.  

Sound-minded people should vote for a person we know something about, a person who knows how to lead and how to work in a bipartisan way to straighten out the mess in Washington out.  That person, I believe, is clearly John McCain, not Barack Obama.

 I was a young person during World War II and was so proud of our country and the patriotism shown by most everyone. If the mind-set of some of today’s generation had been the same during World War II, I’m afraid we would have lost that war.  We should all think long and hard before we cast our vote for the wrong reasons.

Emma Creech
Emerald Isle

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I’m thrilled at the prospect of our country electing an intelligent, real, and highly qualified person to this important position of president. As a white woman, I’m proud to be able to vote for our first African-American president. And to the anonymous person who articulated this so beautifully, I thank you:  

“Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Obama could run
Obama is running so our children can fly.”  

And I’m voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden him so this will happen.  

Trisha Lester
Chapel Hill

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John McCain said in Florida that he could best protect the U.S. against al-Qaida. How untrue! The worst nightmare for al-Qaida would be a President Obama.

Al-Qaida survives on getting young people to so hate America they are willing to sacrifice their lives as a stroke against its leadership. A President McCain would alter nothing, but a President Obama would clearly defuse the hatred against us by showing the world how much we have changed as a nation.      

Max Crohn Jr.
Chapel Hill

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The American people continue to say the economy is their top concern and I agree — we need a president who will help us ride out this economic downturn and then implement policies that will create growth and prosperity. Can we put our trust in the young senator from Illinois?

Barack Obama wants to add $1 trillion in spending. During his brief three years as senator he has requested almost $1 billion in earmarks and wants to increase taxes on small businesses. Is this the kind of leader our country needs? The answer is a resounding no.

On the other hand, John McCain is committed to and has long fought for restoring fiscal discipline by eliminating wasteful government spending. During his time in the Senate, McCain has not requested one cent in earmarks and has vowed to veto any earmark or pork barrel spending Congress tries to push through.

In addition, McCain wants to give tax cuts to small businesses so they can do what they do best, create new jobs and add stimulus to our economy.

As a new mother, the future of this country is very important to me and the man who will bring about positive reform, prosperity and peace is McCain.

Whitney Lambert
Fuquay-Varina

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I am a political independent.  I am not into politics.  I don’t go to political rallies — except this year I drove an hour to my first.  I don’t give money to political campaigns — but this year I’ve given money and time.  I am completely uncomfortable with door-to-door canvassing — but this year I’ve knocked on over 50 doors to talk to people about Barack Obama.

And I guess this is what impresses me most about Obama — a guy I didn’t even vote for in the primary!  — is that he has a great ability to draw in the non-participators.  To get people talking.  To energize them.  I have, bit by bit, gone outside my comfort zone during the course of this campaign and been changed by it.  

It’s change on the micro-level, but in aggregate, it is the type of change in attitude that Obama symbolizes. And I would like to see our country experience this kind of change too.

Obama’s cool head, clear speech, and willingness to listen will serve us well here at home — and are requisite skills for a leader participating on the world stage.  Especially a leader of our United States.  And especially at this point in history.

Emily Namey
Raleigh

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I don’t think I’m the only Vietnam veteran who thinks that John McCain’s promotion of his own “experience”  (your headline on Oct. 29, e.g.)  is bogus like so much of the rest of his campaign.

I got out of the Navy four months before he was shot down. But as heroic as he was in the Hanoi Hilton, during those 5-plus years I was reading the Pentagon Papers, among other things, and learning that the U.S. government had lied to McCain and me and the rest of our generation.

It’s a lesson I never forgot, even in 2003 when I marched in Chapel Hill — proudly in my Navy blues — to try to prevent the war in Iraq that the Bush liars were then promoting.  

Alas, it’s a lesson McCain apparently never learned. His 2008 campaigning is so dishonest that we have to expect his administration would be more of the same.

If “inexperienced” means “new attitude,” give me Barack Obama.

Tom Generous
Carrboro

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For the past several elections some candidates have been hurling the term “Liberal” as an epithet.  They have been using it almost as a swear word.  This practice has intensified in the current election and I’m very much afraid that much of the public has come to accept that definition.  It is time to review just what a liberal is.

A liberal is someone who puts the welfare of people first.  Liberals do not have a single policy as how to best accomplish that goal.  Sometimes they advocate helping strengthen business, as FDR did, and sometimes they advocate going directly to the people.  

Let’s look at some of the things that liberals have done for North Carolina.  Rural electrification was brought in through a liberal government-administered program. So was Social Security and Medicare.  Other liberal ideas include free public education, a federal banking system, a federal postal system and a host of others.

Liberals are accused of being habitual “tax and spenders” as if taxation wasn’t an absolute necessity.  We all like having police and firemen to provide safety. We want a military to provide security. We need to have public libraries. Roads must be built and maintained. Colleges and universities would have to charge prohibitive tuitions if they were forced to operate without governmental subsidies.  Taxes are required if we are to have the funds to do all these things.

We must also be fiscally responsible.  Don’t forget that the last president to have a balanced budget and a surplus used to pay down the national debt was Bill Clinton, normally considered to be a liberal. The Reagan-Bush years (all three presidents who are usually thought of as conservative) have been ones in which the government spends more than it takes in and the national debt has increased dramatically.

The label “Liberal” should not be seen as a shameful epithet but rather as a badge of honor that generates pride.

James Geschwender
Cary

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Regarding letters in your Oct. 25 Sunday Forum submitted by readers who claim that Barack Obama is a socialist, will spread the wealth and raise taxes: I would like to clarify several points regarding American socialism. Socialism is a socioeconomic system in which essential industries and social services are democratically controlled with a view to equal opportunity and equal benefit for all.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment compensation, minimum wage, public schools, state-funded community colleges and even the Food and Drug Administration (food and drug safety) are part of the American socioeconomic socialist system and have been in existence for many years. Do we really want to give up any of these?

Before one jumps to conclusions regarding all the disinformation being tossed about by both candidates, conduct a little research and separate fact from fiction and the disinformation thrown about. Then make an educated decision regarding who to vote for.

Erick Bierlein
Cary

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I was stunned by recent letters in which readers expressed outrage about Sen. Barack Obama’s comment about spreading the wealth. The ideal of sharing wealth to increase the well being of an entire community is found in biblical parables such as the loaves and fishes and in folk tales from “Stone Soup” to “Robin Hood.” It is wealth spreading that draws communities together in the aftermath of disasters.  How is it wrong for us to work together and help one another? Indeed, the very purpose of our progressive tax system is to pool our resources so that government can provide essential services — clean drinking water, good roads, law enforcement — to us all.

This outrage would be better directed at policies that spread costs to benefit private enterprise: the Forest Service, which subsidizes the timber barons; the Bureau of Mines, which allows mineral companies to pillage federal lands for a paltry $5 an acre; mountain top removal, whereby coal companies blast open the Appalachians and dump the rock and soil in the valleys, burying mountain streams and destroying communities. All are examples of government squandering the public trust and imposing costs on society to line private pockets.  

Call me crazy, but I prefer Obama’s view of the world.

Michelle Nowlin
Durham

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 In reference to Ruth Sheehan’s Oct. 22 column about the Girlfriends Appalled about Sarah Palin group, I beg to differ with an Oct. 24 letter writer.

I was at a benefit concert Thursday night sponsored by GASP. There were hundreds of people there, of both sexes, of multiple shades, young, old, kids, parents and grandparents. It was an incredible display of people-powered politics, citizens coming together with enthusiasm and commitment for a common cause, and in support of a wholly uncommon candidate, Barack Obama. Despite what Sarah Palin and John McCain might have you believe, a gathering such as the GASP event represents the best of “Real America.”

The writer wished to know, referring to GASP, “What have these girls accomplished lately?” I’ll tell you.  They’ve banded together, as girlfriends are rumored to do, and raised their collective voices with the positive message of getting involved in the political process, bringing people together for what they believe to be the common good of their kids, their community, their state and their country.

If the writer believes that this is appalling, perhaps he should move to Alaska, as he suggested he might. Hope that whole declaring war on the lower 49 works out for him. Talk about appalling.

Celia Liebl
Raleigh

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Charles Krauthammer gets it wrong every time about Barack Obama, except when he acknowledges that Obama has run a better campaign and probably will win. He wrote Oct. 31 that America is a center-right country rejecting McCain, a quintessentially center-right candidate.

Problem is, the majority of voting Americans seem to agree we’re far from center-right now. After nearly 30 years of the Reagan era, we’re a right-wing country, and it’s time for a course correction just to nudge us back to the center. Obama is a left-winger but he’s also a constitutional scholar, and unlike President Bush, John McCain (who brags about finishing near the bottom of his class at Annapolis) and Sarah Palin, he’s brilliantly smart and has intellectual curiosity. In this election, intelligence and competence trump ideology.

John Manuel
Cary

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 I voted. Not on the first early day but the second. I went to Cary Towne Center, and as I stood in line, I thought how nice and peaceful things were here. I collected my thoughts and reviewed my notes on who had won my vote.

I didn’t realize until I read your Oct. 19 article on the electioneering ban at the malls that that was what made my voting experience so pleasurable.   I didn’t have to see all those irritating fliers. I didn’t have to sidestep all the glad handers and listen to the “vote for me” speeches. All of the arguments I read for this practice of electioneering just don’t hold water.

A first-time voter doesn’t need a party official telling him how to use a ballot. He has election officials there to do that.

A first-time voter should have done his homework and know who he is going to vote for. I would hope a five-minute handshake and speech would not sway someone.

I hope the Board of Elections keeps things the same way for now so that what normally happens on Election Day is just what I experienced at Cary Towne Center.

Walter Powell
Apex

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In response to Rick Martinez’s “All hail Obama’s big money” (column, Oct. 22), I fear he fell into the usual trap of missing “why” Obama raised so much money. He lamented the death of “one of the progressive movement’s most favored causes — public financing of political campaigns” and attributed it to a selfish Obama decision to slip around the rules.

On the contrary, public financing was an idea to keep wealthy people from buying elections, a trend all too common. Obama’s fundraising is not from a few who seek to manipulate the many, but from many who seek to change the culture in Washington.

As Martinez went on, he started to touch realities deeper than the conventional wisdom and argued for more and more “transparency” in fundraising so that we can know who are the givers who seek to influence us. The reason Obama has raised more money is that his message resonates far better with many of us than McCain’s.  McCain is short in money because he is short in vision and short in a grownup approach to our challenges.

Henry Walker
Durham

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 The negative ads are overwhelming, and they just keep coming — by mail and by phone. The worst of the worst are from the N.C. Homeowners Alliance (what an oxymoron that is!) and the N.C. Association of Realtors (NCAR). It turns out that those are the very same organizations and that they have reportedly spent more than a quarter-million dollars on “dirt” — and they are still spending! Think what all that money could do if it were used in a positive way for our community!

I’ve received three glossy fliers in the mail, and two phone calls — the latest by a real person reading a paragraph and refusing to answer any questions about details about the negative charges. All of this negativism is focused against Stan Norwalk. I sympathize with my Realtor friends, whose reputations are being damaged by these untruthful dirt and mudslinging tactics by their state association.

If the N.C. Association of Realtors is this afraid of Norwalk, that is the best endorsement I can think of to vote for him for Wake County commissioner.

Lois Nixon
Cary