I was push-polled by Edge polling on behalf of the Lawson campaign or some other Republican PAC this evening.  The questions were reasonably straightforward for the first 5-7 minutes, then got more paranoid about illegal immigration and whether or not the country had abandoned the Constitution.  It closed with something like, "David Price, a college professor and your current representative, is an 11-term incumbent who supports Barack Obama's takeover and bailouts for companies that are too big to fail, and votes with Nancy Pelosi more than any other member of Congress.  If this makes you more likely to vote for him, press 1.  If it makes you less likely, press 2."

Final question, same button choices:

 "BJ Lawson is a father, a medical doctor, and a successful small businessman who is reported to have strong grassroots support who will lower taxes and restore the Constitution blah blah blah..."

So there's an election again on Tuesday, in which Democrats get to select whether Elaine Marshall or Cal Cunnigham will run against US Senator Richard Burr in the fall. (I'm partial to Elaine, but I really don't care which one wins as long as he or she beats Burr.) Voters in the northern and western* part of Orange County will also be settling a near-tie for fourth place in the nonpartisan Orange County Board of Education race.  By all accounts (http://www.orangepolitics.org/2010/05/whats-at-issue-in-the-school-board...), your choices seem to be dumb and dumber, so good luck with that!

A blog entry on the NC senate race may be a bit outside the scope for the OP but I have been so encouraged by the recent polling data showing both Marshall and Cunningham in statistical ties with Burr and with low approval rating for Burr thatI was inspired to write this entry.  The title is just vision for a newspaper headline on an enjoyable Wednesday morning next November. 

I personally have been supporting Elain Marshall since the day she announced and think she will be a great senator for NC.  I recently recieved an e-mail from her campaign lamenting that Cal Cunningham did not drop out.  I think there may be an upside from the run off in that it will generate extra local and national press coverage.  It reminds me a bit of the discussion of the Clinton-Obama primary contest.  Many people were calling for Clinton to drop out so that Obama could focus on November.  However, the primary contest generated a lot of interest and in the end, Obama won.

OK, first the election results. Congratulations Barry, Earl, Lindy, Debbia, Donna, Brenda, and Anne!  Then, the Pundits of the Year! (I know you can't wait, right?)

These are final UNOFFICIAL results from the NC Board of Elections awesome web site (click the "map" links to see results by precinct)...

Did you vote today or early? What's going on out there?  

I expect some reports on this page from some the students who worked on the site this semester and hopefully other readers will chime in as you usually do.  This year, we're also using Twitter to track election goings on, so I'm embedding a feed of the latest tweets tagged #OCNCelect (per last week's survey).

OK, the election is a few days away.  This has not been the most exciting election season, but sometimes the smallest stakes can inspire the strongest emotions.  It's time for our annual Pundit of the Year contest.

Submissions are open until 7:30 pm on Tuesday (when the real polls also close). Results will be announced by the weekend. The winner gets a free OP t-shirt or hat in the size and color of your choosing (by way of a gift certificate to the online OP store).

At my last meeting with the wonderful students of Public Affairs and New Media Reporting (parnm) we were discussing how to cover next week's local election, and agreed that Twitter will be a key tool in reporting results and reactions as they come in. We couldn't decide what hashtag would be the best to identify and collect these reports, and we wanted to make it something that others would use as well, so I thought I would ask you readers.

We're especially interested to hear from you if you use Twitter and will be following and/or tweeting the election results. You can select up to 3 of the suggestions below, or add your own.

Last week the upstanding Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors* announced they were endorsing realtor Joe Phelps for at-large County Commissioner (as well as farmer Earl McKee in district 2). How in-depth was the research behind this endorsement? They didn't even look at the other candidates.

The association said neither Jacobs nor Broun approached them about an endorsement.

“If we had been, we would have met with them and listened to their views,” Zimmerman said.

- Daily Tar Heel: "Realtor association at odds with Carrboro mayor over endorsement" April 21, 2010 

...YOURS! You regulars know the drill: this is a special rules thread. Only write about who you are voting for (or would be if you lived in their district) and why you support them.  

Other topics and criticism of candidates is welcome on other posts, see http://www.orangepolitics.org/issue/elections/2010.