No worries, though, my writing and photography continues. At Bloviations, I will continue to fill the internets with my thoughts and at Photography, I’ll post photographs.

Stay tuned to the BrockNet, folks. I’m sure 2008 will bring surprises.

He quoted BlueNC and NC Politico writer (and friend of mine) Betsy Muse:

“If you live in North Carolina and your home isn’t under a rock, you know that Dan Besse is a Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor.

And then attempted to hit her with the N&O’s “big stick”:

Dome believes that rock is known as the sun.

Unfortunately, Beckwith pointed out his failure (as a writer and representative of the N&O). Along the way, though, he pointed out a failure by our own Jacksonville Daily News.

If Dan Besse isn’t publicly known as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, whose failing is it? The news organizations, of course. A candidate can only do so much. He (or she) can only buy so much ad space. It is the newspapers, television news agencies, and political parties job duty to report on candidates for election.

The Jacksonville Daily News website has one mention of Dan Besse and it’s an opinion piece from the Freedom Communications, Inc. flak in Raleigh, Barry Smith. The same opinion piece is also the only mention of State Senator Walter Dalton, Canton-Mayor Pat Smathers, and former Easley-administration official Hampton Dellinger.

Come on, Daily Newsers. Can’t you do better than that? You’ve finally realized there’s a Congressional race brewing, how about covering the other ballot items?

And, hey, since we’re on the topic of covering politics, why don’t you have a politics web-log?  I know a guy that’d be interested in writing it.

The article, written by Jennifer Hlad, focuses on the key differences between McLaughlin, Adame, and Jones, Jr.

For McLaughlin, it’s a matter of Jones, Jr. not supporting President Bush and not being conservative enough, especially on the support for the continuing occupation of Iraq.

“On virtually every major national security vote on the War on Terror in the last year, he’s voted with the liberals,” McLaughlin said. “The man we sent to Washington in (1995) is no longer the conservative member (he was).”

Several issues separate Adame from Jones, Jr. and McLaughlin.

On Iraq, Adame is quoted:

“There is chaos in Iraq today, and there will be chaos when we leave. But until we leave, the beginning of the end of the chaos cannot start,”

“But I believe our combat troops need to come out,” he said. “We do owe something to the Iraqis, but we owe more to our own people. The best way to support the combat troops is to bring them home.”

Proving he’s no one-trick phony, he said:

“To get elected on one issue like Iraq, or any other issue, would be a little bit dishonest,”

And Adame has the right stances on the other issues. McLaughlin only claims to be an “authentic conservative” with no real policy positions (except to support President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the Republican Party).

The article is quite good, and you should give it a read. And the reader-posted comments are quite entertaining.

Apparently the anti-McLaughlin group is more outspoken the supporters. And, just for a bonus, there’s a fellow that claims several of the separate anti-McLaughlin posters are the same person using separate names. I wonder if the Jacksonville Daily News crack tech-team can trace the IP addresses from those comments?

I may be there, on that fateful day. It may be, friends and neighbors, the biggest thing to ever happen in Jacksonville.

Fred has gone dark in Iowa.

With not enough cash to buy ads, he’s doing all the free media he can on his bus tour.   But it’s a remarkable indicator of just how topsy-turvy the GOP race has been that the man once viewed as the party’s savior cannot even afford to buy TV time in the final days before Iowa.

If Ol’ Fred Thompson is expected to be the savior of the Republican Party, somebody ought to let him know…And maybe send him the script.