DownWithTyranny!: A Week From Today...

The big electoral focus and action has moved into North Carolina. Most of the national news, at least on this side of the progressive/reactionary divide, is about the horribly homophobic Amendment One, support for which is suddenly losing steam

Over the last month, there have been indications that the tide is turning-- typified by both a groundswell of opposition toward the amendment and a confluence of events that have stymied its support. The latest proof that the race is tightening came earlier this week, when the Democratic-leaning and Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling (PPP) released the results of a survey showing that 54 percent of likely voters intend to vote for Amendment One, while 40 percent are opposed. That’s still a strong majority to be sure, but it also represents the lowest level of support that PPP has found for Amendment One since it began polling last October. Perhaps most promising for opponents is the shift in opinion among North Carolina Democrats, who were divided over the issue in PPP’s survey a month ago. The latest poll shows only 38 percent of Democratic voters support the amendment, with 56 percent opposed. Additionally, support among African-American voters-- an historically socially conservative voting bloc-- has dropped by ten percent over the last month.

“The against side has an advantage in terms of tv air time and grassroots momentum and for the first time this week I really believe there’s a chance the amendment could fail,” Tom Jensen, director of PPP, told TPM in an email. “I never would have thought that until now.”

He added: “I think opponents of the amendment should be very encouraged and if they do every little thing they can in the final days to make sure voters are informed the potential for a seismic upset is there.”

...The anti-amendment campaign may also be bolstered by reduced interest in North Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, which will be held on the same day. Not only has Mitt Romney sewn up his party’s nomination, but Rick Santorum-- arguably the most passionate culture warrior in the GOP-- ended his presidential bid. After Santorum suspended his campaign earlier this month, Jensen told TPM at the time that the former Pennsylvania senator’s absence in the race would likely have a negligible effect on Amendment One. That was when the amendment appeared to be a lock to pass, which now feels like an eternity ago.

I only know of one "Democrat" backing Amendment One-- super-reactionary and über-bigoted Blue Dog Hayden Rogers, the corrupt DC corporate shill trying to take over for his boss Heath Shuler (who is retiring from Congress to become a lobbyist, a shameful and disgraceful profession that pays better; he could have become a pimp or a drug pusher). In fact there are two congressional primaries on Blue America's list, the one that pits progressive icon Cecil Bothwell against Rogers in NC-11 and the one next door, that pits North Carolina's overall best state Rep, Patsy Keever against a failed conservative tool, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy. Bellamy and Rogers were both recruited by Steve Israel, not just because he sees them as conservative-- he's an "ex"-Blue Dog who still votes with that dying breed and is desperately trying to recruit more right-wing Democrats, even at the risk of failing to capture the House, his one assignment this year-- but because he and Steny Hoyer-- who is giving generously to corrupt corporate shills like himself-- want more pliable, less idealistic Democrats in the caucus. They don't want independent thinks like Bothwell and Keever. They want zombies, robots and mice who will happily accept corporate bribes and shut up and leave the governing to wheeler dealers like... well, like Hoyer and Israel of course.

Click on this image and compare Keever and Bellamy on the issues and then ask yourself why Party leaders like Hoyer and Israel have gotten behind her and why they're asking Washington's most corrupt criminal lobbyist to flood her campaign with cash.

And speaking about dirty cash payments, every corrupt lobbyist in Washington is funneling money into Hayden Rogers campaign. Lobbyists don't care if someone is Democratic or Republican-- just as long as they're corruptible. And if you look at the pages and pages and pages of Hayden Rogers' lobbyist contributors-- more than almost any non-incumbent running for any office short of Mitt Romney, you have to ask yourself why. Why are these sleazy, slimy lobbyists so determined to elect Hayden Rogers?

And you know who else is ponying up big time to get Hayden Rogers into Congress? Payday lenders who have long been banned from the state of North Carolina. They sense a kindred spirit and they're writing BIG checks for Hayden Rogers:

Advance America Cash Advance Centers... $2,500
Community Financial Services Association... $5,000
Vincent K. Ney of Government Employees Credit Center... $2,500