Pat McCrory hasn't fared too well with protesters.
The Republican governor of North Carolina has signed off on a vast array of conservative legislation this year, cutting taxes, slashing unemployment benefits and abolishing teacher tenure. So much change so fast has led to protests, including "Moral Monday" events staged at the capitol a dozen weeks in a row by the NAACP.
McCrory said last month he was "cussed" out by those protesters, but it turned out he hadn't met with them. Earlier this week, he dropped off a plate of cookies for women protesting new abortion restrictions, but they gave them back.
"Hey, Pat, that was rude, you wouldn't give cookies to a dude," they chanted.
The rafter of new laws enacted in the state last year has earned McCrory plenty of negative press, including critical coverage not only in The New York Times and Washington Post, but in state newspapers and blogs as well.
But in Raleigh, it's not at all clear how much any of this is hurting the governor. Democrats, of course, are unhappy — but they don't control the votes. After more than a century of Democratic domination, Republicans hold not just the governorship, but supermajorities in both legislative chambers as well.
North Carolina has long had a reputation for being perhaps the most progressive state in the South. Now, it may more closely resemble its neighbors. Throughout the region over the past 20 years, states that were long controlled by Democrats have almost entirely turned over power to the GOP — and then stayed that way.
"My view is that North Carolina will be leading the red-state resurgence," says Marc Rotterman, a GOP media strategist in the state. "I think McCrory is going to end up being one of the most popular governors in the country."
Democrats Set The Stage
Rotterman is a partisan and his predictions may come as a surprise, given the spate of critical attention the state's received. After all, from a national perspective, North Carolina has been looking more ripe for Democrats, not less.
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