Nuggets along the campaign trail

McCrory: Let's meet; And Obama's tipping point

Two items of political note caught my eye this afternoon.
One of them is an interesting idea from the McCrory campaign for governor -- a proposal for a public meeting to discuss the assertions in a new independent campaign ad by a Democratic group backing Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue against Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee. The offer comes in a press release from the McCrory camp: McCrory to Perdue: Let’s change tone of campaign by discussing negative ad charges face-to-face. McCrory suggests a forum at Wake Tech. Here's a link to the McCrory campaign suggestion.
The chance of that discussion is slim, as are these kinds of unilateral proposals in the heat of a political campaign. But given the recent outburst of independent campaigns at work in this race -- with a Republican Governors Association-backed PAC helping McCrory and a Democratic Governors Association-backed PAC helping Perdue, voters in North Carolina might like a discussion that probes into what these outside campaigns -- which by law cannot coordinate their work with the candidates and their own committees -- are up to.
Perdue has agreed to five "debates" in the general election -- one of which has already been held and another is coming up Aug. 19 at WTVD in Durham.

The other item that caught my eye is an e-mail from Tom Jensen at Public Policy Polling with this:" A new analysis by Public Policy Polling shows that it would take a North Carolina electorate that is 23% African American to put Barack Obama in the lead based on the current polling."
That "tipping point" would push Obama past Republican John McCain, and African-American registration is growing. Here's a link to PPP's thinking on this topic.