Thanksgiving is all about tradition, and here at Under the Dome our tradition is to take a moment before we carve the turkey to say a silent thank you to all the North Carolina politicians, policy wonks and state workers who help us fill this column six days a week.
We also spend a little time pondering what some of those same people should be grateful for today and, in another Dome tradition, we share our not-always-serious thoughts.
U.S. Sen. David Price should be thankful for Morgan Freeman. And for people who sound like Morgan Freeman but really aren't. And for GOP political operatives who can't tell the difference between the two.
Congresswoman-elect Renee Ellmers ought to be thankful for a couple of "energetic Republican youngsters" - apparently plants by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee - who had the gall, and a video camera, to ask incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge: "Do you support the Obama agenda?"
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is surely thankful for his seven grandchildren, who will help cushion the blow of his re-election loss.
Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer must be thankful for his new wife and son. They give him a good excuse to exit the GOP leadership on a post-election high - before the new ruling party faces the really hard, ugly work of dealing with a $3.5 billion budget shortfall.
Those two actors who play the old men on the country porch are thankful to Richard Burr for keeping them employed with a whole new series of commercials. The same guys stumped for Democrat Kay Hagan over Elizabeth Dole two years ago. Now that election season is over, at least one of them is still in commercials - as an old man who is a fan of National Pawn.
Gov. Bev Perdue is bound to be thankful that she has two additional years to repair her image.
State officials are thankful the legislature didn't go further in making personnel records public.
Democratic lawmakers should say thanks that they won't be responsible for laying off thousands of state employees, closing state parks and other cost-cutting measures now that the $3.5 billion budget deficit is the new Republican legislature's baby.
Republicans should be grateful that they captured the General Assembly for the first time in 112 years in 2010, the year before redistricting, making it less likely they will be one-term wonders if the political pendulum swings back the other way.
Businessman Art Pope should be thankful that he didn't have to spend all his millions to get Republicans elected.
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, aka the "Capeless Crusader," should be thankful for the accolades and national attention he received this fall from President Barack Obama, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and The Wall Street Journal, among others. The praise began to pile up after Goodwin announced in September that Blue Cross and Blue Shield would refund $156 million to its customers and had agreed to a less-than-expected rate increase for 2011.
The state's Employment Security Commission can be thankful that no mail is delivered today, which means the beleaguered agency can't be accused of inundating unemployed workers with confusing letters claiming overpayment of benefits.
U.S. Rep. Richard Burr must be thankful that Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer and other Democratic incumbents had such tough re-election efforts that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee didn't have any spare change to help Burr's opponent, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.
Tony Rand, David Hoyle, and other state Senate mandarins are grateful that they took jobs in the Perdue administration before the Democrats lost control of the Senate.
Former Gov. Mike Easley is grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court this summer struck down a major tool for going after political corruption - the "honest services" law, thereby making it harder for federal prosecutors to make their case against Easley.
