The National Rifle Association plans to contact between 750,000 and 1 million North Carolina voters between now and the election, officials say.
The NRA has made a major commitment to North Carolina, just as it has other battleground states, said Andrew Arulanandam, the NRA’s public affairs director. That included hiring two field workers in the state in the spring to help coordinate volunteers.
“They basically coordinate efforts at events, lit drops, volunteer phone calls, neighborhood walks, make sure we have an active presence at gun shows and gun stores in North Carolina,” Arulanandam said.
He said up to 1 million North Carolinians will be contacted either through mail, phone calls or personal contacts by the NRA.
“Elections are basically won or lost on the ground,” he said.
The NRA says it has 500,000 members or supporters in North Carolina.
The NRA is running TV ads in some battleground states, but not in North Carolina. The NRA Victory Fund is opposing the re-election of President Barack Obama and supporting the election of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In TV ads it is running in other states, it criticizes the president for appointing two anti-gun justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.
‘Dear Patrick’ letter
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walter Dalton’s campaign has sent a fundraising letter to probably the last person on earth who is likely to cough up a contribution – his Republican opponent, Pat McCrory.
In a letter dated Oct. 12, the Dalton campaign sent a “Dear Patrick” to McCrory. The letter is sent to McCrory “as a member of the community college family.’’
The fundraising letter touts Dalton, the state’s lieutenant governor’s support for community colleges and asks for donations ranging from $25 to $2,000. It is signed by Cal Cunningham, Bobby England, Martin Lancaster, Marry Jarrell and Forrest Ferrell.
Dome is pretty sure this letter did not produce any money for the Dalton coffers.
Dean vs. Rove at Duke
Howard Dean, former Democratic National Committee chairman and Vermont governor, will duke it out with Karl Rove on Monday at what should be a lively debate at Duke University.
Dean is filling in for Obama adviser Robert Gibbs, who canceled his appearance at the debate with Republican political guru Rove on “What’s at Stake for America’s Global Role in the 2012 Election?”
The event happens at 5 p.m. at Page Auditorium, just before the televised presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Tickets are required. Free tickets are available at the Duke Box Office, or online at www.tickets.duke.edu for a $6 processing fee.
Tagg Romney for prez?
Tagg Romney’s campaign swing through North Carolina will probably be best remembered for a line he uttered during a radio interview – he said he wanted to “rush down the debate stage and take a swing” at Obama – but another moment escaped mostly unnoticed.
Tagg, the oldest of Mitt Romney’s five sons, was hit with a memorable question while in a North Raleigh neighborhood getting ready to kick off door-knocking efforts for a couple dozen campaign volunteers.
One of the volunteers was 8-year-old Amelia Cutlip, who wore a bright pink Romney-Ryan shirt and had spent the day handing out campaign stickers at the N.C. State Fair.
Amelia was unsure who Tagg was and why he was in the neighborhood. She had an idea, but she needed to double-check, so she hit the 42-year-old with a question he hasn’t gotten in a while: “Do you want to be president when you grow up?” she said.
Tagg showed up expecting questions about the debate, the economy, just about everything else, but he didn’t expect that one.
But as it turns out, he’s more focused on his family and business career than angling for a White House bid of his own: “It seems like a lot of work, I’m not sure I would want the job,” he said.
Staff writers Rob Christensen, Jane Stancill and Austin Baird
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