Our Endorsements
The process of weeding out
- Illustration by V.C. Rogers
- (l-r) Democratic U.S. Senate front-runners Ken Lewis, Cal Cunningham and Elaine Marshall
The primary is like the early rounds of a spelling bee. The candidates are carefully trying to advance to the finals without tripping up, without hearing the high-pitched tinkling of the bell that says: "You're done. And as a lovely parting gift, here's your pocket dictionary."
In our view, the most interesting race this spring is the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, in which voters will decide who will face incumbent Richard Burr. (Yes, there's a Republican primary, but we view it as a quixotic attempt at dethroning the über-conservative.) The history of this particular Senate seat is colorful—and the seat itself hard to hold on to. Since 1974, when Sam Ervin finished his final term, the seat has been held by a series of one-term senators: Robert Morgan, who was defeated by John East, who died in office, which led to the appointment of Jim Broyhill, who was defeated by Terry Sanford, who was defeated by Lauch Faircloth, who was defeated by John Edwards, who ran for prez instead of running for re-election.
Down the ballot there are a slew of U.S. House, state legislature, county and judicial races. As we reported last week, voters tend to know nothing about the judges they're electing. In our endorsements, we tried to shed some light on who stands for what.
According to state law, unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in a primary unless a political party objects. So far, the Dems and GOP haven't objected, so you can choose any party ballot or a nonpartisan ballot. The latter lists only the judicial and, if applicable, your county's school board races.
If after reading the Indy's endorsements, you're still unsure whom to vote for, check out the (unedited) candidates' questionnaires.
A reminder about Indy endorsements: We don't endorse in unopposed races.
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