Thom Tillis (R. NC) better not f*** with Julian, Bubbles and Ricky.
Want to know why Thom TIllis (R. NC) is losing this race? Because he's a huge scumbag:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
As he crisscrosses North Carolina campaigning for U.S. Senate, Thom Tillis likes to remind voters of his modest upbringing. The Republican candidate and former business executive describes a childhood with parents who struggled to make ends meet, and "when times got really tough, we lived in a trailer park."
As a newlywed high-school graduate working in a warehouse, he found himself living in a mobile home once more, Tillis recounted recently.
What Tillis fails to mention in the campaign trail rags-to-riches story is that he bought a trailer park in early 2007 -- an investment he hoped would increase in value while providing him rental income. But now, as he presses his run for the Senate, the story of that trailer park may cause voters to question whether Tillis used the trappings of his office as a state legislator for personal gain.
That's because in the months after he bought the trailer park, Tillis introduced state legislation and sought political compromises that likely would have increased the value of his property.
Tillis' Senate campaign noted that he fully complied with the law during the entire process. A spokesman also stressed that Tillis did not advocate for specific bills and, indeed, helped facilitate a public feedback process that ultimately doomed any chance of a bill passing.
But Tillis' involvement in legislation with the potential to affect his personal portfolio complicates Republican attacks against his opponent, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who has been accused of profiting from federal stimulus funds. That Tillis wasn't forthcoming about his potential conflict at the time -- he would disclose the property a year later when he was required to by law as part of his ethics disclosure forms -- also has raised concerns from government watchdogs.
"The problem is that as Tillis was advocating a bill that would impact his property value, he should have disclosed his ownership," said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a good-government advocacy group with a history of calling out both Democrats and Republicans on ethical lapses. Tillis' actions may not have violated North Carolina's lax ethics laws, but Hall said his conduct nevertheless left a bad impression.
"Tillis is a very savvy man when it comes to his financial interests. And that's what 'conflict of interest' is all about," Hall said. "It's about whose financial interests Tillis is serving." - Huffington Post, 10/6/14
Read the whole story for all of the details. Yeah, he really does suck. No wonder this asshole is having a hard time getting anyone to vote for him:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/...
North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan was supposed to be one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats this year but she has managed to consistently lead in the polls, as Republican challenger Thom Tillis struggles to muster the support of tea party voters he needs to win in November.
From his career in corporate America to his support of toll roads to his comment that legal gay marriage is likely inevitable, Mr. Tillis has alienated much of the state’s conservative base, said Thomas Mills, a Democratic political analyst in North Carolina.
“If you’re living in a town of 2,000 people in rural North Carolina that’s the base,” he said. “He culturally can’t connect with those people. He’s not a tea party guy and they never accepted that he is.”
Joe Greene, a leader of the Conservative Patriots Of Wilkes Empowering the Republic, or CPOWER, a tea party group in Wilkes County, agrees.
“He’s an establishment Republican. That’s why I’m opposed to him,” said Mr. Greene. “A lot of people feel the way I do and won’t vote for him. He’s got a lot of things about him that’s not grass roots.”
He said that unlike many of his tea party compatriots, he would begrudgingly cast his ballot for Mr. Tillis.
Asked if he thought Mr. Tillis would win, Mr. Greene said: “Right now, I kind of doubt it.” - Washington Times, 10/5/14
Tillis can be beaten but Hagan will need voters to come out for her. She's working on getting a key demographic out to the polls:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
HuffPost last week talked to two dozen randomly selected black voters in the Raleigh-Durham area -- on the streets, in shopping centers, on a college campus -- to see if they plan to vote in November. People were encouraged to be honest if they expected to skip out. Yet the responses were nearly universal: An emphatic yes to voting, even if they don't know much about who’s running.
“Yes, I’m voting,” said Marilynn T. of Raleigh, who spoke from behind a perfume counter at Macy’s. “My schedule doesn't allow me to follow the candidates much. I go by what I hear around. But right now it appears that the Democratic Party is the party I’m going to go with. I’m not for the rich. I’m a working-class person.”
"For sure," said B.J. Watson, a senior at NCCU, asked whether he would be voting. He conceded he doesn’t know anything about Hagan or Tillis, but said his sister works for a progressive environmental group and keeps him informed on politics. "I go to her and she tells me what to do," he said.
"Oh goodness, yes," added Gerry Fisher, a lifelong resident of Raleigh who works in a department store. "It’s not like an odd-numbered year where the dog catcher gets elected or something. It's pretty important."
Many of the people approached by HuffPost said they’ve been bombarded by campaign ads and mailers about the Hagan-Tillis race. The targeted outreach from both campaigns is working.
"I know enough about each candidate to know I like one and I don't like the other,” said Fisher.
The plans of two dozen random voters certainly do not reflect those of the state’s entire African-American community. But the palpable enthusiasm HuffPost observed among black voters about the midterm election is precisely what Democrats are counting on. An Elon University poll from last month showed that black voters favored Hagan, while white voters tended to support Tillis. If Hagan can come close to rallying the black community at the levels that President Barack Obama did in previous elections, she is likely to win.
Turnout in the African-American community was crucial to Hagan's victory in 2008, when she shared a ballot with Obama. A record 72 percent of black voters in the state went to the polls, compared to 66 percent of white voters, according to data from the State Board of Elections. In 2012, the numbers shifted slightly, but black voter turnout was still at 70.2 percent, while white voter turnout was at 68.6 percent.
It’s a different, more toxic, landscape in 2014. Obama’s popularity is sagging. And the highest-profile Senate races are all in Republican-leaning states. To bolster its candidates, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has invested in an unprecedented get-out-the-vote operation. In North Carolina alone, it has 10,000 volunteers on the ground and is collaborating with a data analytics firm led by Obama's former campaign team. The hope is that digital content combined with grassroots summits and neighbor-to-neighbor organizing can boost voter turnout to levels on par with a presidential election year.
One of the biggest focuses is on engaging the African-American community. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Donna Edwards (D-Md.), were both in the state last month stumping for Hagan and plan to return this month. The DSCC just launched a $1 million radio ad buy targeting black radio stations around the state.
Hagan, meanwhile, has been meeting with faith leaders to ask for their help on the ground. She hosted an African-American summit in Raleigh last month, where more than 200 community leaders heard from Congressional Black Caucus members and others about the stakes of this election for the black community. - Huffington Post, 10/6/14
We can beat Tillis, we just have to make sure the base comes out for Hagan. Click here to donate and get involved with Hagan's campaign:
http://www.kayhagan.com/...