Good day and welcome to DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread for Saturday November 1st. We try to get together every weekend to share with everyone what we're all up to in Western North Carolina and beyond. We hope this group serves to invigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement. DKos Asheville can give us all a better sense of connection, a better understanding of who we stand with, work with, and share with. We hope this community can help leverage our orange passion for progressive politics to elect more and better Democrats.
Asheville and all of Western North Carolina are wonderful places to visit. We have a powerful progressive presence, both cultural and political, and for the most part everyone is really nice. And the views are breathtaking. If you've never been here, we promise you'll love it.
Drop over the fold for a place to talk about stuff.
Western North Carolina received 3-6 inches of snow last night and this morning. The system should be sticking around through the day with a few more inches possible in higher elevations. November 1st is a little early for these parts but most of us kinda like it!
I voted early Monday at our lovely library. I was the only voter, the ladies were sweet. I was disappointed that there were local and county offices that only had a Republican candidate.
I hope everyone around here enjoys the snow, we need Asheville, Burnsville and Tennessee weather reports! Old Fort missed out. Apparently we're all in for a cold snowy winter, or at least that's what I keep hearing.
Ashevegas has the scoop this week.
First up, a nice roundup of the election including candidates and issues from the Senate to local. Here's an example.
State of hate
Meanwhile, North Carolinians continue to be drowned in political ads, most of them negative. On the airwaves, the Tillis camp released a new ad last week slamming Hagan’s family for profiting from 2009 stimulus grants. On the other end of the spectrum, former President Bill Clinton is now appearing in ads for Hagan. And here’s an interesting one: A group has thrown $225,000 into a campaign for Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh, encouraging young voters to support a progressive campaign centered on “More weed, less war,” instead of voting for U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan. The catch? The group has links to the Koch brothers, whose groups have poured out millions of dollars in support of state House Speaker Thom Tillis.
Next up, BEER
Wicked Weed in Asheville goes Halloween crazy with 15% ABV Dark Arts stout.
Dark Arts is a 15% ABV Bourbon Barrel Aged Wild Imperial Stout released in bottles November 1st. Yup, you read that right. A 15% (North Carolina ABV Cap), bourbon barrel aged (for a year), wild (read brettanomyces), imperial (reference back to the 15%) stout. Dark Arts is the beer you want to get your hands on.