CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Pat McCrory is leaving office as Mayor of Charlotte with a pretty high level of popularity, but it doesn’t mean voters in the city are yearning for him to run for Governor again.

59% approve of the job McCrory is doing with 26% disapproving. He gets good reviews
from 81% of Republicans, 62% of independents, and 39% of Democrats. His approval
with Democrats in Charlotte is actually better than Bev Perdue’s with Democrats
statewide in our most recent polling.

Despite that only 51% of Charlotte voters want McCrory to make a second run for
Governor, with 40% opposed to the idea and 9% unsure.

The drop off from people who like the job McCrory is doing as Mayor to those who want
him to run for Governor again speaks to the issues he had with Charlotte voters in his
statewide run last year.

79% of Republicans are on board, but his 62% approval with
independents drops to 46% who want him to seek the Governor’s office and his 39%
support from Democrats decline to 27% who want to again see him take on Bev Perdue.

“Pat McCrory is very popular with Charlotte voters but they just don’t seem all that
invested in him taking his leadership statewide,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public
Policy Polling. “They didn’t vote for him last fall and even with Bev Perdue’s early
troubles there isn’t a groundswell of support for him to try it again.”

PPP surveyed 791 likely Charlotte voters from October 31st to November 2nd. The
survey’s margin of error is +/-3.5%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and
weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Voters have narrowly elected a Democrat to lead Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city.

With most of the votes counted, Anthony Foxx was leading challenger John Lassiter, a Republican, by nearly 3,000 votes out of 105,000 cast. But Lassiter conceded defeat before the final, unofficial results were released by the Mecklenburg Board of Elections.

Foxx will replace Pat McCrory, a Republican, who is stepping down after 14 years.

Foxx and Lassiter, both lawyers and city council members, promised voters they would focus on turning around the city’s economy.

With the nation’s banking meltdown, Charlotte has lost thousands of financial services jobs. Bank of America, one of the nation’s largest banks, is headquartered in Charlotte.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – The candidates began their campaigns months ago, and now it’s up to the voters in North Carolina’s
largest city to decide which of them will be the new mayor.

Polls in Charlotte will open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and will close at 7:30 p.m. Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter are competing to replace Pat McCrory, who is stepping down after 14 years. Foxx and Lassiter, both lawyers and city council members, say their priority as a leader will be turning around the faltering local economy.

With the nation’s banking meltdown, Charlotte has lost thousands of good-paying financial services jobs. Bank of America, one of the nation’s largest banks, is headquartered in Charlotte.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Candidates for Raleigh Mayor made their final pitches Tuesday, trying to separate themselves from the pack of four contenders.

Mark Enloe spent his morning putting up signs, hoping to get his name and message out to voters.

Enloe said he represents the voice of all people in Raleigh, especially those that are struggling.

“I think that the message is ringing true for some people, that we want a little bit more aggressive leadership,” he said.

Candidate Gregg Kunz has focused his efforts on strengthening and creating businesses. Like Enloe, this is Kunz’s first time running for office.

“It’s a very important position,” he said. “We need someone with leadership experience. I’m not sure all the candidates have leadership experience.”

It’s also candidate Larry Hudson’s first time running for office, and he’s advocating a younger, fresh perspective in the mayor’s office.

Hudson also said he’s focused on strengthening basic services like water and sewer.

“We also want to make sure we’re getting our roads paved and making sure those essential services are done,” he said.

Mayor Charles Meeker, who’s seeking a fifth term, has been talking up his experience.

He said it’ll take a strong leader to see Raleigh through the recession.

“There are going to have to be additional budget cuts made next year, and having experience and knowing what to do will be helpful,” he said.

The mayor serves a two-year term and earns $15,000 a year.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The race to be the next mayor of Charlotte is a statistical dead heat, with Republican John Lassiter leading Democrat Anthony Foxx 44-43 in the contest to replace Pat McCrory, the PPP says.

Both candidates are pretty popular with the city’s electorate. 53% have a favorable opinion of Lassiter, with only 22% viewing him negatively and 48% have a positive one of Foxx with 22% holding an unfavorable opinion of him as well. It’s unusual in the increasingly polarized world of partisan politics to see both candidates in a race sporting a better than 2:1 positive favorability ratio.

There are two key groups of voters who may well decide this race: independents and the Democratic voters whose crossover support of Pat McCrory has allowed the Republican to remain mayor of the Democratic city for over a decade. Lassiter has a 47-31 lead with independents, but Foxx has the 59-30 advantage with Democrats who approve of McCrory’s job performance, indicating that he will do a better job of locking up his party’s vote than recent Democratic nominees have.

Voters send conflicting messages about the direction of the city. On one hand McCrory has an excellent 57% approval rating, something that should aid Lassiter, who likely would be an extension of the current administration. On the other hand 59% of voters say that it’s time for change in how the city is led with only 34% saying they’re happy with how things are going currently, a sentiment that Foxx’s campaign should be able to successfully tap into.

So far in the campaign Lassiter has put a heavy emphasis on his experience, while Foxx has been more focused on his vision for the city. By a 60-28 margin voters say that they are more concerned about a candidate’s vision when deciding who to vote for than his experience.

Here are two things each candidate needs to focus on to win:

Anthony Foxx

-One very good piece of news for Foxx is that black voters appear to be motivated to come out this fall- we expect them to make up at least 30% of the electorate. Right now Foxx has a 70-17 lead with them. If he can push that up closer to Obama levels- 90% or more- he’s going to be very difficult to beat.

-Although he’s certainly doing a better job than most Democratic candidates for mayor have done lately of locking up the white Democratic vote, he’s still losing 25% of it to Lassiter at this point. Getting his party more unified around him would go a long way.

John Lassiter

-Right now he’s only getting 62% of the vote from people who approve of Pat McCrory’s job performance. If he can do more to convince those folks happy with the current leadership that he’ll provide continuity his numbers will improve.

-Do a better job of earning support from voters who have a favorable opinion of both him and Foxx- right now the Democrat has a 57-36 lead with their mutual admirers but conceivably those are folks who could go either way- Lassiter needs to get more of them to go his way.

This race looks like it will probably be close right to the end.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Town Council member Mark Kleinschmidt has been one of the most ardent proponents of the town’s new voter-owned elections program and its campaign-spending limits, the CH News reports.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s mayors have been invited by U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden to the White House for a meeting with The Conference of Mayors leadership on the morning of Friday.

Led by U.S. Conference of Mayors President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, more than 70 mayors will also meet with Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Senior Staff.

The mayors — including Durham Mayor Bill Bell – will meet with Obama and Biden at 10:30 a.m. in the East Room of the White House.

Following the White House meeting, the mayors will gather at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. for a session with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, U.S. Department of Energy Weatherization Program Director Gil Sperling, and U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office Acting Director Tim Quinn.  This meeting is closed to the press, but mayors will be available for one-on-one interviews at the Capitol Hilton between 1pm and 3pm.

The nation’s mayors commend President Obama and Congress for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is in line with the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ priorities, and look forward to working with the Administration to implement this landmark legislation toward transforming our national economy for the 21st Century.

WHO:
USCM PRESIDENT MAYOR DIAZ, Miami, FL
USCM VICE PRESIDENT MAYOR NICKELS, Seattle, WA
USCM SECOND VICE PRESIDENT MAYOR KAUTZ, Burnsville, MN
MAYOR ABRAMSON, Louisville, KY
MAYOR DALEY, Chicago, IL
MAYOR PALMER, Trenton, NJ
MAYOR PLUSQUELLIC, Akron, OH
MAYOR MENINO, Boston, MA
MAYOR RILEY, Charleston, SC
MAYOR BOLLWAGE, Elizabeth, NJ
MAYOR CHAVEZ, Albuquerque, NM
MAYOR COLEMAN, Columbus, OH
MAYOR HAYS, North Little Rock, AR
MAYOR MALLOY, Stamford, CT
MAYOR MULDER, Arlington Heights, IL
MAYOR SMITH, Newark, CA
MAYOR TAYLOR, Tulsa, OK
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA, Los Angeles, CA
MAYOR BAKER, Wilmington, DE
MAYOR BARRETT, Milwaukee, WI
MAYOR BECKER, Salt Lake City, UT
MAYOR BELL, Durham, NC
MAYOR BELLAMY, Asheville, NC
MAYOR BERMUDEZ, Doral, FL
MAYOR BLUM, Santa Barbara, CA
MAYOR BOWSER, East Orange, NJ
MAYOR BRAINARD, Carmel, IN
MAYOR BRENNER, York, PA
MAYOR BURNS, North Miami, FL
MAYOR CALLAHAN, Bethlehem, PA
MAYOR CHOI, Edison, NJ
MAYOR CICILLINE, Providence, RI
MAYOR CLAMAN, Anchorage, AK
MAYOR COOPER, Hallandale Beach, FL
MAYOR COWNIE, Des Moines, IA
MAYOR DELLUMS, Oakland, CA
MAYOR DUFFY, Rochester, NY
MAYOR DUSON, Portland, ME
MAYOR EUILLE, Alexandria, VA
MAYOR FAHEY, Omaha, NE
MAYOR FRANKEL, West Palm Beach, FL
MAYOR FRANKLIN, Atlanta, GA
MAYOR GLUBA, Davenport, IA
MAYOR GORDON, Phoenix, AZ
MAYOR HANNEMANN, Honolulu, HI
MAYOR HINDMAN, Columbia, MO
MAYOR HOLLEY, Portsmouth, VA
MAYOR HUDSON, Greenville, MS
MAYOR JACKSON, Cleveland, OH
MAYOR JOHNSON, Sacramento, CA
MAYOR LAWRENCE, Southfield, MI
MAYOR LEPPERT, Dallas, TX
MAYOR MALLORY, Cincinnati, OH
MAYOR MARIN, Caguas, PR
MAYOR McCRORY, Charlotte, NC
MAYOR MCLIN, Dayton, OH
MAYOR MCMAHON, Reading, PA
MAYOR MELENDEZ, Ponce, PR
MAYOR NAGIN, New Orleans, LA
MAYOR NEWBERRY, Lexington, KY
MAYOR NEWSOM, San Francisco, CA
MAYOR PAWLOWSKI, Allentown, PA
MAYOR POPE, Oak Park, IL
MAYOR PULIDO, Santa Ana, CA
MAYOR RAVENSTAHL, Pittsburgh, PA
MAYOR REICHERT, Macon, GA
MAYOR RIVERA, Bayamon, PR
MAYOR ROACH, Lake Charles, LA
MAYOR SALINAS, Laredo, TX
MAYOR SCHMITT, Green Bay, WI
MAYOR SMITH, Meridian, MS
MAYOR STODOLA, Little Rock, AR
MAYOR STRATTON, Schenectady, NY
MAYOR SWEARENGIN, Fresno, CA
MAYOR TOMLINSON, Corvallis, OR
MAYOR WAHLER, Piscataway, NJ
MAYOR WALKER, Bowling Green, KY
MAYOR WEINZAPFEL, Evansville, IN
MAYOR WHITE, Houston, TX
MAYOR WILLIAMS, Youngstown, OH

RALEIGH – The wife of Raleigh’s first African American mayor has died.

Marguerite “Rita” McKinley Massey Lightner was 84.

NEW YORK – Saying that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin “scares the hell out of me,” former New York Mayor Ed Koch endorsed fellow Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday.
 
In 2004, Koch backed President Bush for re-election saying the Republican incumbent was better equipped to combat “Islamic terrorists” than Democratic candidate John Kerry.

Koch, who was mayor of New York from 1977 to 1989, said he has concluded that the country would be safer in the hands of Obama and running mate Joe Biden than presidential candidate John McCain and Palin.

“Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks,” Koch said, citing such concerns as civil liberties, abortion rights, gay rights and access to health insurance.