Otterblog

So ... We’ve left the corn and the snow and the granite and the flinty New Hampshireans and the taciturn Iowans for the rest of the country… Nevada, where the casino workers are the third rail of politics. Michigan, and its post-industrial funk, and South Carolina, site of John McCain’s 2000 Waterloo and John Edwards zenith in 2004… There are a lot of dynamics in both races. Once again, last night, we saw the dangers in polling. Most polls showed Obama out ahead, and so that became the story line. But Clinton ended up winning. Were the polls wrong? Or did voters make up their minds very late. My guess: a little of both. If this keeps up, maybe North Carolina’s primary will matter.

Public access: North Carolina’s open-meetings law isn’t perfect, but it’s all we have in this state, and so I get a little passionate in my defense of the public’s right to be there. Not just the media, but the public, in all its unwieldiness and awkwardness. Last night, as we reported, the city council tried to essentially close a public forum on police-investigative procedures. We made a fuss, but the reason the city wisely backed off its plan was the larger fuss from the public. That’s important. The press can’t find public access alone. And unfortunately, when the public doesn’t push for access, government becomes less responsive and more imperious.