New Hanover County BoE administers geography test to student voters:

In New Hanover County, dormitory students who cannot state their street address will not be allowed to cast a regular ballot in the coming election. The New Hanover County Democratic Party is challenging this procedure, saying it disenfranchises student voters.

"In other counties, they send dormitory lists to the polling place, and the poll workers have them, and if the student can identify the dormitory they live in, they assist them with the street address. And there’s really been no good reason stated by this Board of Elections why they’re out of sync with the State Board of Elections and other counties."

There's a reason all right, it just isn't a "good" reason. Assisting average voters is not high on the GOP's list of priorities, and assisting student voters is not on that list at all. It's on another list, that would be titled "suppress these people," if they were dumb enough to actually write it down somewhere.

We'll start out with a detestable specimen of right-wing trickery:

.@JamesOKeefeIII in the Triangle NC peeps. Came into @democracync office in overcoat & possible wig, claimed to be NC State student. #ncpol

— A.J. Carrillo (@ajcarrillo) October 28, 2014

He's lucky I wasn't there at the time. Evil Steve has been itching to emerge, if only for a few minutes.

In other words, he's waiting for Fox News to tell him what to scare people with:

But the political ripples of legislation the General Assembly has passed that reduced unemployment benefits, initiated new voting and abortion restrictions and rejected Medicaid expansion also awakened Democrats into action. And allegations from Hagan and her allies — amped with millions of dollars for television ads — that Tillis harmed public education wasn't easily shaken entering the fall.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Tillis said the path to persuading the undecideds to vote for him runs along kitchen-table issues and increased worries of average citizens that have grown under Democratic leadership. "I will be obsessed with fulfilling the promise that these Republicans running across the country are making today," Tillis said at the Raleigh rally.

What Tillis seems to be forgetting here: Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians are struggling to put food on that kitchen table, and many of them owe that difficulty to the Republican Party's gross mistreatment of the unemployed. And dedicating yourself to serving the desires of Republicans from other states has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. That statement needs to be part of Hagan's ad blitz, like right now.

The religious tyrants will stop at nothing in their hate-fueled crusade

The leader of a Fayetteville church used a disparaging term to refer to a gay state Court of Appeals candidate, John Arrowood, saying he shouldn’t be running. “I say he should step down because he’s already biased” against the marriage amendment, said Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church. Arrowood, a Charlotte lawyer, was once on the board of the Equality NC political action committee. He served on the appeals court in 2007-8.

“I think it’s unfortunate that people have chosen to make my sexuality an issue,” Arrowood said in an interview Thursday. “I have a record of showing that I am fair and unbiased and that I have no agenda. I have a record that people can see. I think it’s unfortunate in the 21st century that people seem to think my sexual orientation is an issue.”

As far as I'm concerned, the race for this CoA seat just went from "pick your favorite" to "support John Arrowood at all costs." Those of you Dems who were considering someone else, whether because you like something about that someone else or because you're inclined to do the exact opposite of what the NCDP wants you to do (I know you're out there), it's time to take a stand against bigotry. I promise, you will be glad you did, however the election turns out.

And the chair wins a decisive victory:

The program initially billed as a debate between Tillis and other candidates turned into a one-hour conversation with him and two reporters, as well as responses to emailed or recorded questions from the public. Hagan announced over the summer her decision not to participate, while Libertarian Sean Haugh didn't meet a 15 percent polling threshold to join Tillis.

"I'm disappointed that Sen. Hagan's not here," Tillis said in a closing statement in which he repeated themes from their previous three televised debates with Hagan in which he linked her closely to President Barack Obama's policies.

And I'm disappointed that both Time Warner and McClatchy felt it was appropriate to continue with such a farce. The candidates agreed to a certain number of debates earlier in the year, and both media outlets were warned well in advance that Hagan wouldn't be attending. To give Tillis airtime to spew his talking points without a serious challenge to their merit should require an "in-kind" contribution disclosure form for the Tillis campaign from both TWC and McClatchy.