Dr. Michael Bitzer Profile picture
Contributor @OldNorthStPol https://t.co/0pbp5TogOt “Redistricting & Gerrymandering in NC” https://t.co/Aap7PC16Lc…
Jan 3 12 tweets 3 min read
Thread:

Am seeing some, especially lawmakers, stating that the actions by Colorado & Maine are “preventing the American people from voting for their preferred candidate for President” by invoking a constitutional disqualification for one candidate. So all such disqualifications should be removed to allow anyone to run and thus give voters all their ‘preferred candidates’ opportunities?

We should remove then constitutional disqualifications such as Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 ():constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/a…
May 25, 2022 71 tweets 6 min read
Litany in the Wake of a Mass Shooting

God of peace, we remember all those who have died in incidents of mass gun violence in this nation’s public and private spaces.

Six dead at the Wisconsin Sikh Temple.
Give to the departed eternal rest.
Let light perpetual shine upon them. Twelve dead at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater.
Give to the departed eternal rest.
Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Jan 6, 2022 32 tweets 5 min read
A thread on personal thoughts regarding #January6th:

Note: I write only for myself, and not for my affiliated institution nor for my colleagues who also contribute and are associated with the @OldNorthStPol blog. Much has been written about the tragic day of January 6, 2021, a day that should live in comparable historical view with September 11, 2001 and December 7, 1941.
Jan 3, 2022 12 tweets 9 min read
Thread: As the #ncredistricting trial begins, it may be good to review the 2019 NC court decision striking down the state legislative maps drawn in 2016 as unconstitutional, based on three NC constitutional/legal principles (from my book: link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…) #ncpol Some background: following the ruling that the 2011 maps were racially gerrymandered, GOP #NCGA lawmakers went back to redraw the maps in 2016, with the expressed principle of using partisanship--which, at that time, was a legal approach to take (though it would be challenged).
Feb 27, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Weekly change in NC active voters registered on 11/7/20 to 2/27/21 & their party reg, with change since 2/20/21:

Dem-->Unaffiliated: 9,595 (+494 since 2/20)
D-->Rep: 4,915 (+176)

U-->D: 8,841 (+368)
U-->R: 9,800 (+429)

R-->D: 3,113 (+180)
R-->U: 20,218 (+1,024)

#ncpol 36% of all NC party switchers are reg Republicans going to reg Unaffiliated since November's general election.

17% are Dems going Unaff
17% are Unaff going Rep
16% are Unaff going Dem

Grand scheme of things:
0.6% of Dems have switched
0.9% of Unaff
1.1% of Rep

#ncpol
Feb 15, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read
"If negotiating a post-Donald-Trump world has been a disorienting experience for Republicans around the country, it is especially acute in NC, a state that has become a polarized, and nearly deadlocked, partisan battleground."

However...1/2 nytimes.com/2021/02/14/us/… #ncpol #ncsen 2/2:

“'The G.O.P. base is getting smaller,' said Paul Shumaker, a veteran party strategist in Raleigh."

#ncpol #ncsen

nytimes.com/2021/02/14/us/…
Feb 13, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
1: "The GOP members of Congress said the (phone) exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters even as lawmakers were pleading with him to intervene. Several said it amounted to a dereliction of his presidential duty.

'He is not a blameless observer, ... 2: "...he was rooting for them," a Republican member of Congress said. 'On January 13, Kevin McCarthy said on the floor of the House that the President bears responsibility and he does.'" cnn.com/2021/02/12/pol…