Can Democrats win North Carolina in 2024? (02-05-2024--Hour3)

This episode is presented by Carolina Readiness Supply – Monitoring Trump/Cooper counties and how Democrats are looking to flip the state due to Republican top-of-ticket candidates.

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[00:00.000 --> 00:10.400] Howdy, what's going on? Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. It is hard live [00:10.400 --> 00:14.680] every day, by the way, from noon until three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want [00:14.680 --> 00:19.400] exclusive content, invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep [00:19.400 --> 00:27.300] with links, become a patron. Go to thepetecalinershow.com. This podcast is also supported by North Carolina businesses, so please consider [00:27.300 --> 00:31.500] supporting them. Try not to skip through their short ad. Make sure you hit the subscribe button [00:31.500 --> 00:35.220] to get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And thanks so much for [00:35.220 --> 00:41.240] your support. I'm going to go over some state stuff with you real quick, because I've heard [00:41.240 --> 00:47.820] this over the years, this question of, you know, how how Trump could win the state of [00:47.820 --> 00:55.540] North Carolina, but Dan Forest lose like that sort of stuff. And I've said for years, it's [00:55.580 --> 01:01.900] because North Carolinians are ticket splitters and have been for decades. This is, this is [01:01.900 --> 01:09.620] not new. There's also a, you know, a base of power that the Democrat Party enjoys at the [01:09.620 --> 01:17.420] state level. And, you know, you don't dismantle a Democrat Party machine that was as entrenched [01:17.420 --> 01:24.340] as the machine was for a century and a half in North Carolina. You don't, you don't remove [01:24.380 --> 01:31.380] that so easily, you know, one four year term for Pat McCrory doesn't do it, you know. So [01:36.300 --> 01:41.020] Carolina Journal published a piece the other day by Dallas Woodhouse. Dallas is the former [01:41.020 --> 01:49.620] Republican Party executive director. And now, and he was a former reporter, I believe before [01:49.620 --> 01:55.140] that, or columnist or something, but he worked in media before. He says, for either side to [01:55.140 --> 02:04.940] achieve their goals in 2024, they got to improve vote totals in counties that were won by Cooper, [02:05.580 --> 02:13.580] but also won by Trump. Day, these Trump Cooper counties. These are the key to victory in 2024. [02:14.500 --> 02:23.980] Okay. After beating Pat McCrory in 2016, by 11,000 votes, there was like, like four and a half [02:23.980 --> 02:36.380] million total votes cast. So Cooper beat McCrory by 0.22%. Right? 2016. But then four years later, [02:37.180 --> 02:42.380] coasted pretty easily by about a 4% margin over Dan Forest 2020. [02:43.740 --> 02:57.340] Height of COVID too. Meanwhile, in 2020, Trump won by 1.3% Cooper won by 4%. How is that possible? [02:58.860 --> 03:05.580] It means roughly 5 to 6% of voters split their tickets at the top. That is a common formula [03:05.580 --> 03:10.780] for Democrat dominance in races for the governor's mansion over the last half century. [03:13.180 --> 03:20.380] He then goes through and he highlights some of the these bellwether counties, these Trump Cooper [03:20.380 --> 03:33.340] counties. For example, Nash and Wilson, Nash County and Wilson County. So Mike Isley and Roy Cooper [03:33.340 --> 03:39.980] both come from Nash County, but Nash County tends to vote for Trump. But if it's one of their own, [03:40.700 --> 03:45.820] then they'll vote for their own. They know Roy Cooper. They know his family. He's got ties in [03:45.820 --> 03:51.900] here. They know Mike easily and Wilson County. Well, that that was Jim Hunt's hometown. [03:53.100 --> 03:57.740] So while those counties go for Trump, they would go for Democrat governors. [03:57.740 --> 04:05.580] Nash County, where Cooper's from, Trump won the county, but he only won it by 84 votes [04:07.180 --> 04:13.260] over Hillary Clinton. Nash was one of only two counties that Trump won in 2016, but then lost [04:13.260 --> 04:20.620] in 2020. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden came out ahead in Nash County by 49 votes. [04:20.620 --> 04:27.500] So Nash County actually swung against Trump. But since that time, the county seems to have [04:27.580 --> 04:38.220] moved increasingly towards the red column. Um, Ted Bud beat Sherry Beasley in Nash County by [04:38.220 --> 04:49.020] seven points. For example, Wilson County, Joe Biden beats Trump in 2020 by three points. Roy [04:49.020 --> 04:56.540] Cooper beats forest by 10. Ted Bud. However, two years later, he beats Sherry Beasley by three. [04:58.140 --> 05:01.820] So Wilson County and Nash County, right? The candidates matter. [05:03.340 --> 05:08.940] Then there are Scotland County and Anson County. All right. Scotland is one of the only counties [05:08.940 --> 05:14.380] that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but then switched over to Trump four years later in 2020. [05:15.260 --> 05:21.420] Same thing you see here in 2020, Trump carries the county by two points. Cooper wins it by six. [05:21.500 --> 05:28.220] Ted Bud, two years later, he wins it by six. Anson County, [05:29.740 --> 05:38.060] normally a Democrat stronghold in 2016 and 2020. It elected Democrats across the entire ballot. [05:38.060 --> 05:48.860] However, two years ago, Ted Bud won it 51 to 46. Too early to know, is this some sort of a blip? [05:49.820 --> 05:52.700] Or is this now a trend? [05:54.940 --> 06:03.900] Also, we've got Pascotan County, Martin County, and Lenore, or as I call it, Lenoir counties. [06:03.900 --> 06:09.980] So these three counties are small counties. They have split the top of the ticket in recent [06:09.980 --> 06:18.620] elections. Pascotan, for example, went for Biden. Cooper begged a victory there as well in 2020. [06:19.340 --> 06:30.380] But Ted Bud, he won by 836 votes two years later. Martin County. Bud won that one as well. [06:30.380 --> 06:39.100] Trump won it also, but Roy Cooper won it just barely. Lenoir County. Trump won it by 900, [06:39.100 --> 06:46.860] almost a thousand votes. Cooper won it by 300. See, so ticket splitting. People keep asking about [06:46.860 --> 06:50.460] the ticket splitting and about the election fraud and how is it possible? This is how. [06:51.820 --> 06:57.500] These counties have histories of splitting their votes between Democrats and Republicans. [06:57.500 --> 07:04.060] And also remember, Donald Trump did a decent job of peeling away non-conservative voting [07:04.060 --> 07:09.820] members of the Democrat coalition. He pulled some of those voters over to his camp, [07:10.780 --> 07:17.340] and they would not be as willing to vote for a conservative like Dan Forest. [07:21.420 --> 07:26.380] New Hanover County. North Carolina's largest swing county, one of the two counties that voted [07:26.380 --> 07:33.900] Trump in 16, Biden in 2020. In 2020, also, New Hanover County flipped Democrat after voting [07:33.900 --> 07:39.740] Republican in the last five presidential elections. Not only was New Hanover, one of the two counties [07:39.900 --> 07:45.340] that flipped from red to blue. It's also one of the two counties in the state that was red in 2008. [07:47.020 --> 07:52.300] It didn't even vote for Obama. Like that's the shift happening right now, New Hanover County. [07:52.300 --> 07:57.340] It's Wilmington, right? Performing better in these mostly small counties will not guarantee [07:57.340 --> 08:02.540] victory on a statewide basis for either party, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. So [08:02.540 --> 08:08.540] looking at, so going into this election season, you want to keep these counties sort of in mind, [08:08.540 --> 08:16.300] and I'll remind you of them again as we go. Trump Cooper counties. These counties that flipped [08:16.300 --> 08:24.860] based on the presidential or gubernatorial cycles. Then there was this piece at ABC News the other day. [08:26.060 --> 08:34.700] Can Democrats bounce back in North Carolina after 2023 gut punch? Democrats are trying again to [08:34.780 --> 08:41.340] reel in their white whale of North Carolina this November after years of losses culminated in [08:41.340 --> 08:50.940] Republicans clenching a historically strong position to end 2023. They really do think like this is [08:50.940 --> 08:57.740] the year we're going to totally flip it. Well, you got the new, uh, uh, the, the Democrat Party chair, [08:59.820 --> 09:04.460] the high school girl. No, I'm kidding. But she's like, she's the youngest chair in the [09:04.460 --> 09:09.980] country. Y'all. And she says y'all. And this is the direct appeal to rural voters who will become [09:09.980 --> 09:17.420] Democrats again. Um, because she says y'all and she drives a pickup truck. I don't even think it's an [09:17.420 --> 09:24.300] EV truck. I don't know if she has carbon offsets for that thing. I don't know. The GOP dealt [09:24.300 --> 09:29.500] Democrats a body blow last year when a new legislative super majority secured after the [09:29.580 --> 09:34.220] defection of a liberal state lawmaker, Trisha Gotham, bulldozed through Democratic Governor [09:34.220 --> 09:39.500] Roy Cooper's veto and passed a 12 week abortion ban, gerrymandered legislative maps and enacted [09:39.500 --> 09:46.940] other conservative bills on education and transgender rights. Democrats stuck in a deep minority [09:47.660 --> 09:52.780] watched from the political sidelines. Now Democrats are looking to punch back. [09:52.780 --> 09:58.380] Help President Joe Biden flipped the state for his reelection bid and retain the open [09:58.380 --> 10:05.660] governorship insisting that their 2023 setbacks ignited new resolve to get off the mat. [10:06.620 --> 10:12.700] That's it. See, I now, now they're going to do it. I know we've been talking about flipping the [10:12.700 --> 10:19.020] state for a while now, but this time we're with this time for sure we will rise again. It's going [10:19.020 --> 10:27.180] to happen this year. Now they got a plan. They got a plan going over this piece from ABC News. [10:29.100 --> 10:39.500] Story by Tal Exelrod, Tal Exelrod at ABC News. He says the party talking about North Carolina can [10:39.500 --> 10:47.580] Democrats win it in 2024 after the gut punch of 2023. The party for years has crowed of its [10:47.580 --> 10:54.540] chances to make gains in narrowly divided North Carolina only to fall short. Democrats have not [10:54.620 --> 11:03.180] won a presidential or US Senate race since 2008 here and their state legislative presence has [11:04.300 --> 11:10.300] shall we say atrophied. The state's new congressional lines are expected to leave Democrats holding [11:10.300 --> 11:22.540] four out of 14 US House districts at best, right at best. But Democrats say this year is different. [11:22.620 --> 11:29.180] This year is going to be totally different. Okay. A slate of hardliners expected to top the [11:29.180 --> 11:34.620] ticket for Republicans, risks energizing Democrats and alienating swing voters, they say, [11:35.340 --> 11:40.780] who are they talking about? Well, Donald Trump and Mark Robinson. New leadership atop the [11:40.780 --> 11:47.900] Democrat state party has led the charge to expand its presence outside urban and suburban enclaves [11:48.620 --> 11:54.220] because she says y'all. Her, you know, Clayton Anderson, her Anderson Clayton, I forget, she has [11:54.220 --> 12:00.540] two last names. Anyway, she, yeah, she says y'all and she drives a pickup truck and she drives [12:00.540 --> 12:04.780] around rural areas. And she says y'all to these rural folks. And that means they're going to be [12:04.780 --> 12:12.220] on board with the non binary LGBT agenda with the equity and inclusion stuff. Right, [12:12.300 --> 12:17.980] obviously. I mean, if I have to explain the connection here to you, well, you're probably [12:17.980 --> 12:24.860] just a bigot. So but trust me, you go to these people and you say y'all enough times and boom, [12:24.860 --> 12:29.820] they're going to vote for this stuff. Biden's campaign has indicated that it views North [12:29.820 --> 12:36.940] Carolina as a key electoral college expansion opportunity. Oh, also Dan Bishop. I said Trump, [12:37.820 --> 12:45.260] Robinson, and also Dan Bishop. They interviewed Michael Bitzer, who is [12:47.580 --> 12:54.220] a political science guy at Catawba College. Right. He leans on the left and I believe he has [12:54.220 --> 12:59.660] muted me on the Twitter machine. I'm not bitter at all. No, no, I'm not actually. I find it [12:59.660 --> 13:06.860] comical, but whatever. He says, quote, I usually identify 3% to 5% of the electorate that swings [13:06.860 --> 13:12.780] one way or the other. Is there rhetoric too far? And does that alienate that margin of error in the [13:12.780 --> 13:19.580] polls to determine the margin of victory? If it's not this top of the ticket, what will energize [13:19.580 --> 13:26.540] Democrats? Right. If it's not Trump, Robinson, Bishop, if that doesn't get Democrats angry enough [13:26.540 --> 13:32.060] to turn out and vote, what would? Right. He says, I think that the way it seems like things are playing [13:32.140 --> 13:37.660] out, Democrats certainly can flip this state by very thin margins, but it's going to take effort [13:37.660 --> 13:44.140] on their part and perhaps some luck given to them by Republicans. Mark Robinson's campaign [13:44.140 --> 13:51.900] swatted away such predictions. Spokesperson Michael Lonergan telling ABC News that Democrats [13:51.900 --> 13:57.580] are terrified that Robinson is building momentum and support across the state because he's focused [13:57.580 --> 14:02.300] on solutions to these issues that affect North Carolinians every day. But even some [14:02.300 --> 14:08.220] Republicans have been voicing concerns over the expected ticket. One GOP strategist that is [14:08.860 --> 14:14.540] not named by ABC News says, quote, what you have to do in North Carolina is you have to find [14:14.540 --> 14:19.900] candidates who can not only appeal to the base, but who can win unaffiliated voters. [14:20.620 --> 14:25.820] If Mark Robinson is the nominee for governor and Dan Bishop is the nominee for attorney general, [14:25.820 --> 14:33.740] that's a bad recipe for winning an election in North Carolina. Democrats are also expanding [14:33.740 --> 14:40.540] their campaign infrastructure. Apparently goes on to say here that the party did not field candidates [14:41.260 --> 14:46.860] in about a third or a quarter, I guess, of all of their state legislative races in 2022. That [14:46.860 --> 14:52.300] was a strategic failure. This year, Democrats have candidates running in all of the 170 races, [14:52.380 --> 14:59.980] except two. Underscoring its interest in North Carolina, the Biden campaign included the state [14:59.980 --> 15:07.180] in its initial $25 million ad buy and it tapped my good friend Ray Cooper to serve as a member of [15:07.180 --> 15:16.140] the president's national advisory board with more moves expected to come. Morgan Jackson, [15:16.140 --> 15:20.860] a veteran North Carolina Democrat strategist says the Biden campaign is going to have to [15:20.860 --> 15:25.260] balance investing in the state with defending a string of purple states that he won in 2020, [15:25.260 --> 15:29.660] all while suffering from low approval ratings fueled by dower opinions on the economy, [15:29.660 --> 15:39.100] numbers that he says are, quote, a challenge. Yeah, just a little bit. Dr. Andy Jackson at the [15:39.100 --> 15:46.860] John Locke Foundation, this is one of the metrics that he is constantly tracking voter registration [15:46.860 --> 15:53.580] changes in North Carolina. So a couple of weeks ago, he took another look at this, as he does, [15:53.580 --> 15:59.900] as I mentioned, he tracks this stuff. And so he says, with a new year upon us, let's take a look [15:59.900 --> 16:06.300] at how voter registrations have changed over the last two years. Why look at changes over two years [16:06.300 --> 16:13.100] instead of one, he says, well, the North Carolina State Board of Elections conducts biennial list [16:13.100 --> 16:24.220] maintenance at the start of every odd numbered year. So 21, 23, 25, 27, right, in all these years, [16:24.220 --> 16:31.580] they will be biennial every other year list maintenance. And they remove hundreds of thousands [16:31.580 --> 16:40.140] of registrations that have been inactive or unreachable for almost a decade. That's how long it takes [16:40.140 --> 16:45.980] for you to get scrubbed off of the voter rolls for inactivity. And they send you these cards in [16:45.980 --> 16:50.300] the mail, keep that in mind, I'm going to come back to that, they'll send you cards. And they'll be [16:50.300 --> 16:58.940] like, Hey, do you still live here? And if you, if it doesn't go back to them, then that counts as [16:59.740 --> 17:11.020] it was received. They they they assume that the postal service will send it back if you've moved. [17:12.220 --> 17:17.100] Of course, the postal service stops doing that for you after like what six months, right? [17:19.260 --> 17:23.660] Anyway, while that maintenance is important, it means that measuring registration changes [17:23.660 --> 17:30.300] over the two year election cycle more accurately reflects what is happening in voter registrations. [17:30.300 --> 17:41.260] So here are the key findings. Democrats are down, Republicans are up, and unaffiliated are up a lot. [17:43.020 --> 17:51.980] All right, right now, in North Carolina, overall registrations are at 7.4 million registered voters. [17:52.860 --> 18:03.580] And of those, you've got the breakdown as follows. Number one, unaffiliated 2.7 million unaffiliated [18:04.380 --> 18:12.300] number two Democrats, 2.4 million number three Republicans, 2.2 million [18:12.940 --> 18:22.140] Libertarians, they grew as well. They picked up like 2,000 registrations. They're now at 50,078. [18:23.340 --> 18:26.700] Hey, the journey of a million miles starts with a single step. [18:31.740 --> 18:36.780] Oh, we also have 1,795 green party members [18:36.940 --> 18:47.260] and no labels already has more than the greens. They've got 50 or sorry, 5,478. [18:48.220 --> 18:53.980] Okay, the decline, Andy Jackson writes, the decline in the number of registered Democrats is not new. [18:53.980 --> 18:59.980] It began during the Obama administration after a surge of Democrat registrations ahead of the [18:59.980 --> 19:08.460] 2008 election. The rise in unaffiliated registrations is also part of a long term trend. [19:08.460 --> 19:15.820] Over the past 10 years, Democrat registrations have declined by somewhere in the neighborhood of about [19:15.820 --> 19:26.700] 337,000 over 10 years. So they're losing 33,000 a year, basically. Republican registrations [19:27.660 --> 19:37.900] increased, 205,000. So they're picking up 20,000. And if that current trend continues, [19:39.180 --> 19:45.180] there will be more Republicans than Democrats in North Carolina somewhere around 2027. [19:47.580 --> 19:53.100] That's what the trend line is. See, so when you hear this talk about flipping the state, [19:53.180 --> 19:57.820] and you hear talk about where a purple stayed and all of this, I understand where that comes from [19:58.460 --> 20:04.220] because like, as I said, repeatedly here, we are in a realignment of the political parties. [20:05.100 --> 20:10.300] You see it with this, you got a lot of people that are coming from up North and they're Republicans [20:10.300 --> 20:16.540] and they're leaving New York. They're leaving New Jersey, right? There are Republicans that are [20:16.540 --> 20:22.780] up there. They may be registered as Democrats because outside of like Staten Island, you know, [20:22.780 --> 20:28.540] you can't get elected on Long Island or in the city or anything if you are a Republican, right? [20:28.540 --> 20:34.700] So there aren't, I mean, there are Republicans in New York. They don't have any power to affect [20:34.700 --> 20:41.740] any of their government though. And so they're moving out and they're coming down here. I mean, [20:41.740 --> 20:48.220] hello, Carrie, right? You know, Carrie stands for Carrie, North Carolina containment area [20:48.860 --> 20:56.220] for relocated Yankees. That's it's in the charter, I believe the city's charter. [20:57.900 --> 21:06.700] The biggest story though is the continued rise of the unaffiliated. They increased by 872,000 [21:07.420 --> 21:13.020] over a 10 year period. So picking up roughly 87,000 registrations every year [21:13.820 --> 21:20.700] for the last decade. The proportion of Republican registrations has remained virtually unchanged. [21:20.700 --> 21:28.700] It's about 30% over the entire decade. So while so they're maintaining the state's growing, [21:28.700 --> 21:33.260] so they're growing, right? The Republican Party is picking up registrations as the state grows. [21:33.260 --> 21:40.060] So their proportion of the registered voters has remained steady at 30%. Democrats have lost. [21:40.780 --> 21:47.660] They keep losing people. Unaffiliateds have exploded, but the Democrats have been shrinking. [21:47.660 --> 21:55.180] Keep in mind, most unaffiliated voters behave as partisans though. So people who use this [21:55.180 --> 22:00.780] to, oh, I'm an unaffiliated or I'm an independent voter that that actually doesn't mean anything. [22:01.500 --> 22:06.780] They're, they're, they're usually voting one way or the other. And in fact, vote in a highly [22:06.860 --> 22:13.340] partisan way, but they are registered as unaffiliated. They vote for one party over the other most of [22:13.340 --> 22:20.540] the time. That's me. I vote for Republicans over Democrats in general elections virtually [22:20.540 --> 22:26.380] a hundred percent of the time because the Democrat Party has very little in common with, [22:27.500 --> 22:32.460] well, I would say American ideals, but very little in common with, with me and my political [22:32.460 --> 22:38.300] philosophy. Now, that being said, I will go vote in Democrat primaries, particularly in the local [22:38.300 --> 22:43.740] races because there are no Republicans. So being an unaffiliated voter helps in Mecklenburg County. [22:44.380 --> 22:50.860] Members of the two major parties are also more likely to turn out to vote than unaffiliated voters [22:50.860 --> 22:55.820] or members of the minority parties, the, or the, you know, the libertarians, the no labels, [22:55.820 --> 23:01.820] the greens, right? If you are a member of the Republicans or Democrats, chances are you're [23:01.820 --> 23:06.620] turning out to vote because you're still wearing the jersey, right? You're still on the team, [23:06.620 --> 23:12.140] you're still part of the organization. You're still identifying as a member of this group. [23:12.860 --> 23:18.860] unaffiliated voters get distance from having to be identified with all of the, you know, [23:18.860 --> 23:22.860] the drags of the particular political party. They don't want to be associated with them, [23:22.860 --> 23:29.820] so they get to enjoy that, that, uh, that distance, but they also don't turn out to vote as often. [23:29.820 --> 23:33.500] So how are you going to get if you're, if you were a party like the Republicans and you only [23:33.500 --> 23:37.740] have, you know, one out of three registered voters, you assume most of the Democrats are not going [23:37.740 --> 23:42.860] to be for you means you've got to go and get the unaffiliated who tend not to vote a lot, [23:42.860 --> 23:48.620] and those who do tend to vote in a partisan way. So maybe split that in half too. [23:48.620 --> 23:53.900] How are you going after these half of these unaffiliated, the two billion unaffiliated, [23:53.900 --> 23:59.980] how are you going after them? And how are you going to get them to the polls? [24:01.420 --> 24:06.940] That's the strategy that the Republicans need to be focused on. How are you getting unaffiliated, [24:06.940 --> 24:12.220] and how are you going to ensure that they cast their votes on election day or before election day? [24:14.300 --> 24:23.340] Republican turnout is usually around 82%. Democrat turnout about 75 unaffiliated, 70. [24:24.460 --> 24:30.220] That's what you're up against. All right. Do the current world events have you wondering [24:30.220 --> 24:35.180] whether we are teetering on the edge of catastrophe? Are you concerned? It's going to reach our shores. [24:35.180 --> 24:41.260] Okay. So what are you doing about your concerns? Let me help Carolina Readiness Supply at [24:41.260 --> 24:45.340] Carolina Readiness dot com, whether you're looking to expand your emergency preparedness [24:45.340 --> 24:50.300] supplies, or you have no idea where to even begin Carolina Readiness Supply can help you [24:50.300 --> 24:55.820] food, water purifiers, tools, first aid kits, instructional materials, camping and hiking [24:55.820 --> 25:01.020] supplies, even because being prepared is just smart. Carolina Readiness Supply has 2000 [25:01.020 --> 25:06.220] square feet of supplies and educational materials that you'll need for any kind of emergency. [25:06.220 --> 25:12.140] In Waynesville and always at Carolina Readiness dot com veteran owned Carolina Readiness Supply. [25:12.140 --> 25:13.900] Will you be ready when the lights go out? [25:14.700 --> 25:22.380] 704-570-1110, 1-800-WBT-1110. The email is peat at the peatcalinarshow.com. [25:23.580 --> 25:30.860] That is and I just received a message there from John and went to confirm. [25:34.860 --> 25:41.820] Former WBT News Director and anchor Jim Barrell passed away this morning [25:42.700 --> 25:50.300] according to his family. He had mast cell lymphoma that he was just diagnosed with, [25:50.860 --> 25:56.540] I believe it was last month. It was expected to be extremely treatable but also aggressive. [25:57.340 --> 25:59.100] He had just turned 71. [26:03.500 --> 26:08.940] That's all of the information that I have. He had, after he had retired out of WBT, [26:09.020 --> 26:16.220] he had actually moved up to Hendersonville and he arrived up there in the mountains of [26:16.220 --> 26:24.620] Western North Carolina while I was still working up there in Asheville. I asked him if he wanted to [26:27.340 --> 26:34.860] come and do some news for filling purposes and the like on the station there and he did. [26:35.020 --> 26:42.780] I got to work with him again. Jim Barrell was my mentor in the WBT Newsroom. [26:43.580 --> 26:53.180] He was the afternoon anchor when I first started in 1999. I was a reporter and we were paired [26:53.180 --> 26:58.380] to, or sorry I was first, it was a part timer, not an intern but a part timer. [26:59.340 --> 27:05.660] We got paired together because I would pull all of these audio clips from the CBS feeds and CNN [27:05.660 --> 27:14.140] feeds that he would then use in his newscasts. I got to work with him there in that regard in [27:14.140 --> 27:24.860] the afternoons and then he, well then I became a reporter and so again working sort of the second [27:24.860 --> 27:28.460] shift I would cover City Council County Commission meetings and he would come in. [27:29.260 --> 27:34.860] After John Stokes did the morning shift, John would leave at 11 and then Jim would start at 11.30 [27:34.860 --> 27:39.660] and they would do half hour newscasts and Jim would go through, I think about 7 o'clock or so. [27:42.380 --> 27:49.180] And so I worked with him and he was my mentor. He was my friend. I had no idea that he had been [27:50.060 --> 27:55.340] diagnosed with this. I just, we had just seen him. We were just swapping text messages with him. [27:55.340 --> 28:00.300] We just saw him a couple weeks ago. We were talking about getting up there to see him again [28:02.700 --> 28:09.260] probably in another month. He leaves behind his wife Robbie and his daughter Amy. [28:11.180 --> 28:18.940] And so we're just sad to hear that news. I'm kind of shocked. I did not know that [28:19.980 --> 28:27.420] he had been diagnosed with this mantle cell lymphoma. But then again, I don't know if he would even [28:27.420 --> 28:35.740] have told me. But yeah, he was the anchor at WBT for years and years and years and then became [28:35.740 --> 28:43.740] news director. And then, like I said, while I was up in Nashville, he was out at WBT and retired [28:43.820 --> 28:51.340] up to the mountains. And he would always post on his Facebook page. He would walk up what's called [28:51.340 --> 29:04.700] jump off rock in Henderson County, named after a local native story of a woman whose [29:05.260 --> 29:09.980] husband went into battle and never returned. And so she was so distraught that she flung [29:10.060 --> 29:15.660] herself off of the side of this mountain. But it's like one of the highest peaks. And you get this [29:15.660 --> 29:23.100] view over miles and miles and miles and miles. And so he was up there. That was his daily walk. He'd [29:23.100 --> 29:28.700] walk all the way up this mountain. He would take pictures and stuff. And so he'd send it. He would [29:28.700 --> 29:37.820] send me Dilbert cartoons, like every day, because he subscribed to the Dilbert cartoons. And I guess [29:37.820 --> 29:42.860] I should have known something was wrong when I didn't get one today. Because he would always [29:42.860 --> 29:52.220] forward him over to me. So we could share his subscription, I think. But I do know I do know he's [29:52.220 --> 29:59.820] in a better place. I do know that about Jim and his faith. It's kind of funny, too, when we would [29:59.820 --> 30:07.020] hash out all sorts of philosophical and religious questions back in the newsroom. With some of the [30:07.100 --> 30:13.180] other members, I don't need to name them. But one in particular, who was atheist and [30:15.020 --> 30:19.580] and very, very left of center. So it was always very interesting to have these [30:19.580 --> 30:26.540] have these conversations. And the only time I ever saw Jim ever lose his cool ever [30:27.740 --> 30:33.500] was arguing with this individual and the person attacked him personally for his faith. [30:34.140 --> 30:39.820] And Jim had sat there listening to years of arguments between me and this other guy. [30:40.620 --> 30:47.420] And this other guy, because he's a lefty, he would always personally attack you. And I would never [30:47.420 --> 30:54.540] take the bait. And so Jim finally stands up and says, Pete may have put up with that [30:55.100 --> 31:02.860] bleep, but I don't. It's the only time I ever saw him lose his cool was that one moment. [31:04.860 --> 31:11.820] Yeah, he was a big supporter when I joined the or when I started the podcast up when I got [31:12.620 --> 31:20.060] laid off at WWNC. He's one of my biggest supporters and biggest fans and a great friend and a great [31:20.060 --> 31:28.380] mentor. So our prayers and our thoughts with the barrel family, all of this family members [31:28.380 --> 31:33.340] and his friends and former colleagues as well. Jim barrel rest in peace. One of the great ones. [31:33.980 --> 31:41.180] So that's it for today. We will talk with you tomorrow. Don't break anything while I'm gone. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe2.sonicengage.com/releases/20240205230933' directory