Absentee voters have been licking their stamps for weeks, and beginning last Thursday, early voters started arriving at polling places across Western North Carolina.

The presidential debates of the 2012 election are now behind us. Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent president running for re-election, and Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee and former governor of Massachusetts, made their pitches to the voters who watched them engage one another for almost five hours on three separate occasions.

Despite having three Macon County commissioner seats on the ballot this fall, only one has any competition.

In the conservative leaning county, two sitting Republican commissioners will stroll back on the board after no Democratic candidates stepped up to run against them. While Commissioners Jim Tate and Kevin Corbin had to fend off challenges from other Republicans in the May primary, both won and are now enjoying a leisurely campaign season given the lack of Democratic opposition.

Nearly 200 people came out for a candidate forum in Jackson County Monday (Oct. 15) to listen to a slate of candidates spar over local, state, federal — and sometimes existential — issues facing Western North Carolinians today.

Democratic and Republican candidates squaring off in state races this year offer voters a clear choice on a key philosophical issue gripping North Carolina during the past two years: taxes versus budget cuts.

The Republican National Congressional Committee won’t be putting any money behind Mark Meadows, the Republican candidate for the 11th U.S. Congressional District.

RNCC leaders said this race is a shoo-in given the conservative-leaning district, so they will marshal their financial resources for other races in their quest to win the majority on Capitol Hill.

As Carol Adams approached the table of automatic rifles, she looked giddily around and picked the fully-automatic Swedish K out of the lineup.

“This is my first time ever firing a gun,” she said as she stepped up to the firing range, fired off a few rounds and then switched over to the Heckler and Koch MP5, the same make of gun that killed Osama Bin Laden. She continued firing through the whole magazine.

With hundreds of special interest groups and clubs issuing candidate endorsements each election cycle, it can be difficult to keep tabs on who is backing whom.

By Savannah Bell and Don Livingston

In his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama cannot count on the support of many of those who voted for him with enthusiasm in 2008. The condition and mood of the country do not favor his chances of serving another four years in the White House.

The economy has not yet recovered from the Great Recession that spawned so much hardship, anxiety and misfortune across the land. Far too many Americans remain out of work and many have even abandoned their efforts to find jobs. People are struggling to pay their mortgages, pay their bills, and even put food on the table. For far too many Americans it is getting harder to make ends meet. The American dream appears out of reach for too many families. And President Obama, as most presidents do, is receiving more blame than he deserves for the pain and uncertainty gripping the nation.

Since I was old enough to talk, I’ve been told that being an American was something special, something I could take great pride and assurances in, and that my dreams and aspirations were indeed possible here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

This notion seemed logical as a child since our family always had shoes to wear and plenty to eat, a warm house in winter and presents under the tree every Christmas. We were never shot at, our town was never attacked by enemy forces, nor had anyone I knew ever been imprisoned without just cause and due process. I grew up respecting and honoring our public officials, knowing that they were working hard to protect our national interests, our individual rights and our position as a world leader promoting liberty and justice for all.