2nd Report on the Campaign for the 11th District in North Carolina

Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 22 March 2006 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

[Congressman Billybob]

Folks,

Two of my campaign appearances since the 1st Report are unique and deserve mention here. One was with a group of left-wing Democrats, who refer to themselves as "progressives." The invited me to see if I would dare join them, for two hours of pointed questions.

I accepted, and the comments posted on the Internet as a result made it clear that they intend to see me defeated, come November. But they also included comments that I am "honest" and a "man of obvious integrity." When even your political opponents speak of you that way, that is a very good sign about your campaigning.

Also since the 1st Report, I met with a group of Libertarians. Their Party has been decertified in NC, and they are not running a candidate in the 11th District this year. They are now classified as "undeclared" under NC election law, and have the right to vote in either the Republican or Democrat Primaries on 2 May. I believe that both votes and volunteers will come out of that group, as well as another round of good, free ink, or free electrons if you prefer, on the Internet.

On the subject of the Internet, here's an interesting exercise: Google this combination ("John Armor" + candidate). You will get 39,500 hits. Google the incumbent with this combination ("Charles Taylor" + candidate). You will get 248,000 hits. But then, Charles has been in office for 16 years. Google the man whom the newspapers are bruiting as Taylor's "main opponent" with this combination ("Heath Shuler" + candidate). You will get just 22,700 hits.

On the Internet, though not in the print media, I am Taylor's main opponent. Suffice to say, anyone who knows how to use the Internet effectively has a leg up on those who don't.

[Congressman Billybob]

In accord with JimRob's guidelines, only the first few paragraphs of this are posted on FR. The balance can be found by clicking on the link.

I thought Freepers might want the opportunity to see how their colleague's campaign for Congress is going. All comments are welcome.

The 1st Report, and also my two major News Releases to date, are also newly on my website.

John Armor / Congressman Billybob

[Gipper08]

bttt

[Publius]

...it points out that the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 began the American tradition that live, face-to-face debates are the best way for voters to judge between (among) candidates. It challenges the civic associations in some two dozen towns to get together,. choose a hall, and invite all four of the candidates to appear for a debate.

John, I'm interested in your definition of debate. When we talk of "debate" nowadays, we're really talking about joint press conferences. There is no cross-questioning or anything one would expect from a classical debate.

In the early Nineties, the Lincoln-Douglas debates were staged by re-enactors in the same towns in Illinois where the original debates took place. I saw all the debates on CSPAN and was struck by the difference in formats. While the more formal language of 1858 was difficult to parse, I could see where Lincoln and Douglas did a point/counterpoint that is foreign to today's politics.

Are you planning something like that or what we call "debates" today?

[concentric circles]

Go John, go! armorforcongress.com

[Congressman Billybob]

There was method in my madness to suggest in my ad that the local "newspaper editor" might run the debate. That would accomplisher three purposes. 1. It would increase the possibility that the debates will take place. 2. It would guarantee thorough press coverage. 3. The editors would know that a good verbal scrap makes good copy.

It is not my purpose to try to dictate the format of the debates. I am on record as saying I will "debate my opponents any time, any where, in any format." No matter what the format, there will be opening statements. And after I make my opening statement, I guar-on-damn-tee that fur will fly.

John / Billybob

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Armor For Congress

[George Smiley]

Googling "Charles Taylor" + "candidate" - "dictator" lowers the count to around 231,000 hits.

Googling "Charles Taylor" + "candidate" - "Liberia" lowers the count to around 132,000 hits.

Whether

1) that is excluding references to the former Liberian head of state who is being extradited back to Liberia from Nigeria to be tried for war crimes, or

2) there are a large number of extremely unflattering articles about the 11th District incumbent, I cannot say from this limited amount of research.

:-)

[Congressman Billybob]

Thanks. The short ad I placed in the North Carolina Conservative did not have space to eliminate all the references to the Charles Taylor who was the dictator of Liberia. Those Net-savvy people who take up the comparison on their own will find what you just found.

Too bad the election isn't being conducted on the Net. But then again, the prospects for fraud in that venue would be overwhelming.

John / Billybob

[George Smiley]

I just didn't want the North Carolina Congressman Charles Taylor to benefit from web references to the Liberian Ex-Dictator Charles Taylor.

After all, we wouldn't want people to confuse the two.

:-) again.

[George Smiley]

Wikipedia says there are a whole bunch of web-worthy Charles Taylors:

Warning: I didn't take time to fix all the links in here---

Charlie and Chuck are common familiar or shortened forms for Charles.

Charles Taylor (born 1948), is a former president of Liberia.

Charles Taylor may also refer to:

• Chuck Taylor (filmmaker) (born 1984), Toronto filmmaker
• Charles John Taylor, New Zealand politician of the 1850s
• Charlie Taylor (1868–1956), Wright Brothers' mechanic
• Chuck Taylor (salesman) (1901–1969), basketball player and shoe salesman
  • Chuck Taylor All-Stars, the shoe line named after the salesman
• Charles Taylor (philosopher) (born 1931), Canadian
• Charles H. Taylor (born 1941), U.S. Congressman from North Carolina
• C. I. Taylor (1875-1922), co-founder of the Negro National League
• Charles Taylor (Texas) (1805-1865), signer of Texas Declaration of Independence [1]
• Charles Frederick Taylor (1840-1863), Gettysburg soldier [2]
• Charles Taylor (soldier) (died 1899), Indian Wars Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient [3]
• Charles "Bud" Taylor (1903-1962), former American boxer
• Charles Stuart Taylor (1910-????), British politician and MP
• Charles Taylor (film critic), film critic for salon.com.
• Charles Keith Taylor, Canadian politician
• Charles Taylor, member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

This human name article is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that might otherwise share the same title, which is a person's or persons' name. If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page.