Betsy Muse has a long, extensively-documented post about inaccuracies and misrepresentations from the Jim Neal campaign.

I've been impressed by Neal, and turned off by the slime-fest in the gubernatorial race, so it's disappointing to see his campaign playing these games.

Looks like the best piece of political reporting in North Carolina today was done by a blogger.

UPDATE: Neal campaign manager Andrew Kain responds at Blue NC. Good on Neal for offer a timely answer at the scene of the original j'accuse. This campaign continues to raise the bar in terms of understanding web culture.

Much of the response itself came across to me as a mishmash of hedges and legalistic depends-on-the-definition-of-is-isms. Politics ain't beanbag, but Neal seemed to promise a campaign that wasn't politics as usual, and even given the non-scandalous nature of most of the original allegations (Hagan changed a debate format from 90 minutes to 60!) he comes off looking a little less pure.

Comments

[NCDem Amy]

Jim Neal's campaign manager, Andrew Kaine, has posted a response to Betsy's post on BlueNC:

http://bluenc.com/response-from-jim-neal-campaign

[Betsy Muse]

Thanks for the props, Ed. To be clear, I have been a Neal supporter from the beginning. I was disappointed when I saw the Neal campaign go negative. Andrew Kain did respond and has explained some things, but what he says still doesn't always line up with what event organizers have said. I gave a list of the people I interviewed and while I doubt they want to receive tens of phone calls (I'm not that widely read) I did want to be as transparent as possible.

Thanks again,

Betsy

[James]

The Tubes are a wonderment these days. We even had Lieutenant Governor Perdue swing by to clear up an old comment about the death penalty. Here's to transparency and discussion.

James

PS An earlier commenter noted, Neal camp has offered an equally detailed and thorough response, which is a compelling look at real-life campaign decision making. One of our commenters said: I support Betsy Muse and I support Jim Neal. That's pretty much how I see it too.

[David Allen]

It should also be noted that the Hagan campaign has ignored repeated questions from Pam Spaulding for clarification on Hagan's position on gay issues.

Pointedly ignored.

[Jerimee]

I'm not sure that the best way of achieving gay rights is to demand that all candidates speak out loudly in favor of them.

I'd rather have an elected official voting for gay rights quietly than a defeated activist who can't do anything but "speak out" as the anti-gay votes pile up. I want my children to live in a world where they are allowed to be whatever they want to be, and I believe that it's going to take votes in Congress to make that happen.

[Jerimee]

I screwed that comment up pretty bad. Can I get a take back?

A) I'm talking in generalities, not regarding any particular race, and B) I regret how easy it is to conclude from my second paragraph that I think that anyone who speaks out on gay rights will fail to get elected. I don't think that, and I apologize for giving that impression.

What I mean is that I'm less concerned about the speaking out and more concerned about the votes cast.