By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
jonathan@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
If leading local Democrats are joining their state-level counterparts in licking collective wounds after the battering election losses of Nov. 2, they’re also assessing what went wrong and what they can do to fix it before 2012.
The Beaufort County Democratic Women held a meet-and-greet session Wednesday night at party stalwart Mitch St. Clair’s ranch just east of Washington.
The meeting was designed to let elected and appointed Democrats know they’re appreciated, said Delores Lee, president of the women’s club.
Yet, the reality of what happened on Election Day wasn’t far from the foreground, and the political conversation tended toward what party activists can do differently next time around.
“I’m disappointed in some of the Democratic losses, of course, being a supporter of Democratic candidates,” said Lee, “but I feel confident that those elected will do the best that they can for the citizens of Beaufort County.”
Lee’s statement came after the Beaufort County Democratic Party failed to meet two of its goals: regaining a majority on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners and helping re-elect state Rep. Arthur Williams, D-Beaufort.
Some of the 25 or so Democrats mingling at St. Clair’s attributed the losses to a failure to fire up their base and get voters to the polls.
“I learned that we still have a lot of work to get people registered and motivated to get out to vote, and I think we still had a lot of apathy in the county,” Lee said. “People did not get out and vote.”
St. Clair, a well-known supporter of Williams and Alan Jordan, Beaufort County’s successfully re-elected Democratic sheriff, echoed Lee in a separate interview.
“We didn’t get the people out to vote,” said St. Clair, host of the meet-and-greet session. “The numbers speak for themselves.”
The numbers didn’t look good.
The Democrats lost control of the N.C. House and Senate for the first time in more than a century. To make matters worse for the party, the GOP will take the lead in legislative redistricting next year, redrawing lines that could help some of their candidates become part-time owners of relatively safe seats.
The GOP also won control of the U.S. House and made significant gains in the Senate.
Locally, the picture was less devastating for the president’s party. Jordan won a decisive victory against his GOP challenger, Donald Dixon, and Democratic Commissioner Ed Booth was re-elected to his seat on the county board.
U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., who represents approximately half of Beaufort County, turned back a challenge from Washington Republican Ashley Woolard, though Woolard narrowly carried his home county.
Still, even Booth acknowledged he was surprised that conservative Republican Commissioner Stan Deatherage was the top vote-getter on election night.
“We sat back and waited too long,” Booth observed, adding Deatherage started campaigning earlier in the year.
In the end, the party balance didn’t change on the seven-member board, with the Republicans retaining their majority, though Booth and other commissioners have said the board works together in a more bipartisan fashion now than in the past.
“Look at our board,” he said. “We work very well across the aisle.”
Nationally, the GOP and its allies started working to unseat Democrats “when Barack took his hand off the Bible,” Booth stated, referring to Obama’s inauguration. That effort, combined with rough economic conditions and a disgruntled electorate, helped turn the tide for the opposition, Booth conceded.
“One good thing about it,” he continued, “they’re going to have to govern.”
The Republican sweep may have created some openings for competitive Democrats, though.
State Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, now robbed of his power as Senate president pro tempore, has said he won’t seek another term after his next one ends in two years. Beaufort County is one of the counties the senator represents.
Basnight’s departure could create opportunities for people like Democratic Commissioner Robert Cayton, who has expressed an interest in the seat.
Asked about that possibility, Cayton hedged a little at the meet-and-greet affair, saying all concerned parties — including Williams’ replacement, Republican Bill Cook — can and should work together for the good of the county.
“What I need to do is really concentrate on being a good county commissioner,” he said.
Asked whether the Democratic commissioners can work with Cook, Booth replied, “We don’t have a choice. He’s ours. He won.”