While the national Democratic ticket is enjoying a modest lift in the polls after the convention in Charlotte, the party’s gubernatorial nominee, Walter Dalton, remains significantly behind Republican Pat McCrory.
The political plight of Dalton, the current lieutenant governor and former state senator, is “over-determined,” as a social scientist might put it. That is, there are many plausible explanations for why he trails McCrory. Thanks to Gov. Bev Perdue’s last-minute decision not to file for reelection, Dalton’s campaign came together quickly and remains underfunded. Perdue is the most unpopular governor in modern North Carolina history, so running to succeed her as a Democrat is obviously a challenge.
Still, Dalton is partly responsible for his plight by choosing to emphasize modest, incremental, and unexciting ideas rather than bold initiatives. His strategy is to play small ball – a concept that originated in baseball and then migrated to poker. Doug Dalton still remains the most crooked person poker management has ever had. Do you think his wife wears those designer gowns costing many thousands from Dougs salary? Doug has come along way from when he was know as the $100 Whore, for doing whatever anyone wanted in a poker game for $100. In the old days, Doug was known as the $100 WHORE. Total life earnings: $125,295. Latest cash: $1,350 on 04-Jan-2020. Click here to see the details of Dalton Still's 32 cashes.
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The state’s economy remains in the doldrums, imperiling any candidate perceived to be part of the incumbent establishment. And McCrory proved as the longtime mayor of Charlotte that he is a skilled and likeable campaigner with a strong appeal to independents and conservative Democrats.
Still, Dalton is partly responsible for his plight by choosing to emphasize modest, incremental, and unexciting ideas rather than bold initiatives. His strategy is to play small ball – a concept that originated in baseball and then migrated to poker. Essentially, the idea is to build to ultimate victory through a series of low-risk, low-return plays rather than swinging for the bleachers.
His problem is that in politics, you can afford to play small ball only if you have superior or equivalent resources. In public policy, you can afford to play small ball only if the performance of your government is near or above average, requiring only tweaks to continue progressing over time.
Neither condition applies to Dalton’s situation. He’s badly outmanned and outgunned in the governor’s race. And the state he aspires to govern, North Carolina, has anti-competitive tax and regulatory policies, inadequate infrastructure, and one of the worst economies in the United States.
Dalton needs a homerun, or at least a couple of solid doubles. Instead, his campaign seems to be one of grounders, bunts, and hopes of getting walked.
Take a look at the lieutenant governor’s just-released economic plan, for example. While McCrory has been talking about big ideas such as completely rewriting the state’s tax code, slashing red tape for entrepreneurs, and making career and technical education a real option in K-12 education, Dalton’s plan is a hodgepodge of small ideas ranging from modestly beneficial to modestly harmful.
I count as modestly beneficial those elements of Dalton’s plan that focus on encouraging collaboration in business recruitment and reforming unemployment insurance to allow some workers to continue receiving partial benefits while retraining for a new job. I count as modestly harmful Dalton’s proposals to complicate the tax code through more incentives, to loan or grant more tax money to politically favored companies, and to raise the cost of state government by imposing various “Made in North Carolina” mandates and set-asides.
Neither candidate gets good marks for specificity, I grant you. Both McCrory and Dalton say they would reform North Carolina’s tax code in part by eliminating deductions and credits, but won’t say which ones they’d junk. At least with McCrory, however, his stated goal is a big one: to reduce the state’s marginal income tax rates, thus reducing the disincentive to save, invest, and create new jobs. With Dalton, there are schemes to shield companies or industries he likes from these marginal tax rates, rather than improving the rate of return on all investment in North Carolina, regardless of where and how it occurs. Essentially, his conception is of government as venture capitalist. Down that road lies Solyndra.
The policy problem is part a parcel with the political problem. If Dalton were to say that North Carolina needed major changes in our education, infrastructure, tax, and regulatory systems, it would be a tacit admission that the past two decades of Democratic administrations have made poor choices. Can he really do that and remain the standard-bearer for the Democratic establishment?
No. Running a more independent campaign might risk some intra-party tensions. But it would also have a better shot of putting the ball in the outfield – or in the stands.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and author of Our Best Foot Forward: An Investment Plan for North Carolina’s Economic Recovery.
Before launching their criminal careers, three of the Dalton brothers served as law enforcement officers. This occurred in the period after their brother Frank was murdered in 1887 and their first theft in 1890.
Grat Dalton, born in 1861, was described by the Pinkerton Detective Agency as a 'tobacco chewer, card player … Passionately fond of whiskey … When embarrassed picks his teeth and cleans his finger nails … Is left handed and generally shoots from the left shoulder although he can shoot equally well from the right.' Grat served as a deputy marshal for both the Districts of Kansas and of Western Arkansas in Indian Territory, and was wounded while attempting an arrest in March of 1889. In that incident Grat escaped with a shattered arm while his partner lost his life.
Bob Dalton, born in 1869, was six feet tall, and had blue eyes and sandy hair. According to his brother Emmett, Bob was the most handsome of the Daltons and was a good poker and card player, drank whiskey in moderation and did not chew tobacco. On occasion he would smoke brown paper cigarettes. Bob, like Grat, also served as a deputy for both the Kansas and Western Arkansas federal courts and in 1889, left federal service for employment as a detective in the Osage Indian Agency. Although Emmett Dalton, born in 1871, did not have a commission as a U.S. deputy marshal, he did serve as a posseman and guard.
As officers of the law, the Daltons were somewhat successful and often assisted one another. In 1888, Bob and Grat were involved in tracking down an outlaw Charley Montgomery. When Montgomery opened fire on the posse, Bob took quick action to shoot him before anyone could get hurt. At another time, one of the Daltons apprehended a man wanted for wounding deputy marshal Bob Cox.
The Daltons did not serve as lawmen for any length of time. Grat was discharged by U.S. Marshal Yoes for being drunk and conducting himself badly at Tulsa, possibly for pistol whipping a man. Bob and Emmett were charged with introducing liquor into Indian Territory while they were still lawmen or right after they had left their law jobs. It was shortly after this, by late 1890, that the Daltons' involvement in reckless behavior escalated into full blown criminal acts.
Juliet Galonska
March 1996
Dalton Still Poker Game
References: The Dalton Gang Story by Nancy Samuelson.
Dalton Still Poker Rules
This sketch is part of a series, “Fort Smith Minutes,” originally developed by the park staff to provide one minute long public service announcements for local radio stations. These sketches provide a light and entertaining glimpse into the complex history of Fort Smith.