This campaign has caught our opponent, David Price, flat footed — overwhelming him with our grassroots momentum, enthusiasm, and appeal to voters with the message of Liberty.

A wise man once said — freedom is popular — and with your help, we have gotten that message out.

To follow up on my latest post discussing Former Democratic Senator and Presidential Nominee George McGovern's newly-discovered love of liberty, I paid a visit to a blog that I frequent a lot and where I sometimes post called Freedom Democrats, a group of Democrats who, like Senator McGovern, are very freedom-minded.

Change is in the air at the North Carolina GOP Convention. We elected a change-oriented national committeewoman, physician and fellow Congressional candidate Dr. Ada M. Fisher. Dr. Fisher literally came out of nowhere -- she nominated herself from the floor, and gave a great speech focused on reaching out and growing the party in true service to our communities and nation.

Rep. Tim Bishop is a Democrat who represents New York's 1st District, including Long Island and Plum Island. Here's what he had to say about NBAF in September of 2007:

Last night's gathering at South Granville High School in Creedmoor was a poignant illustration of the crisis of confidence between our federal government and its citizens. I had the opportunity to speak with people on both sides of the issue -- local citizens opposed to NBAF, as well as representatives from Homeland Security, the USDA, government contractors, and our local consortium desiring to bring the laboratory to the area.

Regrettably, our incumbent representative David Price is lobbying our Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to locate the proposed National Bio- & Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Butner, North Carolina. The proposed facility would bring a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory to our backyard to study diseases including:

• Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)
• Classical Swine Fever (CSF)
• African Swine Fever (ASF)

I've had a difficult time reconciling my respect for free markets and private property rights with the need for planning in urban and suburban development. When you think about it, it's a bit of a paradox: on one hand, a private landowner should be able to do whatever she wants to maximize her property's value. On the other hand, private landowners should be able to voluntarily associate and agree to standards that maximize the value of everyone's property. (And remember, value is not only measured in dollars.)