Fred Smith in Charlotte

Smith presented an attractive package to conservative primary voters. He stressed that government spending is out of control and that he would not hesitate to veto spending increases that exceeded population growth and inflation. Smith recognized that the heavy hand of Raleigh bureaucracy torments our teachers everyday, preventing them from doing their best to educate. He called for exploding the cap on charter schools and overall focusing less on process -- the wormhole the education status quo fixates on -- and more on results.

Plus -- and this cannot be oversold -- as a business owner Smith completely understands the economics of health care from a consumer perspective. Smith related cases of folks actually shopping for medical care on price, the lost element of far too many discussion of health care policy.