Cooper zings McCrory in first debate with I77 storyline originally detailed at aShortChronicle

Stories broken at aShortChronicle a year ago appear to have resonated with the Roy Cooper Campaign.

Last Summer, aShortChronicle broke the story regarding connections between Cintra, the NCGOP, and the McCrory Campaign in posts here and here.  These posts are both top five of all posts at aShortChronicle.

During the debate last Friday after McCrory danced and deflected a question regarding the I77 Toll project, Cooper answered directly saying the contract with Cintra should be cancelled.  Then he zinged McCrory for the very connections outlined in those posts.  Cooper says "Governor McCrory's campaign staff was hired by this company" - meaning Cintra.  If you listen closely you can hear an uncomfortable chuckle come from McCrory immediately after that line.

Check out the exchange starting at the 23:30 mark of this video from Charlotte's ABC11 affiliate.

We here at aShortChronicle wouldn't be presumptuous enough to think the Cooper campaign wouldn't have known about these connections otherwise.  Finding out this stuff is Opposition Research 101 for any big time political campaign.  However, it is an example how the blogosphere can be well ahead of the mainstream media on what might eventually be important stories.

It could be telling that the Cooper Campaign threw this punch right off the bat in the first debate.  Did that happen only because the debate was in Charlotte? Or, do they plan to make a bigger issue of this in the campaign?

Only time will tell, but remember you heard it here first.