About a month ago - on Election Day - Steve Carter (below) was elected as a county commissioner here in Alamance County, N.C.   And I had the photo of his early days in local politics - and own all rights to them.
   I’d met Carter while covering the early days of the Tea Party movement - when he was both local organizer of the Tea Party movement and local head of the “establishment” Republican Party.  He was the person who organized Tea Party rallies and related events - and who played a key role in the merger of the leaderless Tea Party with the “establishment” Republican Party in this state.  He was one of the early people - if not the first - to try to field a “uniformed” wing of the Tea Party in this state, which eventually resulted in such an element at Tea Party appearances at the state legislature whenever they were trying to influence legislation.
   Carter tried to get elected to public office previously in the early days of the Tea Party - but failed.  However, he continued in his role in both the Tea Party and Republican Party - including organizing a campaign stop for the 2012 Mitt Romney campaign that I covered when Romney’s son Tagg came to campaign for him locally.  Eventually, he did succeed in getting elected.
   Will he run for higher office?  I doubt it - but, if he does, here’s one of the photos of him running a joint meeting of top local Tea Party and Republican activists in his home.
   

Steve Carter at meeting of top Tea Party and Republican activists in his home, 
Burlington, N.C., Jan. 19, 2011.