Is North Carolina Still Helms Country?

GOLDSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 18) -- Carolina barbecue and Christian music at the Moose Lodge in Goldsboro. That's Jesse Helms' North Carolina. It's conservative and rural. He defends Carolina tobacco farmers, who are angry at the president's attacks on their crop. Helms' North Carolina has sent him to the U.S. Senate for 24 years. He's running again.

A rally at Duke University, with students waving signs. That's Harvey Gantt's North Carolina. It's urban and high-tech, like the Research Triangle outside Raleigh. Gantt lost to Helms six years ago.

The two men disagree about almost everything.

"We ought to fully fund Head Start," Democrat Gantt told the Duke rally. "We ought to secure college student loans and grants for our students."

"Well, I don't think he's running for the Senate," Republican Helms replies. "I think he's running for tooth fairy. Because all he wants to do is give away something that belongs to somebody else."

The newest flap in the Helms-Gantt race is the news that Helms' Senate financial disclosure statement listed only nine of 15 rental properties he and his wife own. The state Democratic party complained to the Senate ethics committee.

"He never does anything about it," says Lisbeth Evans, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. "That's why it continues to come up. If he would clean up his financial disclosure forms and clean up his houses, it wouldn't come up every six years."

Some of the houses are unheated. James and Virginia Harrington say they bought and installed a kerosene heater for their house on Dorothea Street. And Kelly Lewis says the weather blows right through his walls on East Davie Street.

"Close the windows, close the doors, and it's just like standing on the outside," Lewis says. "It needs brand new windows."

Eleanor Randolph rents a Helms house on Swain Street. She has no complaints; she said it's a nice house in a good neighborhood.

Does the story hurt Helms?

"It does sully him somewhat," says Duke University political scientist David Paletz, "because it conflicts with his notion that he's a man of integrity and independence, but it probably won't make a major difference."

Negative ads might. Helms is famous for them. One says Gantt supports same-sex marriages, which Gantt denies. "Harvey Gantt," the ad says. "More liberal than Bill Clinton. Too liberal for North Carolina.

Gantt calls it "typical, vicious Jesse Helms, and I'm saying North Carolina won't buy that message."

Duke's Paletz says, "It struck me once that if (Helms') opponent was Jesus, he would still find things to attack him on. Successfully, by the way."

Helms says Gantt distorts his record, too. "He's been saying the whole campaign that I voted to cut Medicare. Nobody has cast any vote to cut Medicare." That's true, though conservatives like Helms have talked about slowing Medicare's growth.

Feelings in both camps run high. One woman said she brought a Helms voodoo doll along to a Gantt rally. "Anybody who gives a sizeable monetary contribution to your campaign can stick a pin in it," she said.

Several hundred thousand new voters have come to North Carolina since Helms last ran and won six years ago. The evidence is that most of them are Republicans. The question may be, are they Helms Republicans?

Is North Carolina Still Helms Country?

Related Stories: