
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990                   TAG: 9005080049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEMOCRATS TO PICK HELMS CHALLENGER

\ North Carolina Democrats will try to pick an opponent for Sen. Jesse Helms today, while Republicans in Ohio's 8th District decide whether to renominate Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens despite a sex conviction and tax trouble.

In other voting on the first multistate primary day of 1990, West Virginia Democrats are expected to endorse Sen. Jay Rockefeller for a second-six year term. Also on that state's Democratic ballot is a race for state treasurer featuring Dee Caperton, who says she would have "no trouble" working with Gov. Gaston Caperton despite their messy divorce last fall.

Indiana has congressional primaries, and Atlantic City, N.J., whose slums have grown worse amid the glitz of casino gambling, is voting for mayor.

Six Democrats are vying in North Carolina for a chance to take on Helms, the highly conservative Republican who faces two little-known challengers as he seeks the nomination for a fourth term.

Harvey Gantt, the black former mayor of Charlotte, has emerged as the Democratic front-runner in recent polls, but appears likely to fall short of the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

The three other leading candidates are John Ingram, a former state insurance commissioner; Michael Easley, the Brunswick County district attorney; and R.P. "Bo" Thomas, a former state senator.

Also in North Carolina, 100-year-old Henry Merritt Stenhouse, a Goldsboro eye doctor who still keeps office hours three days a week, is running in a GOP primary for the 3rd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Martin Lancaster.

Stenhouse, who campaigns against "too damned much government," says he doesn't think his age would stop him from being effective and feels "God has saved me for something." He faces businessman Don Davis, 60, and oil heater repairman Ken Brosman, 39.

In western Ohio's rural, conservative 8th District, Lukens was already an underdog because of his conviction last year on a misdemeanor charge of having sex with a 16-year-old girl. Last weekend, The Columbus Dispatch reported the state tax department had certified him as delinquent because of $1,500 in unpaid personal income taxes.

Among his three opponents in the GOP primary is Thomas Kindness, who formerly held the seat. Three Democrats seek their party's nomination.

by CNB