THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408280033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH AND MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Sometime next Wednesday when Sen. Jesse Helms comes to Elizabeth City to help Republican Walter B. Jones Jr. in the 3rd Congressional District race, Helms will surely tell his turtle story.
For many political junkies it will seem like a playback of 1984, when Helms campaigned through the Albemarle in his knockdown, drag-out U.S. Senate victory over Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.
``I remember what my father said one day when we saw a turtle sitting on a fence post,'' Jesse would tell the voters during the $26 million '84 campaign that was called the dirtiest, costliest U.S. political race ever.
`` `Son,' my daddy would say, `don't ever forget that turtle didn't get where he is by himself.' ''
There would be whistles and cheers and the folksy Republican senator would put a few more conservative Democratic votes in his pocket. Helms went on to defeat Hunt 52 to 48 percent in a record turnout of 2,239,051 voters, although registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans two-to-one.
This year Jim Hunt is still trying to beat Helms.
The third-term governor, whose 1984 loss knocked him out of politics for eight years, has enthusiastically endorsed U.S. Rep. H. Martin Lancaster, D-Goldsboro, the 3rd District incumbent who is trying to turn back a growing challenge from Walter Jones Jr.
A three-page letter from Hunt asking 3rd District Democrats to ante up big bucks for Lancaster was too much for Helms earlier this month.
Although the senior North Carolina senator rarely campaigns for other candidates, Helms told Frankie Meads, chairman of the Pasquotank County Republican Party, that he would come to Elizabeth City Aug. 31 to help Jones Jr.
Helms will attend a $100-a-head Elizabeth City reception in the home of Dr. Jerome H. Gold schmidt at 5 p.m. Wednesday and a $20 dinner in the Camden County Shrine Club at 6:30 p.m.
The 3rd District race between Lancaster and the younger Jones has already become nationally spotlighted. Republicans in Raleigh and Washington have rallied behind Jones with money and campaign guidance aimed at making a loser out of Lancaster in the off-year November election.
For older conservative Democrats, there is a certain poignancy in this year's 3rd District race. In the past, many of them consistently voted for Helms in Senate races, while also supporting Jones' late father, Democratic U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Sr. of Farmville in House races. The elder Jones died in 1992 while serving his 12th term from northeast North Carolina's old 1st Congressional District.
On Capitol Hill, the elder Jones was a personal friend of Helms and the two politically opposed legislators often helped each other with North Carolina legislation.
Walter Jones Jr., who served 10-years in the General Assembly from Farmville, switched to the Republican Party after Democrats who supported his conservative father for 26-years refused to name him as a candidate to serve out the elder Jones' unexpired 1st District term.
In the General Assembly a few years earlier, the younger Jones led a revolt of 20 Democrats who joined Republicans to defeat a veteran Democratic speaker of the House. The move soured the party leadership on Jones Jr., but loyalty to his ailing father never flagged.
The 1992 congressional elections were the first held in the northeast after the General Assembly reapportioned House districts under voting rights guidelines. The old 1st District became one of the state's two new black-majority districts.
Lancaster's 3rd District acquired a heavy white majority by absorbing portions of many old 1st District counties that had faithfully supported the elder Jones for more than a quarter of a century. Both the 1st and the 3rd Districts now stretch side-by-side down the state's east coast from Virginia to South Carolina.
For name recognition, Jones Jr. decided that the 3rd District race against Lancaster would be his best shot this year. The state constitution allows candidates to run in any congressional district as long as they are state residents.
Before entering the 3rd District race, the younger Jones was previously defeated by Eva Clayton, D-Warrenton, in two 1992 1st District Democratic primaries. Rep. Clayton went on to win the 1st District seat as well as the unexpired term of the elder Jones. She became the first black and the first female to serve in Congress from North Carolina since the turn of the century.
When the younger Jones switched parties and filed as a Republican in the 3rd District race, he was treated as a pariah by many Democrats. But after the national GOP swung behind him and money started pouring in, Jones became a Republican to be reckoned with in the columns and comments of national political writers.
And Hunt's letter endorsing Lancaster may have backfired.
``Before that letter came out, I don't think too many Democrats felt that young Walter was worth taking seriously. Now they do,'' said one Democratic politician. In Dare County, Danny B. Gray, chairman of the local Republican party, said the Hunt letter was a priceless boost for the GOP.
Lancaster recently switched his congressional votes on the crime bill and this made him a target for Karen Rotterman, the sharpshooting Republican tactician behind much of the Jones' campaign. Rotterman, a Raleigh political strategist, was for several years chief spokesperson for former GOP Gov. James G. Martin during the latter's eight-year Republican occupation of the state Capitol.
``We were delighted when Gov. Hunt helped Walter Jones by pointing out what a strong candidate he was,'' said Rotterman after Hunt wrote the letter endorsing Lancaster. by CNB