THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601210055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Quite a few of North Carolina's more conservative Republicans think Robin Hayes has a good chance to nail James B. Hunt's Democratic pelt to the barn door in this year's governor's race.
So when the campaigning Hayes said he had to fly out of Elizabeth City in stormy weather Friday, one of his supporters yelled:
``Tell your pilot to be careful!''
``I will,'' said Hayes, ``I'm the pilot.''
Hayes has accumulated 4,000 personal airborne hours over the years. Being his own frequent flyer helped him win two terms as a Republican state representative from Cabarrus County. Hayes gleefully adds that he won ``in a district that was redrawn in 1992 so only Democrats could get elected.''
Flying is just another political asset, he says.
``I got my first license in 1968 and since then I've flown just about everything there is,'' he said. In one of his ventures, he went to Alaska and won a reputation as a bush pilot who flew when sea gulls were walking.
But it took a lot of soul-searching and the support of many Christian Coalition conservatives before Hayes decided to seek new political heights last year as a Republican candidate for governor.
After his 1991 election to the state House, Hayes quickly became a GOP star in the new General Assembly and is now majority whip for the Republicans. He is an heir to the Cannon textile family and runs a hosiery mill near Concord, outside Charlotte.
Hayes admitted in an interview Friday that he had a lot to do with organizing the GOP victories that for the first time since Reconstruction days put Republicans in control of the House last year.
``We sat down and analyzed individual Democratic weaknesses,'' he said.
``Then we went after them . . . and beat them.''
Hayes said the same Republican strategy will be used this year to try to win control of the state Senate, where Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, holds a precarious majority - 26-24 - that elected him president pro-tem and gave the Democrats a squeaky control.
The slim Senate majority is the urgent reason why many Democratic leaders are admittedly concerned about Republican efforts to tip the balance of power.
As for Hayes, before he can take on Hunt in November he has to beat Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot in the GOP primary in May.
Vinroot has been organizing his GOP gubernatorial campaign for two years, Hayes says, and has a formidable campaign war chest. And Vinroot has the comfortable support of a lot of Republican money around Charlotte. Hayes says he isn't worried.
``Richard Vinroot is simply too liberal,'' Hayes states flatly. ``Conservatives will control this election year.''
In fact, Hayes doesn't seem as concerned about Vinroot as he is about when Hunt will formally announce that he's going to seek reelection.
The three-term Democratic governor recently spoke proudly about the $4.5 million he said had been collected for the unstarted Hunt campaign.
``He apparently wants to keep us guessing about when he's going to actually start running,'' Hayes said.
``Well, we've got a million dollars in the bank and more coming in,'' he added.
Hayes insists that Hunt is vulnerable and claimed that a recent survey he commissioned showed that only 28 percent of voters polled said they thought the incumbent governor should be re-elected.
Hunt's administration is run by ``political cronies,'' Hayes said, and President Clinton's ``unpopularity'' will further burden Hunt's election chances.
At 51, Hayes does a lot of boyish grinning to punctuate his outspoken support of conservatism and the Christian Coalition. Hayes is an elder in his Presbyterian church in Concord and proudly endorses religion as the strongest of his political platform planks.
In fact, Hayes feels that the support of political activists identified with the Christian Right will be decisive for him and other Republican candidates in November.
In 1991, former Republican Gov. James G. Martin converted Hayes, traditionally a member of a Democratic family, to the GOP. The conservative shoe fit.
Hayes' campaign message is, in part, that ``a proven business man in charge of a lot less government'' will work for better schools, safe streets and strong families.
The message seemed to sound good to Edenton and Elizabeth City Republicans who turned out to meet Hayes on Thursday and Friday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Robin Hayes
by CNB