THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610070035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY DENNIS PATTERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 77 lines
The latest poll shows Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. with a 26-point lead in his bid for a fourth term, but his Republican opponent - Cannon textile heir Robin Hayes - is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
``The same persistence that got the turtle to the ark will get us to the governor's mansion,'' Hayes told a Republican group last week.
In a survey of 815 registered voters conducted by Mason-Dixon Political Media Research for several North Carolina news organizations, Hunt was leading Hayes 58 percent to 32 percent. The survey, conducted Sept. 13 through Sept. 15, had a 3.5 percentage-point margin of error, which means that number can be added or subtracted to any result.
Hunt said the poll shows voters are satisfied with his third term.
``People think North Carolina is on the right track and they don't want to turn back,'' he said.
Hayes is comfortable with the role of underdog.
He was virtually unknown statewide last year when he announced he would challenge Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Vinroot, with the backing of two former GOP governors and other party veterans, appeared unbeatable.
But Hayes plugged away, questioning Vinroot's positions on abortion, taxes and gun control. And Vinroot responded with sometimes confusing answers.
Vinroot said he opposed abortion, but was a regular donor to Planned Parenthood of Charlotte and cut the ribbon on its new headquarters. He said he did not know at the time that abortions were performed in the building he helped open.
With light voter turnout and solid support from Christian conservatives, Hayes took the nomination.
An affable evangelical Christian, Hayes regularly tells crowds that he frequently considered quitting the campaign because it was too formidable a challenge. But Providence, he says, always brought him encouragement to continue at his lowest points.
``He (God) has asked me to be faithful, not successful,'' Hayes says.
Hunt already has served more years in office than any governor since Colonial times. He was the first governor to win back-to-back terms after voters in the late 1970s approved a constitutional amendment allowing succession.
After eight years out of office from 1984 to 1992, Hunt returned for a third term with a more conservative view of what government can and should do. He has promoted public-private partnerships in early childhood education and after-school programs for at-risk students.
Since 1994, he has moved even further to the right. That year he called a special session of the Legislature to address crime issues, scrapping with many members of his own party over tougher penalties for criminals and increased prison construction.
When Republicans took control of the state House in 1995, Hunt proposed larger tax reductions and bigger cuts in government spending than GOP legislators approved.
He also imposed a welfare reform program by executive order and recommended more labor gangs of prison inmates to work on public projects.
In early September, just as Hayes' campaign should have been building, it fell victim to Hurricane Fran, which cut a 150-mile-wide path of destruction from Wilmington through Raleigh to the Virginia border.
Hayes could draw little attention as the state dug out from under tons of debris. But Hunt was on television virtually every day directing recovery efforts and haranguing state and federal bureaucrats to do more.
Hayes, who used $1 million in loans from his family to finance his primary campaign, finally started airing commercials last week. The ads, the first since his primary victory, criticized Hunt's record on juvenile crime and education.
Hunt responded with ads of his own, drawing on Hayes' two terms in the state House to paint the Republican as an opponent of Hunt's programs to improve education and make schools safer.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATES POLL GUBERNATORIAL RACE NORTH CAROLINA
by CNB