THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300415
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SERIES: Decision '96
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: 62 lines
Harvey Gantt was working his way down the docks on the Manteo Waterfront on Tuesday, gripping every outstretched hand, returning every smile, pausing a moment here and there to speak with a supporter, many of whom addressed him as ``Senator.''
Then, at a wooden bench, he met 84-year-old William F. Donald, and 75-year-old Lillian Hill. Dressed in their Sunday finest, the white man and the African-American woman stopped the hard-charging candidate in his tracks.
``I've come so far to see you,'' said Hill, who lives some 30 miles away in Columbia. ``I'm working for you.''
Donald, dressed in a blue blazer, gray slacks, spit-shined shoes and a gray fedora, echoed Hill's sentiments.
``I moved all the way down here from Virginia to vote for you,'' said Donald, a former Washington, D.C. bakery truck driver. ``I'll vote for you two or three times, if they don't catch me.''
Hill and Donald were part of an enthusiastic, racially diverse crowd of about 100 that gathered on the banks to Shallowbag Bay to cheer the man they believe will beat four-term incumbent Sen. Jesse Helms next Tuesday.
With a week left before North Carolinians go to the polls, Gantt's stop in Manteo kicked off a stretch drive that will carry the 53-year-old Gantt from the Outer Banks to the Smoky Mountains in the campaign's closing days. He continued to emphasize his ``kitchen table'' agenda.
The former mayor of Charlotte hammered away at familiar themes, touting his education tax breaks for working families and protection for Social Security and Medicare.
Gantt advocates a $10,000 annual tax credit for middle-class families who want to send their children to college, and an expansion of the student loan plan and Head Start. Following his brief remarks, Gantt said the tuition credits would be offset by closing tax loopholes for corporations.
``We've done the numbers,'' Gantt said following a 30-minute speech. ``These deductions will cost about $18.5 billion. There are about $80 billion we spend on corporate welfare in this country. I think we can look at that.''
Gantt said the federal government should play a role in education. Helms has called for the abolition of the Department of Education.
``I believe we ought to go crazy on education,'' Gantt said. ``If we're going to be competitive in the global economic village we're going to have to produce smart people. We want to produce the smartest people on the planet.''
Gantt made one promise to the crowd.
``God knows that when I get to Washington, I'm going to use the United States Senate as a bully pulpit to project our better selves, to talk about our dreams and aspirations, rather than our fears and our prejudices. You are going to be my special interest.''
Gantt was scheduled to make appearances in Washington, Greenville and High Point today as part of his westward trek. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Above, Democratic Senate candidate Harvey Gantt speaks to a crowd of
about 100 in Manteo on Tuesday. Lillian Hill, right, came from
Columbia to support her candidate.
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN CANDIDATE SENATE RACE NORTH CAROLINA 1996
by CNB