On the Scene

AT Rocky Mount, N.C. GARDNERS Barbecue ’n’ Chicken on Route 301, the plates are filled with collards and pork and the air with religion. Even Jesse Helms finds that coming here to Rocky Mount, a worn, gritty Bible Belt city of 43,000 amidst the tobacco farms of eastern North Carolina, is like “going backward in time.” Facing re-election against Democrat Harvey Gantt, the liberal, black former mayor of Charlotte, Helms is here on this muggy autumn evening to rally his followers. They need it. With polls showing him barely ahead, the three-term incumbent is in the thick of the tightest race of his career.

Not that he hasn’t had some close calls. He won re-election in 1984 by a slim 52 to 48 per cent margin in the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history. North Carolina is not normally Republican territory. Despite the landslide margins North Carolinians gave Reagan and Bush in 1984 and 1988, some two-thirds of the state’s voters are registered Democrats, many of the “yellow dog” variety (they’d vote for a yellow dog before they’d vote for a Republican). But this time there are some new obstacles, such as massive campaign spending by out-of-state anti-Helms groups. The National Abortion Rights Action League, for example, has dropped $300,000 on media attacks. This should come as no surprise. Helms is an ogre to liberals, gay activists, and feminists. He is particularly hated and feared because of his parliamentary mastery, which enables him, even when outnumbered, to force critical votes on matters such as abortion, arts funding, and gay rights.

About the Author

Jack Fowler

Jack Fowler is a contributing editor at National Review and a senior philanthropy consultant at American Philanthropic.

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AT Rocky Mount, N.C. GARDNERS Barbecue ’n’ Chicken on Route 301, the plates are filled with collards and pork and the air with religion. Even Jesse Helms finds that coming here to Rocky Mount, a worn, gritty Bible Belt city of 43,000 amidst the tobacco farms of eastern North Carolina, is like “going backward in time.” Facing re-election against Democrat Harvey Gantt, the liberal, black former mayor of Charlotte, Helms is here on this muggy autumn evening to rally his followers. They need it. With polls showing him barely ahead, the three-term incumbent is in the thick of the tightest race of his career.

Not that he hasn’t had some close calls. He won re-election in 1984 by a slim 52 to 48 per cent margin in the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history. North Carolina is not normally Republican territory. Despite the landslide margins North Carolinians gave Reagan and Bush in 1984 and 1988, some two-thirds of the state’s voters are registered Democrats, many of the “yellow dog” variety (they’d vote for a yellow dog before they’d vote for a Republican). But this time there are some new obstacles, such as massive campaign spending by out-of-state anti-Helms groups. The National Abortion Rights Action League, for example, has dropped $300,000 on media attacks. This should come as no surprise. Helms is an ogre to liberals, gay activists, and feminists. He is particularly hated and feared because of his parliamentary mastery, which enables him, even when outnumbered, to force critical votes on matters such as abortion, arts funding, and gay rights.