Black Democrat on Brink of Ousting Rednecks' Hero News Article from The Times

    'rff f had been in the Senate today, I would not be there bashing gays and
lesbians, holding up the efforts to do the necessary research to bring an end to
this terrible epidemic called AIDSrrr he said. rrl would have demonstrated the
kind of cornpassion that represents North Carolina values.rr

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, MARTY LEARY, A GANTT BACKER, CONFRONTS HELMS AT CAMPAIGN STOP IN
DIIRHAM, N.C. AP

TYPE: NATIONAL NEWS

SUBJECT: VOTING / ELECTTONS; POLITICAL CAUPAIGNS; U.S. SENATE; NORTH CAROLINA

ORGANIZATION: DEMOCRATIC PARTY; REPUBLICAN PARTY

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Copyright (c) l-990 Times Newspapers Limited
The Sunday Times

October 28 , 1-990, SundaY

SECTION: Overseas news

LENGTHz 897 words

HEADLINE: Black Democrat on brink of ousting rednecks' hero

BYLINE: by John CassidY, Raleigh

BODY:
FROM the salons of Beverly Hills to the gay bars of Greenwich Village, the

champagne is on ice. After two decades of stalwart opposition to everything from
rock- rn, roll to Aids education, Jesse Helms, the godfather of American
conservatlsm and hate-fi-gure of the left, is in danger of being voted out of the
Senate.

With only nine days before congressional mid-term elections, opj-nion pol1s
show Helms trailing Harvey Gantt, a IittIe-known black Democrat, bY up to
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(c) l-990 Times Newspapers Linited, October 28, l-990

eight points. The prospect of a Helms defeat has turned the North Carolina
election into a symbol of Democratic resurgence and produced a nation-wide
mobilisation of celebrities, artists and left-wing activists.

The ,rlimousine liberals" Helms has berated for decades are pouring money
into Ganttrs campaign. The Hol-l-ywood Women's Po1itical Committee, whose members
include Jane fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis, has sent an undisclosed sum. Paul
Simon, the pop singer, and Jay Mclnerney, the brat-pack author, both organi-sed
successful fund-raising functions.

The art world, Helms's most recent target, is also doing its bit. Jasper
Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein each contributed prints to a
raffle that has raised $5OOrOOO. In New York's Soho, the capital of modern art,
nearly every gatlery carries a sign that says "Help Defeat Jesse Helms", and

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gives an address for donations to Gantt.

In Raleigh, Helms's hometown, there is not an artist or film star i-n sight,
but their money is taking its tolt. The race has become a battle between the
forces of urban modernisation, represented by the 47-year-o1d Gantt, and those
of rural reactj-on, represented by the 68-year-old senator who once described his
constituency as "ignorant rednecks".

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'ryou need to send a new type of senator to Washington, one who is willing to
address the social ills that face this country, " Gantt told an election ral1y
Iast week. ,'This election is more of a referendum on the direction we wiII take
in this country than it is a contest between Harvey Gantt and Jesse He1ms. "

Ganttrs fund-raising has allowed him to outspend He1ns on television
advertisements, the most important element of modern American political
campaigns. Gantt's message is that Helms is a relic of the cold war who has
nothing to say in the 1990s.

One advertisement points out that Helms has voted against education bills 87
times, while also opposing health-care, environrnental and child-care initiatives
aII of which are popular with the voters.

, rThis is the first time anybody has ever managed to set the agenda against
Jesser ru said Jim Johnson, a veteran North Carolina politician who ran agrainst
Helms in 1,972. ,,For the first time in all his years in the Senate, he is on the
defensive.t'

Even some rednecks have deserted Helrns. At one ralIy, a former mernber of the
Ku Klux Klan told Gantt he would vote for him because he was sick of "Jesse's
No, No, No,,, attitude. Another former Helms supporter said he would vote for
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Gantt because he was "one brainy nigger".

Helmsrs campaiqrn has been at best j-neffectual and at worst non-existent.
While Gantt was making five or six speeches a day throughout North Carolina last
week, Helms was in Washinqrton trying to ban public funding for "sleaze and
slime, in the arts. He dismissed his troubles at home as a conspiracy by the
"Iiberal press".

To make clear his contempt for the rnedia, Helms hired a former ice-cream
woman as his campaign press officer. She refuses to answer questions by
telephone and replies only to fax messages.

Despite the opinion poIls, it may be too early to write Helms off. He is
still a hero to tens of thousands of elderly conservatives, and they have sent
him enough money to launch a counter-attack. "He is for Arnerica. He's not for
the communists or anybody else," said Hobert Bost,70, who contributed $l-r000
(pounds 520) . ,,He believes in God and he is aware of the enemles within our
bordersr " said another.

Helms has just launched a new television advertisement, which portrays Gantt
as courting the vote of homosexuals. "It seems Harvey Gantt is running two

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