WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
WORLD & NATI
North Carolina set for battle
Candidates fight for the Tarheel State
By Will Cornelius
Staff Writer
In every election year, lines are drawn and
battleground states emerge. In 2008, a year
of many firsts. North Carolina emerged as a
battleground state for the first time in three
decades. Since 1976, Republicans have won
a virtually uncontested North Carolina. Al
though Clinton came close in 1992, North
Carolina has remained red since the Carter
Administration.
"North Carolina has been a reliable Re
publican state where conservative, low-tax,
smaller government principles resonate with
voters," said Buzz Jacobs, Sen. John McCain's
campaign manager for the Southeast.
Every year. North Carolina has more reg
istered Democrats than Republicans and
features Democratic candidates in most state
offices. How can North Carolina vote blue
statewide and red nationally?
"Historically, it hasn't been Democrats
versus Republicans, but rather progressive
versus regressive," said Assistant Professor
of history Alvis Dunn.
"Democratic presidential candidates, with
their Northern accents, were easily painted
as not like us," said Dunn. "They didn't have
the same values, and the Republicans played
this off beautifully."
The Democratic Party, well aware of their
political frailty in Southern states, have tak
en the steps necessary to appeal to and win
North Carolina in 2008. "Democrats failed to
put together a message that appeals to North
Carolina (in the past)," said Matt Clausen,
president of College Democrats. "It really
many plans to l^^Ssemanufacturin
and decrease both unemployment and the
number of uninsured North Carolinians.
"I'm going to keep on talking about the
issues that matter. I'm going to talk about
healthcare and education. I'm going to talk
about energy. I'm going to keep on standing
up for hard-working families who aren't get
ting a fair shake in this economy," said Sen.
"Historically, it hasn't been Democrats versus Republicans, but rather
progressive versus regressive. Democratic presidential candidates, with their
Northern accents, were easily painted as not like us. They didn't have the
same values, anci the Republicans played this off beautifully."
Alvis Dunn, assistant professor of history
hasn't hit hard in North Carolina until this
year."
Democrats feel that their candidate. Sen.
Barack Obama, represents a more progressive
vision and better connects with the southern
population than Democratic candidates pre
viously. In his attempt to turn North Carolina
from red to blue. Sen. Obama has presented
Obama in a recent rally in Asheville, N.C.
•The message differs slightly than Demo
cratic arguments of the past. Obama has es
tablished himself as a voice of change and
reason, and appeals to the progressive side
of North Carolina.
"The population and demographics of
North Carolina have changed drastically
10-1§ years," said Dunn. In 2004,
3.5 millidtl«Mdrth Carolinians voted. Also,
between 1996 and 2006, North Carolina has
seen the emergence of 1.5 million new legal
residents. This increase in new voters has left
Democrats confident in their ability to con
quer the once unobtainable North Carolina.
In addition to new residents, an increas
ing number of out-of-state Democrats are
registering to vote in North Carolina. "Out-
of-state kids are voting here, registering here.
These kids are from Democratic states, vot
ing Democratic here," said Clausen. "These
are the people leading the charge for Obama
in North Carolina."
The times have changed. Or have they?
Although there is an obvious shift of de
mographics to big banks, big cities, and
higher education. North Carolina is still a
battleground for the progressive.
The dynamics of politics are difficult to
predict and erratic in nature. But one thing
is for certain. North Carolina is no longer au
tomatically red.
Even in the event of a Republican win in
2008, North Carolina will continue to strad
dle the fence in upcoming elections and hold
strong as a battleground state for years to
come.
Spain opens controversial inquiry into disappearances during Franco regime
By Kylie Gilliams
Staff Writer
A Spanish judge has opened an investigation into the
disappearance of approximately 114,000 opponents of Gen.
Francisco Franco during his administration.
Judge Baltasar Garzon has ordered 19 mass graves to be
excavated.
"These days, crimes against humanity are a burning is
sue, wherever you look in the world, be it Afghanistan,
Iraq or Darfur - enough countries to make you realize that
this theme never ceases to make the news, just as the fight
against this scar, this impunity, never ceases," Garzon told
the BBC.
"And if we are referring to the investigations being car
ried out in Spain in relation to universal justice or eras gone
by, then justice needs to follow its course within the param
eters of the law," said Garzon. "That is what we judges try
to do."
The investigation is focusing on the fate of those who op
posed Franco and his regime.
Over a 15-year period, many dissenters went missing
and are presumed to have been killed. "It's
important for people to know the atrocities of war so that
we don't look at what the military does with rose-colored
glasses," said senior Maria Kupper who studied in Madrid
last fall.
"It's going to show the world how scary it is when you
have any kind of fascist or militarized power take con
trol."
The disappearances began with the outbreak of the Span
ish Civil War in 1936.
Franco initiated a military coup which turned into a
three-year struggle. However, even after the war ended, his
regime allegedly continued to execute its opponents.
Franco's reign lasted until his death in 1975. The disap
peared are believed to be buried in the mass graves. Al
though they have been excavated before, this is the first of
ficial investigation into the deaths of the people inside.
"It was virtually genocide," historian Ian Gibson told the
BBC, "It came from the top, it was systematic, and they had
planned it before the war began. Documents exist showing
that, if the coup failed, they would set in motion this policy
"These days, crimes against humanity are a
burning issue, wherever you look in the world,
be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Darfur - enough
countries to make you realize that this theme
never ceases to make the news, just as the fight
against this scar, this impunity, never ceases."
Judge Baltasar Garzon
of extermination."
However, Garzon's investigation has provoked contro
versy on all sides.
Conservatives argue that it breaks a law passed in 1977
that pardons misdeeds committed by all sides during and
after the war.
Some of the families of victims also oppose the investi
gation. The relatives of Federico Garcia Lorca, a poet and
one of the most famous disappeared, want to preserve the
grave site as a testament to those buried there.
"We should not disturb the dead ... and his fame should
serve to protect that place," the poet's niece, Laura Lorca,
said to the BBC.
Supporters argue that the benefits outweigh the prob
lems.
The point is to recover their memory, so that people
know that they fought for their cause," said Alfonso Abad
Mancheno, assistant professor of Spanish. "That means that
you open some wounds and it is always uncomfortable to
open wounds. But I think that sometimes we learn from
In Spain, judge Baltasar Garzon (left) has ordered the
excavation of 19 mass graves to investigate the deaths of
General Francisco Franco’s political enemies.
the past."
"It's important from a historical perspective to know
what happened, because secrets in history tend to perpetu
ate future problems," said Kupper. "Opening this investi
gation will also mean that Spain could establish their val
ues in a new way, and by values I mean accepting multiple
political opinions and having the freedom to do so."