Thursday. March 3. 1988 - THE CHARLOTTE POST- Page 7A
A Jackson Win Could Spell End To N.C. Presidential Primary
Guest Editorial
by Dennis Schatzman
You might want to bet the
house on this one: If Rev. Jesse
Jackson wins the North Caroli
na Primary tmd Tennessee Sen.
^Albert Gore doesn't, look for a
move In next year's General As
sembly to scrap future preslden-
^,tlal primaries In the state.
__ The hint C2une from State Elec
tions Director Alex K. Brock In
. the February Issue of North Car
olina Magazine.
^ The article. "North Carolina's
Experience In the Presidential
Primary" quotes Brock this
way: "If the March results for ei
ther party should establish a
..front runner, and If he should
„ win the nomination, then Sup>er
Tuesday will have proved to be a
major event... But if nothing
„much Is decided on that day,
. then Its piosslble we may drop
the prlmaiy In North Carolina."
Brock speculates that any fu
ture attempts to abandon the
, Presidential primary would
probably be based on econom
ics. He says a separate primary
costs taxpayers $800,000. Con
ventional wisdom however. In
dicates that such a decision
would be based on cold jxjllUcal
realities.
At stake in North Carolina's
pivotal Super Tuesday primary
is not only the presidential fu
ture of Sen. Gore but also, and
most Important, the future polit
ical standing of Sen. Terry San
ford., former Gov. Jim Hunt,
most of North Carolina's con
gressional delegation and doz
ens of state legislators who
make up the core of Gore's politi
cal support.
Politicians hate being embar
rassed and they hate losing con
trol. And embarassment and
losing control of the delegation
may very well befall the archi
tects of Super Tuesday primary
strategy and their North Caroli
na disciples.
Consider the following situa
tion and Its implications: Rev.
Jackson, according to most
state and national political ob
servers, Is certain to Increase on
the 243, 945 votes he received In
the 1984 primary where he fin
ished third behind Gary Hart
(284,877) and the eventual Dem
ocratic nominee, Walter Mon
dale (342,324). Massachusetts
Gov. Michael Dukakis and Mis
souri Rep. Richard Gephardt are
coming Into Gore's territory
fresh off impressive showings In
the Iowa Caucuses and New
Hampshire Primary respective
ly. Add bankrolls and cam
paign' organizations, equally as
Impressive as Gore's, both men
will battle the Tennessee sena
tor vigorously for the remaining
voters and the remaining dele
gates.
The emergence of Sen. Gore as
a serious presldental candidate
is credited to Maryland develop
er and powerful Democratic
fundraiser Nathan Landow who
persuaded him to run when
Georgia's Sen. Sam Nunn and
former 'Virginia Gov. Charles
Robb backed olT. Landow and
many other Southern Demo
crats believe that a Southern
candidate and his backers could
garner enough delegates on
"Super Tuesday" to become a pa
tent force at the Democratic
Convention In Atlanta In Au
gust. They envision themselves
being the prime movers in pick
ing the eventual nominees for
both president and vice presi
dent.
However, this strategy Is In se
rious jeopardy In North Caroli
na. Sen Gore has placed all his
eggs In one basket, unlike Jim
my Carter In 1976, electing not
to test his campaign ability In
the North.This has op>ened the
way for "frontrunners" Dukakis
and Gephardt to use their
"momentum" and their money to
appeal to North Carolina voters
from a position of strength, the
only position that counts In
electoral politics. What may re
sult Is a plurality win In North
Carolina by Rev. Jackson fol
lowed by Sen. Gore, Gov. Duka
kis and Rep. Gephardt, who
could attract a lot of former Gary
Hart supporters. This trend
could follow In varying orders In
the other 19 states holding pri
maries on March 8.
In North Carolina, this scena
rio could prove embarasslng to
the state's Democratic political
establishment In many ways.
■While 20 percent of the state reg
istered voters are black, they
also represent just over 30 per
cent of the registered Demo
crats. This gives black voters a
great deal of clout. In Presiden
tial primaries, the candidates
who attract that voting bloc are
certain to do well. "Doing well"
in presidential primary lingo
means winning dele_gates. North
Carolina's 89 delegates are the
third largest number at stake
among the Sup>er Primary states.
Texas and Florida rank first
and second. In a race where two
or more strong white candidates
exist, a strong black candidate
could enter and win a large num
ber of delegates as Rev. Jackson
did In 1984 and will do again on
March 8.
The same could happen In 1992
much to the chagrin of Demo
cratic Party leaders. Suppose
another national figure decided
to run? Worse, what about a
black "favorite son" like Rep.
Mickey Michaux (D.Durham).
Rep. Dan Blue (D. Raleigh), for
mer Charlotte Mayor Harvey
Gantt. Rep. Sydney Locks (D.
Lumberton), State NAACP Presi
dent Kelly Alexander, Jr. or
Winston-Salem Alderman Larry
Womble. president of North Car
olina Black Elected Municipal
Officials? That candidate and
his supporters coulld amass
enough delegates to play a more
strategic role at the Convention
than, say, your more traditional
state p>arty leaders. See how em
barasslng that could be for
them? Tliat is not In keeping
with the spirit of "Super Tues
day."
"Party leaders." reminds
Brock, the state elections direc
tor since 1965, "are legally free to
change the rules regarding the
Influence of the primaries If they
believe the process Is doing dam
age to the party's chances of
fielding a viable candidate."
In this case a "viable candi
date" would not be someone like
Jesse Jackson, a black preacher,
Michael Dukakis, an ethnic gov
ernor from "up north", or Paul
Simon a bespectacled liberal
mldwestern senator who sports a
bow tic. If any one of them beat
Gore or give him a serious run
for his money, look for calls to
fold up the presidential primary
tent In Raleigh next year.
I'm covering all bets. Any tak
ers?
(Mr. Schatzman Is a black con
sultant, a former elected official
and free-lance writer who Hues
in Winston-Salem)
Why Whites Can’t Solve Black Problems
By Doug McNair
Reprinted from
Denver Weekly News
I'm constantly amazed at how
many of us are willing to trust
white people to help solve black
problems.
In each problem area where
we've enlisted white people's as
sistance, look at the results.
Whether it's unemployment, ed
ucation, housing, business, etc.,
the same problems we had 20-
years ago still remain unsolved
today.
Why? It's my opinion that
whenever we hook up with
whites to solve black problems,
we end up looking at the prob
lems from their perspective and
only band aid solutions are ap
plied. White people don't want
our problems solved because
then they would have to compete
with us on an equal basis and
they're not sure they could keep
up. I'hey've seen what we've ac
complished In spite of racism.
Plus our supremacy in sp>orts,
the only area where we've had an
equal chance to comp>ete. Is Indi
cative of what we can do with an
equal opportunity. Based on
that, does any black person seri
ously believe that whites want
to op>en up other areas In Ameri
can society to equal opportuni
ty-
There are some white people
who don't feel threatened by
black people having an equal
chance to compete but there
aren't enough of them to make a
difference. And even most of
them are not going to work to
change an American system
that benefits all whites.
Ever wonder why most whites
who work with blacks to solve
problems in the black commu
nity always focus on poor black
people? That way there's no
comp)etition. Who can compete
with whites for more success: a
successful or a poor black per
son?
If we never get another p>enny
from "good" white people to
solve our problems and instead
finance our own solutions, we'd
be better off. More Importantly,
every problem we have today
would be solved In our lifetime.
It's Important For Blacks To Advertise
THE FAR our SIDE
evJA20/^^
.. .
ENTWRfiGE 7B SAIL SOUTH FOR
Dear Editor:
Being an African-American In
the Advertising Business here In
the city 1 felt that I had to re
spond to the "As I See It" editori
al In the February 25th issue,
and the Charlotte Post reader-
ship as a whole.
So many black Americans will
go Into business for themselves
(some with good Ideas) and for
get to Include In their budget ad
vertising. And when our busi
nesses fall we are ready to blame
the community when really the
blame lies on the management
or poor planning. There are so
many types of advertising but we
as blacks when we start a busi
ness forget or we are not educat
ed to the fact.
I must admit that I never visit
ed Ms. Simpson's bookstore but I
never saw or heard that much
advertising about her business
either. I did not start reading
your paper until recently. We
have this saying In advertising
"IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR
BUSINESS AND WANT TO
BUILD ITTOEN AD’YERHSE."
As I stated earlier there are so
many types of advertising,
newspaper (which Is great), TV.,
radio, direct mail, specialty (In
my opinion the least expensive)
and word of mouth (which can
make or break a business), to
name a few. A business should
not put all of their budget In one
form of advertising. Our agency
works with small and large
businesses alike. I have small
business people (especially
black) tell me that they can't af
ford to advertise. "My thought Is
If you can't afford to advertise
then you are not getting and
keeping the business that you
need to survive."
As was stated In the editorial
many African-Americans will
go into business and exp>ect the
support of the community but
when we cater to them, we are
not given the respect (If you ex
pect my $$$'s then respect me),
the prices are higher and some
times the quality Is not what it
should be for the money.
When we as African-
Americans decide to go into
business whether It be a busi
ness to cater to the black or
white community we must re
member that we must separate
our business and personal be
liefs. I'm as pro-African as the
next person, but If a client comes
Into my business with a job that
doesn't go against my ethical be
liefs then the color of power is
green.
Today we as African-
Americans must realize and re
member that we can't protest as
we did In the 60's. Today we can
and must protest against a
wrong with ECONOMIC CLOUT.
We being African-Americans
(our ancestors were not greeted
by the Statue of Liberty and of>en
arms when brought to this coun
try against their will, nor were
there plans for a new or belter
way of life In a new land as other
minorities who came to this
country) must remember that
usually we have to be twice as
smart, twice as good and work
twice as hard sometimes In or
der to make It.
To put the blame of the Book-
Source failure on the black com
munity Is a smack In the face.
With over 100,000 African-
Americans In this city and since
the store was catering to and de
pending on the black communi
ty for survival and a malority of
our population live on the west
side of the city (the 28216 zip
area) I think marketing re
search would have advised the
owner to locale In that area.
I hope the failure of this one
business doesn't discourage oth
er blacks from starting busi
nesses of their own. BUT MY
ADVICE TO ANYONE THINKING
OF START INC A BUSINESS IS
TO FIRST STUDY THE MARKET
AND PLAN FOR A LOT OF LONG
HOURS AND SOME HARD
TIMES, AT LEAST THREE
■YEARS. With the economic
clout of the African-American
community In this city no busi
ness In the communlly should
fall.
I am a new subscriber to your
paper. Keep up the good work as
one of the voices for this Afri
can-American community.
DONNELL HARItlS
Need To Learn How To Run For Office
Dear Editor:
I would like to commend your
newspaper for being a voice for
the black community and on the
educational article In the Febru
ary 25th Issue: "Valuable Les
sons From Those Who Ran For
Office In Tne Wrong Way."
With this being a presidential
election year and Brother Jesse
Jackson, the most qualified
candidate (my opinion) on the
Democratic ticket, Majeed on
the County Commission District
2 ticket, Arthur Griffin the
School Board and Yvonne Mims
Evans for the District Court
Judge seat being vacated by
Judge Fulton and the many oth
er candidates running for elect
ed office the article was oppor
tune and Informative.
After working on many local
campaigns for the past eight
years. I've noticed there's no dis
cussion on "How To Run and
Win."
I hope other people thinking
about getting Into the political
arena memorize this article or
get advice before running for of
fice. With as many blacks as we
have In this communlly we
should have more blacks In
elected office.
Keep up the good work
GREG HARMS
What A Way To Choose A President I'm White And Will Vote For Jackson
what a way to choose a Presi
dent!
, It doesn't seem to make much
'sense.
Would any rational process
have the contenders for the
highest office In the land spend
the winter In Iowa and New
Hampshire? Should those two
states have the exclusive p>ower
to define who the contenders for
President will be?
Nobody would have designed It
that way. It Is not what the fram-
^ers of the Constitution had in
min d—by any means. No other
country In the world selects Its
Top leaders that way.
The early primaries and cau
cuses are ordeals. Some of the
-best potential candidates are
'fitting on the sidelines because
, they will not subject themselves
to the torture of such
"nonsense."
It Is not like the old days, we
hear, when wise old p>olltlclans
went Into back rooms and chose
delegates, who then went to con
ventions with other back room
leaders, who then went Into oth
er back rooms to make choices
among the "best" of the people in
the back rooms.
Won't anybody say something
about the primaries?
1 will.
Sure, they are not p>erfect. but I
am glad that the process Is out
of the back room.
No more Warren Hardings!
In Iowa and New Hampshire,
the future President of the Unit
ed States campaigned face to
face with American people. He
talked to small groups In living
rooms and around kitchen
tables. Looking them In the eye.
I am glad we have a process
that forces our future President
to spjend time with lots of differ
ent Individuals.
The future President, whoever
It turns out to be, may never
again have the time to talk—and
listen—to ordinary people on
their terms and their turf)
After Iowa and New Hamp
shire, things changed.
Candidates In next week's
Super Tuesday primaries are
flying from city to city for hur
ried airport news conferences--
hoplng to claim a few seconds
on the local news. Speeches.
Rallies. Fund-raising, Hurry.
Hurry. There Is not enough time
for eyeball-to-eyeball discus
sions with ordinary folks any
more.
There are too many people to
reach. Too much ground to cov
er. Big money and TV are taking
charge.
In Iowa and New Hampshire,
victory depended on direct per
sonal appeal and organization.
From now on, it depends in
large part on who can make the
best 30 second TV spots and
who can raise the most money
to show those spots the most
times.
Maybe the campaign shouldn't
always begin In Iowa and New
Hampshlre--but there should be
somewhere, where the candi
dates for President have to talk
to, listen to, and touch ordinary
Americans directly.
There should always be a
somewhere, where Americans--
after being touched directly by
the candldates--make their
choices for President.
What's On Your Mind?
Let us hear your comments,
ideas and opinions.
Write to:
Letters To The Post
P.O. Box 30144
Charlotte. NC 28230
Please include name,
address and phone
number. We edit letters for
clarity arui grammar.
Dear Ekllton
I'm a white North Carolina
voter and I will be voting for
Jesse Jackson on Sup>er Tues
day. I've struggled with whether
he can be elected and If not, am I
wasting my vote. I've decided
that Is not the Issue. He Is the
only candidate that has dared to
speak squarely to the Issues of
our time. That's Important to
me.
I've heard so many p>eopIe say
ing. "I like what he is saying,
BUT...". Polls have shown that
voters from states that have al
ready cast votes said Jackson
spKjke to their concerns yet end
ed up voting for another candi
date. One has to ask what has
happened to the issues?
Can Jackson win? I'm not go
ing to consider that question. I
want the Issues I care about to
get strong representation at the
Democratic Convention and get
put before the nation. I have de
cided that the best way to
achieve that Is to give the Jesse
Jackson candidacy my vote.
Can the pwwer of my vote have
any greater Influence If I vote for
another candidate because of
some vague undetennlned elec-
tablllty?
Alone In the voting booth each
of us will have one chance, with
our Inner voice, to sp>eak.
KEN FRANKIJN
It's Up To Us: Stop U.S. Aid To Contras
Dear Eklltor:
Upon my arrival from Nicara
gua a few months ago. I present
ed certain facts I witnessed
while I was there. The main Idea
was that the U. S. should stop
funding the Contras and that
was based on the Inhuman and
unethlcad actions being taken by
the Contras.
Here again, I restate It but this
time It Is for the efibrts that are
being made by the Sandlnlstas
In trying to Improve the quality
of life for citizens In Nicaragua:
Sandlnlstas are trying to correct
some of the dehumanization, ex
ploitation, and neglect they In
curred under the leadership of a
world-known totalitarian dicta
tor by the name of Somosa, his
brother, and their government.
Let us not forget that the United
States of America supprorted the
dictator for many, many years:
The constitution of Nicaragua
says that a p>erson can be elected
for a four-year term, and that he
can succeed himself for one
more four-year term and that Is
all. But that U. S. supported dic
tator stayed In office almost fif
ty years counting his brother's
rein:, according to Interviews.
This fact plus a falling econo
my, Inflation, poverty. Illitera
cy and children having to drop
out of school In the second grade
because they were being taught
In classes where they could not
sp>eak the language were, I was
told, some of the reasons Ortega
and others felt there should be a
revolution which did happen.
There are stx ethnic groups In
Nicaragua, and the government
(Daniel Ortega) In an attempt to
solve the drOp-out problem, due
to Inability to understand the
lessons, has a large program
called bi lingual and bi lingual
education taught In the schools.
Another program they have
Instituted Is called autonomy.
This program guarantees all the
towns In the areas total freedom
In running their towns.
Ortega has freed many more of
the captured Contras.
Ortega has agreed to direct
talks with the Contras.
This and more, shows that Or
tega Is trying for pjcace and any
negotiated attempts at peace
should be looked at as attempts
for a negotiated pjeace In Nicara
gua, and no aid should be sent to
the Contras to keep the war go
ing on.
WnUAMDEAN