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6A NATIONAL NEWS The Charlone Post August 8, 1996 Gantt campaigns here h " Senate candidate Harvey Gantt talks to newly formed Committed Christian Citizens for Harvey Gantt Monday night at Friendship Baptist Church. The organization's goal Is an aggressive grassroots cam paign in Gantt’s race against Sen. Jesse Helms. Gantt Is a member at Friendship. The Republican Convention Powell left of many in GOP By Mike Feinsilber THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO — Colin Powell made his political debut Monday night, his first purely partisan speech to a purely partisan gathering. Many in his audience wondered if they were auditioning the OOP's next presidential nominee - the one after Bob Dole, win or lose. Powell is a phenomenon, not like anyone else on the politi cal scene. On his book tour last spring he marched across the country like a conqueror. Poll after poll attest to his appeal. But Powell has his critics, almost all conservative, and they say that such polls reflect celebrity rather than electabil- ity. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a newly-hatched Republican whose Republicanism is out- of-sync with the thinking of many delegates to the conven tion and the platform they adopted Tuesday. He is for affirmative action, abortion rights and free trade - as Democrats love to point out. "Will they let him speak his mind at the GOP conven tion?" the Democrats ask in a 25-page report they're circu lating. Powell himself has said he is "a little nervous " about the religious right and "probably more liberal than the main stream of the Republican Party right now." So his speech measured his appeal to the hard-core of his new party, and whether he can take the heat of competi tive politics. Last year, one of his critics, Marilyn Quayle, wife of the former Vice President Dan Quayle - who might make a run for the GOP presidential nomination in the year 2000 - suggested Powell might be thin-skinned. "He is not used to taking criticism and he is used to people doing what they are told," she said. As it turned out, Powell did n't compete for the GOP presi dential nomination. Nor did he choose to accept the vice presidential nomination, despite Dole's hardly hidden overtures. He did not even campaign for the GOP. "I don't want to go out," he said in July. "I am practicing my own politics pri vately." Powell may be reluctant, but he is still a valuable asset to the GOP and he has been given a prime-time spot, even if he lacks the oratorical skills of a Mario Cuomo, Jesse Jackson or Ronald Reagan. He remains "the most popu lar person in the country, peri od," says historian Stephen Ambrose, who chronicled Dwight D. Eisenhower's ascension 44 years ago. Eisenhower, another "politi cal general," was courted by Democrats in 1948 and wooed and won by Republicans in 1952. He was twice elected president by huge margins. In saying no to 1996, Powell said a candidacy would demand "a passion and com mitment" he didn't feel. That said nothing about 2000. Because of his age, the 73-year-old Dole has suggest ed he may not seek re-election if he wins this year, and a scramble for the GOP nomina tion can be expected. A poll in May, participants called Powell more credible than President Clinton, twice as credible as Dole. His hold on the American imagination is greater than Eisenhower's ever was, said Ambrose, a Powell-for-presi- dent booster Joseph Persico, coauthor of Powell's "My American Journey, " compares the Powell phenomenon to that surrounding Charles Lindbergh, who electrified the world when he flew to Paris in 1927, the first flier to cross the Atlantic solo. Powell does nothing to run away from his ethnic back ground and he champions issues important to blacks. It's his moderation - not his race - that has attracted whatever opposition has sur faced so far. Watt has high profile By B3Ton Jenkins THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO - Rep. J.C. Watts professes to be a reluc tant star at the Republican National Convention, but you wouldn't know it from watch ing the freshman from Oklahoma in action. One of just two black Republicans in Congress and a former football standout at the University of Oklahoma, Watts has been granted key roles at the party's quadrenni al gathering. Aside from a speech to the floor, he served on the plat form committee and is playing reporter on the OOP's cable broadcast of its convention. His name has arisen as a candidate to give a speech nominating Jack Kemp to be Bob Dole's vice presidential candidate. But all the hoopla aside. Watts says he'd’’just as soon be home fishing." “I don't have a desire to be THE black Republican, if you will,” he said. “The party has been good to me and I have been good for the party. I don't think the party has done any thing for me that they haven't done for anybody else." A critic of the welfare sys tem and a strong supporter of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the first-term con gressman said his convention speech would focus on ways to”^row our poor communi ties ' as an alternative to wel fare. Watts represents a district that lacks a large black con stituency and his views con trast sharply with many black leaders, some of whom he referred to as"poverty pimps." “You' ve got some poverty pimps out there," Watts said. “They've hustled this system. They want people to be depen dent on them. TTiey don't want people to get off the system." Wyatts began hustling through the San Diego Convention Center on Monday, interviewing rank- and-file delegates in his role as a GOP television correspon dent. The broadcasts are being carried on two cable systems, and Watts said he will strive to feature”real people, blue collar folks talking about what's going on in America. “This will give me a chance to hopefully have a little fun and put a little different spin on the convention," he said. Watts studied journalism in college, but he says he is not contemplating a career change. “T don't see this will lead to anything past the convention week," he said."I'll keep my dayjob." Watts, the first black Republican congressman from the South since Reconstruction, served on the convention's platform commit tee, chairing the subcommit tee on health, education and welfare. Watts gave a nominating speech for President Bush four years ago and New York Gov. George Pataki suggested that he do the same for Kemp. “Take a look at J.C. Watts, another quarterback," Pataki said. “I think it would just be a tremendous thing for the Republican Party, for Jack Kemp and the country, to see J.C. Watts nominate Jack Kemp." nM33 mwmiOMKMum Harris Teeter Your Neighborhood Food Market VISA Fresh Boneless Skinless Harris Teeter Chicken USX>A. SradeA Fresh 9396 Lean erovind lb. u>. 1 Fresh 99 Ftoric Roast Boston Butt Ik. 1 29 vn - Fresh Ex[«ess Italian Salad Mix Roma Tomatoes lb. Bakery Fresh French Bread loaf Harris Teeter Mac Cheese 7.2S oz. FTastic Bottle Only Harris Teeter Orange Juice _ i Armour M^t Pranks 12( SSoft E>rink Feattire 2 Liter Diet Coke or Coke Prices Effective Through Aug. 20,1996 Prices bi This Ad Effective Madnesday, August M Throu^ August20.1996 In Our Mecklenburg County Stores Only. Reserve The Ri^ lb Limit Quaiititie& None Scid 1b Dealers. Mb Sladly Accept Itederal Rxid Stain{«
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