Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Nov. 14, 1978, edition 1 / Page 2
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Analysis Page two/Carolina Journal/November 14, 1978 Voters surprisingly inconsistent in 197 8 elections By Michael D. Evans The 1978 national election results leave one with the impression the American people have absolutely no idea what they want from their political leaders. Incon sistent best describes the trend of this off-year election. The victors, though the victory is small, are the Republicans. While not winning a large number of offices from the Democrats, they won some where it hurt most. However, the overall gain of the Republicans is far less than previous off-year results would have dictated. Republican victories, though, cannot be con sidered as total victories for the rising New Right (Anti-People Move ment). The reaction of the American people to the issues of the New Right is about as consis tent as their overall voting patterns. Chief among the geographic areas of in consistency is Mecklen burg County. Our coun ty returned a conser vative senator and con gressman to office, along with a conser vative County Commis sion, yet voted to send the most liberal slate to the North Carolina Senate. Certainly con sistency would have pro vided for Jim “Little Jesse' ’ McDuffie’s reelection, but the coun ty woke up momentari ly- The rest of North Carolina proved to be much more consistent, though still extremely conservative, in its voting. Right challenges to left leaning incum bent Democrats Steve Neal (Sth District) and Lamar Gudger (11th District) were strong, though the incumbents did win. Richardson Preyer (6th District), our only other represen tative with liberal lean ings fared much better. The overall outlook for North Carolina. The Senate: With the nation’s most conser vative senator in Jesse Helms and a second one hot on the conservative trail in Robert Morgan (who ran as a Democrat), we can expect no sup port from our senators on social, environmental or labor issues. But Exx on will be proud of them. The House: Here we fare better, but not by much. Southern conser vatives still abound, headed by Jim “Nuclear Power at any cost" Mar tin (9th District) and Jim Broyhill (10th District). Neal and Preyer are bright spots in a gloomy outlook, while Gudger shows pro mise of being pro gressive, since he placed his seat on the line with a pro-ERA vote. Across the Nation. The East In this area, the most impressive race was Democrat Paul Tsongas defeat of in cumbent Republican Senator Edward Brooke in Massachusetts. Tsongas has a “100" or perfect rating with Americans for Demo cratic Action (ADA), a liberal organization which rates congres sional votes. Tsongas, as a strong liberal, will be an able replacement for Brooke, who in recent years began selling out to big business, and the perfect complement to one of the Senate’s two super-liberals, Ted Ken nedy. However, even Massa chusetts was not above the inconsistency of the rest of the nation. Despite a reputation as the most liberal and pro gressive state in the union, Massachusetts elected a conservative governor in Democrat Edward King. Most liberal Democrats had supported the Republi can candidate, Frances Hatch, in the election. Parties, as well as voters, were confused in this election. The remainder of the East represented a small move to the right, parti cularly in Republican William Cohen’s defeat of William Hathaway in Maine, the loss of Thomas McIntyre in New Hampshire and the election of Republican Richard Thornburgh as governor of Pennsyl vania. The South The South has always been conservative and if this year’s election results are any indica tion, it will always be conservative. The leading neo-Fascist Re publicans, Helms, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and John Tower of Texas, were all returned to office. Thur mond was reelected des pite the candidacy of Democrat Charles “Pug” Ravenel, perhaps the most respectable candidate ever to run for statewide office in South Carolina. Given the pessimism which exists regarding southern politics, the Democratic party pro vides the only hope of sanity and the party still fares well in the South. Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia remained De mocratic strongholds, but Mississippi elected their first Republican senator since Recon struction. Thad Cochran was elected because of a Democratic party split due to the independent candidacy of black ac tivist Charles Evers, who finished third. The most dismal results in the South, aside from the reelection of the New Right's Big Three, were the election of a Republican gover nor in Texas and the election of Republican John Warner to replace William Scott (one of the 10 dumbest con gressmen) as a Virginia State. Warner won on the appeal of his wife (and we all know who she is). The Midwest The Democrats were hit hardest here. Min nesota left reality momentarily and elected two Republican senators and a Republican gover nor. And to think just three years ago, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mon dale and Wendell Ander son, all loyal pro gressives, held those seats — a tremendous loss to the Democratic party and the nation. The loss of Demo cratic liberal Dick Clark of Iowa will hurt pro gressives. However, the region can boast of a female senator, Nancy Landon Kassebaum in Kansas, though she is a moderate at best. Kassebaum is being touted as the first female to become a senator in her own right (repeat the middle name). Republican Larry Pressler, with the sup port from Democratic workers, took the seat given up by retiring liberal James Abourezk in South Dakota. Pressler should comple ment the Senate's other super-liberal (Kennedy being one), George McGovern. Finally, the 1978 cam paign’s most unor thodox candidacy was carried on by Lee Dryfuss, a former col lege president nicknam ed “LSD,” who won as governor of Wisconsin as a Republican. Dryfuss emptied the usual Republican sources of their funding but is expected to serve much more progressive ly- The West Jerry Brown’s reelec tion as governor of California has to be the region's highlight. Brown beat Evelle Younger, an intolerable candidate who respond ed to a question on his affiliation with organiz ed crime by saying, “I never said I was tough on crime.” Colorado perhaps should win an award for being the most inconsis tent state. Colorado voters booted out incum bent Democratic liberal Floyd Haskell in favor of Torres thought to have veto power By James Kirkpatrick The University Pro gram Board (UPB) may be the only student organization with an ad visor who thinks she has veto power —- Barbara Torres, assistant dean of students for campus programming and UPB advisor, stated in an ar ticle done on the board in the Oct. 17 issue of the Carolina Journal she had veto power over UPB's decisions. According to Vern Parrish, assistant dean of students and Cone University Center direc tor, this is not the case. This,is also not true for media advisors, Frank Josephs and Larry Ferguson, or Robert “Bo" Pittman, WFAE station manager. Torres confirmed her earlier published state ment in a recent inter view. She emphasized, however, this power had not been used and the UPB committees are waking harmoniously together for this year. Parrish, who held Tor res' position for a short period when he first came to UNCC in 1972, explained the history of the position. It was originally funded by stu dent activity fees (before 1972). When he took it over. Academic Affairs began paying the posi tion and this year the salary is being paid by Student Affairs. He felt if the advisor had veto power, it would Bill Armstrong, a Reaganite. However, in true American contra dictory form, they elected a slightly left Democratic governor. Their other senator, Gary Hart, one of McGovern’s co-cam- paign managers, must now decide which way the voters want him to turn. Perhaps he should remain a liberal ideologue. The remainder of the West produced few sur prises, neither making a strong move to the right or to the left. In Califor nia, the proposition to fire gays teaching in public schools was defeated, so there is still some hope left for the country. be a “contradiction.' Parrish said, “The ad visor's job is to give ad vice.” UPB Vice Chairperson Richard Best wasn t sure whether Torres had veto power or not. “Its never happened,” Best commented. “If she wanted to stop a pro gram, though, I'm sure she could.” Each spring, students elect a UPB chairperson to head campus pro gramming. The money budgeted for programs is from student activity fees while Torres posi tion is funded by the state. An advisor with veto power could in directly or directly dic tate to the students what they could pro gram, publish or play.
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