4
Wednesday, May 1, 2002
2002 N.C. Primary Elections Off to Unusual Start
By Lucas Fenske
Assistant State & National Editor
Take a court case about legislative
redistricting that is still undecided, add an
uncertain primary date and throw in nine
candidates running for a U.S. House seat
that might not even appear on the ballot
Let the mixture simmer for a few
weeks - or months -and then serve the
results to voters on Election Day, Nov. 5.
It might not be a recipe for election
disaster, but campaign officials and pun
dits alike are calling it one of the odder
situations in N.C. political history.
Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC’s
Program on Southern Politics, Media and
Public Life, said this primary election is
unusual because the date is up in the air.
“We’ve had elections delayed before
- elections injune, elections in August,”
Guillory said. “But here we are, a week
before the primaries were first sched
uled, and the date’s still uncertain.”
Guillory said a long delay before the
primary is held would hurt both parties
in races statewide. “There is a great
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effort by both parties to have the pri
maries before September, otherwise it
makes the general election a real sprint
- in campaign terms,” he said.
The primaries were originally slated
for May 7, until the N.C. Elections
Commission decided March 12 to indef
initely postpone the elections because of
two court cases and the extra cost of
holding multiple primaries.
The first lawsuit, brought by the N.C.
Republican Party and prominent
Republican legislators, challenges the con
stitutionality of N.C. Senate and House
districts in die N.C. Supreme Court
The N.C. Supreme Court ruled
Tuesday that the districts are unconstitu
tional. Unless the ruling is successfully
appealed, legislators likely will have to
redraw the districts this summer before
the primaries can be held.
In the second case, the state of Utah
appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court
to contest the method used by the Census
Bureau to account for residents who are
not formally counted by the government
If successful, Utah might win anoth
er seat in the U.S. House and cost North
Carolina the 13th congressional district,
which is based in part of the Triangle.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not
issued a ruling.
Guillory said one of the other oddities
about this year’s election is the wide
spread impact the cases have had.
Even though only the U.S. House and
N.C. legislative districts hinged on the
judicial decisions, the primary delay has
touched everything from town and
county elections to the U.S. Senate race.
But officials say the impact is most pro
nounced in the newly created 13th U.S.
House District, which faces the dual diffi
culty of a delayed primary and of disap
pearing from the electoral map if the U.S.
Supreme Court rules in favor of Utah.
Joe Bonfiglio, communications direc
tor for Brad Miller’s U.S. House cam
paign, said the delayed primaries make
campaigning difficult.
“Our campaign and others are going
ahead,” he said. “But we’ve all slowed
down a bit and are saving resources.”
Miller is a N.C. senator from Wake
PETA
From Page 3
In the letter to Potkay, Sweetland also
requests a meeting between PETA repre
sentatives, including Turlington, and the
NIH. But Sweedand said the NIH
refused her request. Sweedand said she
then suggested to NIH a second meeting
with UNC, but she said she has not heard
anything addressing that request. UNC
officials first met with the NIH last week.
An NIH representative said Monday,
“Things are moving forward, and we are
acting on the basis of information
already released by PETA,” although he
declined to comment specifically on
PETA’s request for meetings.
Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for
research and graduate studies, said he
has not heard about any possible meet
ings with PETA and the NIH. He said
the University is waiting on further
word from the NIH before responding.
“The NIH will look at any new alle
gations received in the complaint, assem
ble things and will inform us of any action
needed to be taken,” Waldrop said. “We
will take any complaint seriously.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
State
County and one of six Democrats vying
for the seat in the U.S. House.
Bonfiglio said all the campaigns have
had a difficult time finding donors
because the district’s future is uncertain.
“The U.S. Supreme Court case has
had donors say, ‘You might not have a
district to represent. Why should we
give you money?,’” Bonfiglio said.
He added that the situation made it
difficult to develop a long-term cam
paign strategy because no one knew
when the primaries could be held.
But a spokesman for Carolyn Grant,
a Raleigh businesswoman and one of
three Republicans running in the 13 th
District, said the delay is benefiting
Grant’s campaign.
Jerry Blackwelder, Grant’s communi
cations director, said the race is a game
of wait-and-see.
“It’s just a question of when the pri
mary will be,” he said, adding that Grant
is using the additional time to tour the
district and meet with residents.
Blackwelder said the delay likely will
aid Grant’s campaign. “There are sever
REDISTRICTING
From Page 3
The dispute had already forced an
indefinite delay in the state primaries
originally scheduled for May 7.
UNC political science Professor Thad
Beyle said it is difficult to tell when the pri
maries will be held. “Maybe they ought to
have the primaries on Election Day and
have a runoff of the first of December
between the top two people,” he said.
Tuesday’s ruling effectively could do
away with multi-member legislative dis
tricts in the state. But it would also require
lawmakers to draw single-member dis-
TPAC
From Page 3
year at a time.
She also said it is important to clearly
define the role of the committee to avoid
a repeat of this year’s problems. “I feel
that I owe you all an apology, that you
got pulled into a set of tasks that you
never should have gotten into,” she told
former TPAC members at the meeting.
Several of those members had ideas
about how to avoid those tasks in the
future. Willie Scroggs, senior associate
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al strong Democrats in the race,” he
said. “The longer they fight among
themselves, the better off we are.”
That air of uncertainty and a need to
change election strategy also has hit at
least one of the U.S. Senate campaigns.
Officials working on the campaign of
Democratic candidate Erskine Bowles
recently announced that they are tem
porarily suspending further funding for
television advertisements because the
primary date is still unknown.
Bowles, a White House chief of staff
under President Clinton, has out-raised
his nearest two Democratic competitors
- Elaine Marshall, N.C. secretary of
state, and Dan Blue, a representative
from Wake County and former House
speaker- by at least six to one.
But Bowles, who raised $3.1 million
in campaign funds, still trails behind
leading Republican candidate Elizabeth
Dole, a former president of the Red
Cross and presidential Cabinet member,
in both fund raising and voter polls.
Dole has raised $5.3 million - fueled
partly by endorsements from Sen. Jesse
tricts within county lines where practical.
The single-member districts could
cross county lines only to protect minori
ty voting strength in the 40 counties cov
ered under the Voting Rights Act or to
balance district population totals. The
General Assembly could only draw multi
member districts if it can show a “com
pelling state interest” to the trial court.
“There is always going to be partisan
politics involved in redistricting, but you
are going to have certain criteria you
have to follow,” said Rep. Leo
Daughtry, R-Johnston, House minority
leader and a plaintiff.
The new House plan divided 70 of
North Carolina’s 100 counties to form
athletic director, suggested that someone
from Chapel Hill Transit be a perma
nent member of the committee, an idea
that several former TPAC members sup
ported.
Betsy Faulkner, business manager at
the School of Education, said she thinks
Suttenfield should lengthen the one-year
term for serving on the committee. “It
seems it would be worthwhile to ask
people to serve for a two- or three-year
term, with a third of them coming up
each year,” she said.
Attendees disagreed on the type of
person who should be the chairman of
ahp laih} Star Uppl
Helms, R-N.C., and President Bush.
According to an Elon University poll
conducted in early March, Dole also has
a commanding lead in the race with 53
percent of people having a favorable
opinion of her. Bowles comes in a dis
tant second with 14 percent.
Guillory said a late primary would
hurt the Democrats more in the Senate
campaign since their candidates are gen
erally less well-known than Dole, who is
known for her brief presidential bid in
2000. “The Democrats need time to raise
the profile of their nominee,” he said.
Guillory added that Dole’s dominant
position in the Republican field is an
asset now but a potential liability later in
the election.
“Any time a party can get through a pri
mary without their nominee getting
roughed up is a good thing,” Guillory said.
“But if the lack of roughing up becomes an
issue and there’s more heat for not debat
ing, then (Dole’s) image could be hurt.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached atstntdesk@unc.edu.
112 districts. The Senate map divided 51
counties to establish 46 districts.
Republican legislators claim Democrats
ignored the constitutional provision to
give themselves a boost in elections.
“The elections will no longer be rigged.
We are going to have fair and competitive
elections," said Senate Minority Leader
Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover.
Beyle said the legislature will be
under pressure to draft anew redistrict
ing plan before it reconvenes May 28.
One advantage the members of the leg
islature have is that they will not have
other legislation to consider. “If they got
called back into a special session now,
that’s what they’d be working on.”
the committee. While some nominated
DPS Director Derek Poarch, others sup
ported the appointment of a neutral
third party.
But Suttenfield warned that it might
be hard to find anyone willing to take
the job.
Despite the difficulties she will have
to overcome in redefining the role of
TPAC, Suttenfield said she is pleased
with the ideas she heard at the meeting.
“I thought it was very successful.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.