Th Tar Heel
Thursday, Juty 27, 1972
nd
itieo
new
Hannah
hi
of pol
by Peter Barnes
Feature Writer
(Editor's note: UNC students Becky
Hannah and Lucy Hancink were N.C.
delegates to the Demtxratic National
Convention. Lucy Hancm'k could not be
contacted for an interview.)
It's kind of hard to imagine her in a
smoke-filled room-the bright red shirt
and blue culottes, the sandals and
gold-rimmed brown sunglasses, the white
bush-jacket and shoulder-length blond
hair all seem more the dress of an aspiring
teenage debutant than the uniform of a
political veteran.
But in the politics of 1972, a lot of
things aren't what they seem on the
surface, and UNC junior Becky Hannah is
one of politics' dedicated New Breed.
At the Democratic National
Convention in Miami earlier this month,
Hannah received her political baptism of
fire, attending the convention both as an
official North Carolina delegate and as a
key youth worker in the ill-fated Terry
Sanford campaign.
It was the School of Hard Knocks, and
the introductory course was a lot tougher
thanPoliSci41.
"We Sanford people were simply
waiting for a moment that never
happened," Hannah said calmly,
obviously disappointed at their lack of
success, but resigned to the facts.
(Sanford received 77 and a half delegate
votes from 21 stales, out of the total
3.016 votes cast.)
"If McGovern could have been
stopped on the first ballot, then I
honestly think Sanford would have been
the nominee."
In many ways, Hannah's trip to Miami
was a 10-day exercise in futility not only
was she forced to wait for the second
ballot voting that never came, but she
didn't even get to officially vote on the
first ballot.
The N.C. presidential primary makes
this state's first ballot votes completely
pre-determined, and Gov. Bob Scott, as
head of the delegation, just stood up
alone and announced the results. The
state delegates didn't even need to
caucus. .
But for Becky Hannah, there was still
plenty to do.
"I got involved in the Sanford
campaign 9 months ago, just a naive kid
who thought she was interested in
politics," she began, settling back in her
chair with a reflective nod.
"I am still a kid, and still a little naive,
but I am gradually learning a lot of hard
cold truth about this politics."
She learned a lot of it doing dirty
work in the Sanford campaign all
spring-making talks, answering phones,
organizing canvasses, passing out
literature. The work peaked at Miami,
with hours upon hours being spent in the
"Boiler-room" of the Di Lido Hotel
where Sanford 's office was located.
"We spent up to 20 hours u day
there," she admitted a little wearily. "But
anyone who knows Terry Sanford the
man knows that all our effort was worth
it..
"Nobody but us knows just how close
we really came to winning. If the voting
had just gone to a second ballot ...
"And if Sanford ever runs again, we'll
all be right there."
Hannah's duties with the Sanford
campaign -officially she was responsible
for coordinating the N.C. delegates who
worked lobbying among the delegates of
other states in an effort to get second
ballot Sanford votes-kept her away from
most of the convention hustle, but she
still saw plenty of what politics is really
like.
For instance, she got a close look at
the infamous work of the political boss.
"Yes, I learned that political bosses
can swing votes, but I also saw that
political bosses can be beaten. Look at
Mayor Daley. He controls a lot of votes,
but not so many that he can't eventually
be stopped. It works both ways. I'm
learning things like that." She also
learned that sometimes politics makes
people do things that they probably
would rather not do-but have to.
"The women got a pretty raw deal
down there," Hannah said slowly. 'The
women got sacrificed to make McGovern
look more acceptable to middle America.
"McGovern can't afford to appear too
liberal if he really wants to win, and one
way to tone down his image is to tone
down the party platform. As a result, the
women's issues like abortion and day-care
facilities were pretty carefully scuttled.
Even if McGovern personally supported
those issues, he had to try and modify the
platform. So the women were sacrificed."
It has been a long campaign for Becky
Hannah, starting in near obscurity early
last fall, and building daily ever since. But
now that the convention is over, she
claims that she is going back to just being
a student and will leave the politics to
others for a few years.
"I spent so much time working for
Sanford this year that if I hope to ever
get in grad school or law school then I
had better get back to studying."
But the political fires still burn near
the surface in Becky Hannah, and it's
quite possible that she will succumb again
to the electoral fervor along about the
middle of October and once again start
knocking on doors and passing out
leaflets.
"I really learned a lot down there in
Miami-it made me a better Democrat.
And now I guess I am a McGovern
supporter. He really is a good man-even
if I am a little upset with him."
Pulling on her bush-jacket, she stood
to leave, a once and probably future
political hustler. But she still doesn't look
the part. Only the half-finished cigarette
gives any hint of those smoke-filled
rooms.
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