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Democrat Cal Cunningham and Republican Scott Keadle seem driven this election
season in proving that politics is local.
The young candidates for the open
N.C. Senate District 23 seat — maybe one of the more hotly contested
legislative races in this region — are each pushing for debates, while
promising strong personal contact with voters in the three-county district.
“I would debate anywhere, anytime,”
says Cunning-ham, a 27-year-old Lexington attorney.
Keadle envisions one debate per week
in the fall, if sponsors can be found and formats agreed on.
“Iintend to challenge him to a
series of six or seven debates,” says Keadle, a 35-year-old Salisbury dentist.
“I’m looking forward to any opportunity to share a stage with him and
discuss the issues.”
The Rowan County Chamber of Commerce
won’t be among the organizations sponsoring a debate for Senate District 23,
which includes 20 precincts in Rowan County and 15 each in Iredell and Davidson
counties. The Chamber held a debate for District 23 candidates from both parties
before the May 2 primary.
Cunningham participated then, but
Keadle bypassed the forum. Liberta-rian Larry Clark also attended the spring
debate and will be on the November ballot with Keadle and Cunningham.
(Rowan Chamber president Bob Wright
says the chamber will offer a forum this fall for House District 35 candidates
Lorene Coates and Charlotte Gardner and Rowan County Board of Education
contestants.)
In their other efforts to get the
word out on their candidacies, both Cunningham and Keadle will have Web sites
for voters. Cunningham’s is up and running and includes his first position
paper on education. Keadle’s Web site is under construction and should be
ready within a couple of weeks.
Both sites will offer the candidates’
views on some issues, personal background and information on how to volunteer or
contribute.
The men have spent the weeks before
the national conventions setting up their campaigns and raising funds. Each has
more fund-raisers scheduled. Keadle says U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger will appear at
one of his fund-raisers this week, for example.
Cunningham hopes to attract several
state Democratic Party leaders to his NASCAR-themed kickoff fund-raiser Sept. 6
at the Lexington Municipal Airport.
Cunningham, running for his first
public office, says raising money “has been an incredibly shocking experience.”
But he expects to receive significant help, as retiring state Sen. Jim Phillips
did in his two previous elections, from the N.C. Democratic Senate Committee.
The Senate Democrats provided help
to Phillips in 1996 and 1998 through direct mailings both on his behalf and
against Republican opponent Mac Butner. In 1998, the Phillips campaign spent
$159,619, almost six times Butner’s amount.
Keadle expects more of the same this
fall, though he knows how to raise money. Keadle’s 1998 congressional campaign
spent $381,065.
“I feel like we have a much more
personable approach,” Keadle says. “They have a lot of money. I think,
though, that I’ve gotten around and met people. I think they’ll see through
whatever kinds of attacks come my way.”
Cunningham promises to knock on
10,000 doors in District 23 before the election, to talk with voters personally.
Volunteers will do some of the door-to-door campaigning on his behalf, he notes.
“There’s a real yearning for
personal contact with candidates and public officials,” Cunningham says. “We
see so much of our politics on TV now.”
Keadle had considerable success in
his 1998 campaign for the U.S. House in telephone contacts with 12th
Congressional District voters. The Republican winner in the 1998 primary, Keadle
lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Mel Watt.
Keadle promises the “same kind of
personal campaign techniques” against Cunningham.
“That’s the only way you can
beat that kind of money,” Keadle says.
Not surprisingly, Phillips strongly
endorses Cunningham as his successor.
“I say to people, ‘Just spend 10
to 15 minutes with him,’” Phillips says of the time needed to understand
Cunningham’s maturity and intelligence. The incumbent senator adds that
Cunningham has something else going for him: “He has a good heart.”
Norene Foster, chairman of the Rowan
Republican Party, has long worked behind the scenes on Keadle’s behalf, as she
has with several other local GOP candidates. She believes Keadle will win by a
solid margin and recapture a Senate seat long held before 1996 by Republican
Paul Smith of Salisbury.
“Scott’s got a lot of name
recognition from running before,” she says.
Shades of difference already are
evident in the candidates’ views on education. As with most candidates, they
give education a top priority. Each candidate supports charter schools.
Keadle also likes the idea of school
vouchers but says people won’t be ready for them until they see the success of
charter schools and other forms of competition to public schools. Keadle
stresses the need to introduce more kinds of competition and more freedom for
parents, teachers and principals.
“Less red tape, if you will,”
Keadle says.
Cunningham also stresses more
parental choices. He pushes for smaller class size, safer schools, greater
community involvement and better teacher pay with more teacher accountability.
Cunningham supports the ABCs program
and Smart Start and applauds the progress he believes N.C. schools have made in
recent years. He endorses the university and community college bond campaign.
Keadle says he probably will vote in
favor of the bonds, but he doesn’t find it appropriate for a government
official or candidate to weigh in heavily on these kinds of referendums because
that’s why they’re on the ballot — for the voters to decide.
Cunningham’s Web site address is www.CalforSenate.com
. Keadle’s is not ready yet, but he anticipates it to be www.Keadle.com
.
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