Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Ada M. Fisher of Salisbury has named her 15-year-old son, Charles, as her campaign manager.
Fisher says she is using her campaign as a teaching moment for children and as a way of demonstrating that “we need to put democracy, not money, name recognition, moneyed connections and politics as usual into our election process.”
Fisher says a much younger Charles managed her successful effort for the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education four years ago and designed an award-winning newspaper ad for the campaign.
“I believe in children,” Fisher says.
Charles Fisher is a violinist, a student at Trident Academy in Mount Pleasant, S.C., and “one of the lights of his mother’s eyes,” the candidate adds.
Fisher says her son will help design “media exposure” for her Senate campaign, which to date has touched 68 counties. Fisher was campaigning in eastern North Carolina today.
Charles Fisher also will help his candidate mother choose the cities she visits, although his school schedule will limit his availability to travel with her.
Fisher credits Charles with giving her suggestions on how to approach her campaign and deal with her competition.
Fisher says her son believes she must be more aggressive, stressing that she is a candidate who lives in Salisbury and not one who had to return to Salisbury to run for the Senate seat.
The comment refers to Salisbury native and former American Red Cross president and cabinet secretary Elizabeth H. Dole, who also seeks the Republican nomination for Sen. Jesse Helms’ seat.
Helms will retire from the Senate at the end of the year.
On Charles’ advice, Fisher says, she emphasizes that she is the only candidate with a “homeland defense systems” background in dealing with issues related to bioterrorism, nuclear radiation, anthrax, small pox and water system contamination.
Reflecting her belief that youth represent the nation’s future, Fisher says she plans to attend a teen-age Republican forum Friday night. She adds that Dole will be missing, and she criticizes Dole for not appearing at forums that have attracted the other Republican candidates.
Other Republicans expected to challenge for the nomination include Lexington attorney Jim Snyder and Lumberton radiologist Jim Parker. Rockwell insurance agent Doug Sellers has said he also will be a candidate.
Fisher says that the amounts of money being solicited in the senatorial race, “in a state with a deficit and depressed economy, speaks to the moral bankruptcy of politics as usual.”
Dole and Democrat Erskine Bowles of Charlotte reported recently that they had raised $2.5 million and $1 million by the end of 2001, respectively.
Dole plans to officially kick off her Senate run in Salisbury Feb. 9.
Democrat Dan Blue, a candidate for U.S. Senate, will be guest speaker at 7 p.m. Thursday in Salisbury at the January meeting of Rowan Democrats. The group meets at the Rowan County Justice Center.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com
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