THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130268
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
As North Carolina's Democratic Party struggles to reorganize itself after its most sweeping statewide defeat in a century, few Democrats are publicly hinting that they'll challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms in 1996.
And Helms gives every indication that he'll run for re-election.
North Carolina Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten, a Democrat, said that the Senate race is a daunting challenge to potential candidates.
``It's the least talked-about race that I have been around,'' he told the Winston-Salem Journal. ``It's not a very appetizing thing right now for people to decide whether they're going to have their reputations destroyed and their families harassed.''
Before last month's Republican gains, speculation on opponents for Helms centered on House Speaker Dan Blue, D-Wake; state Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange; and Superintendent of Public Instruction Bob Etheridge.
But Blue will no longer be speaker, and Lee lost. If Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. runs for that office again, Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker and Attorney General Mike Easley are expected to run for re-election.
Former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt and Dr. Charles Sanders, the chairman of Glaxo Inc., are the only Democrats publicly hinting at a Senate campaign.
Gantt lost to Helms in 1990 in a campaign that turned in the final weeks on the divisive issue of racial quotas. But Gantt said he is preparing to run against Helms in two years.
``Our intentions are to run in '96,'' Gantt said. ``I guess I've been saying that since Nov. 9, 1990.''
Sanders, a heart surgeon and former professor at Harvard Medical School, has lived in North Carolina only five years. But he has fund-raising contacts among business executives across the country, and he describes himself as a fiscal conservative.
``I'm very interested in helping people help themselves - not just handing things out with no questions asked,'' he said. ``We've got to make government a helluva lot more efficient than it has been.''
At this point, Sanders is somewhat deferential toward Helms.
``Sen. Helms is a real force in this state. North Carolina has elected him four times,'' he said. ``But is he the man that we want to have represent this state in the 21st century? If he is, then so be it.''
Many Democrats question whether a candidate who wins a Democratic primary can defeat Helms in the general election.
Sanders is more moderate than Gantt and may do better in a general election. Sanders may have a better shot at recapturing ``Jessecrats,'' the Democrats who vote Republican.
However, Sanders may have a difficult time defeating Gantt for the Democratic nomination, a process that often favors more liberal candidates. by CNB