THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505190612
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GATESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Isaac Andeaux ``Ike'' Battle has spent his life making friends with just about everybody, so it will be a painful irony of politics if his loyalty to the Democratic Party now makes him some enemies.
On June 3 the 71-year-old Battle is going to take on state Sen. Frank W. Ballance Jr., 53, of Warrenton, in an increasingly bitter fight for the chairmanship of the 1st Congressional District Democratic Party.
The political struggle in Plymouth High School between the two popular blacks will be important for a lot of Northeastern North Carolina Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Eva M. Clayton, D-Warren; state Rep. Milton F. ``Toby'' Fitch Jr., D-Wilson; state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, and for thousands of African-American voters in the 1st District.
``A lot of us are trying to figure out how to handle this without dividing our Democrats,'' said Betty Meggs, chairwoman of the Pasquotank County Democratic Party.
Pasquotank is one of 28 counties from the Virginia border to the South Carolina state line that were rearranged by the General Assembly in 1992 to make up a congressional district that is one of two in the state that favor the election of black candidates.
Registered white Democratic voters cast less than 50 percent of the 1st District ballots.
Running the party won't be easy for whoever wins the 1st District chairmanship. There are still white Democrats who would welcome a split in the African-American majority so white votes would carry a premium.
``I think I'll have some important supporters when the ballots are counted in Plymouth,'' said Battle.
Aligned behind Battle are Mayor E. V. Wilkins of Roper in Washington County, and Fitch, a Wilson Democrat who has never concealed his ambition to go to the U.S. House.
Wilkins is a respected leader of Northeastern North Carolina black Democrats and Fitch is widely admired in the central 1st District counties around Wilson.
Fitch was co-chairman of the legislative redistricting committee that created the two black districts.
Anything that Fitch might do to diminish Ballance's political influence could only be helpful to Fitch's future.
Ballance represents the entrenched and still-influential Democratic establishment in Raleigh where the Senate retains a squeaky two-vote Democratic margin and the House is controlled by Republicans.
Ballance managed Clayton's successful 1st District campaigns to become the first female and the first black to be elected to Congress in North Carolina this century. Ballance is also Clayton's political mentor and it is no secret that he hopes to follow her to the Capitol.
``I don't know of anyone who is more respected in Raleigh than Frank Ballance,'' Basnight said of his legislative colleague. ``Senator Ballance is a man of impeccable character.''
Basnight is a still-youthful president pro tem of the Senate. He can write his ticket for the future within the Democratic Party but whatever new political ambitions Basnight may have will need the support and long-term loyalty of black voters.
``You can put me in Frank Ballance's corner,'' Basnight said Thursday.
Basnight's powerful support of Ballance will swing a lot of votes.
Battle, meanwhile, must count on rank-and-file black Democrats who vote in tiny rural polling places far removed from the halls of power.
Battle is a wiry ex-soldier who battled across the Pacific with the U.S. Army Engineers in World War Two. He has a box full of medals to show for his military duty, as well as degrees in science and education from the University of Pennsylvania and Elizabeth City State University.
Battle retired in 1983 as an assistant superintendent of Hertford County schools. Before that he was a school principal, baseball coach and indefatigueable Democrat.
``I think our party's power should rest in ordinary Democrats,'' he said this week. by CNB