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Aug. 30, 2002

Primary Day: Bad Timing

By J. Barlow Herget

RALEIGH - If you’re running for political office in North Carolina this year, you probably feel cursed. And there’s one more banana peel of bad luck in your path: the September 11th anniversary.

If media coverage of the recent past holds to form, the time and space devoted to “9-11” will swamp our airwaves and news pages in the days before the Sept. 10 Primary Election.

Television stations and networks already are airing promotions for the coverage. NBC News has even consulted with a noted child psychiatrist about the impact its “9-11” shows might have on children.

The “9-11” anniversary coverage invokes one of the rules of the news business: when you focus resources on one story, you shortchange the others. And one of the “other” stories in North Carolina is its September 10th Primary Election, which is headed for the history books as the skunk of recent elections.

The election date is especially bad timing this year. Consider the hurdles facing candidates and voters both, above and beyond the coincidental timing:

* New districts. The regular, post Census redistricting of state legislative and federal congressional seats was thrown off track by lawsuits. This pushed back filing deadlines, and eventually, put redistricting in the hands of a partisan judge. Candidates had to wait until mid-summer to learn which districts they lived in. The same has been true for voters, and it’s a good bet that many still have not a clue on the issue.
* New date. Election officials were forced to postpone the traditional May Primary Election date to September 10th, while the redistricting case was resolved. The new date is another hurdle for candidates who must educate voters on the change. Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Elaine Marshall told reporters last week [8/22/02] that she expects a low turnout on September 10th, with as few as 150,000 enough to win the Democratic nomination.
* Fundraising. The shortened campaign season and the redistricting confusion have hampered candidates in raising the money they need to communicate their messages to voters. Some didn’t expect to run until mid-summer; others, such as candidates in the new 13th Congressional district, found that supporters were reluctant to give until the district had been approved. That particular district not only had to get approval from the federal Justice Department but from the U.S. Supreme Court after the state of Utah filed a lawsuit affecting the district.
* Campaign costs. Political advertising expenses continue to rise, especially for television. With a shortened campaign season, candidates are under pressure to raise money to advertise their respective messages. Some laudable broadcasters have offered free time to candidates for certain offices. Capital Broadcasting Co. of Raleigh, for example, has offered free time to U.S. Senate candidates on its stations, and WSOC in Charlotte is following suit. Cable giant Time Warner, which operates all-news, cable channels in Raleigh and Charlotte, is doing likewise.

The role of the free press in campaigns has been in transition for years. Republican Sen. Jesse Helms did not like to rely on the mainstream media to deliver his messages, and he found that he could do it more effectively by raising large sums to advertise his arguments. Other candidates have followed suit, so that now the odds overwhelmingly favor those with the most money. The N.C. Center for Voter Education, for example, found that top-spenders in state legislative campaigns won 85 percent of the time.

Still, candidates and citizens depend on a free press to learn about campaign issues. It is the free press that probes candidates’ backgrounds to see if their resumes are in order; checks on their voting records; and asks the questions that the rest of us are too polite to ask.

If the “9-11” anniversary coverage displaces “9-10” campaign coverage, North Carolina citizens are the losers. To borrow from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat of April 14, 1938, an informed people is the only sure bulwark of continuing liberty. And, it should be noted as an aside, one of the best ways to commemorate September 11th would be to get out and vote on September 10th.

J. Barlow Herget is a writer, businessman and former newspaper editor. He served two-terms on the Raleigh City Council.