May I begin with Jesse Helms. Senator Jesse Helms was born in Monroe, North Carolina on October 18, 1921. He attended the Monroe public schools, Wingate Junior College and Wake Forest College. He holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina and Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania and he has received Honorary Degrees from Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina, and Wingate University, Wingate, North Carolina. Senator Helms began his first term in the Senate in January 1973; was reelected to a second term on November 7, 1978; to a third term on November 6, 1984; a fourth term on November 6, 1990; and a fifth term on November 7, 1996. He is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, a member on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and a member of the Rules Committee (www.senate.gov).
Harvey Gantt, 53, was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Gantt was the first black student to graduate from Clemson University with a B.A. in architecture; He also has a master’s degree in planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gantt's political experience is not as vast as Helms. Gantt is a former Charlotte mayor (83-87), and was appointed to head the National Capital Planning Commission, by President Clinton.
Senator Helms is the beloved champion of conservatives throughout the country and a nemesis to Liberals. He is one of America's most controversial politicians. Helms beat Gantt in the Senate race of 1990 by only a slim margin of six percentage points that included campaign advertisements blaming racial quotas for white unemployment in the state. Either you like Helms or you don't. Many people admire Helms for his uncompromising stand on the issues. You always know what Helms stands for.
The differences between the candidates were indeed ambiguous. Helms favored constitutional amendments for a balanced budget and for school prayer, both of which Gantt opposed. Helms, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, voted to give the Defense Department more funding than it asked for in last years budget and supports cuts in education and public assistance programs; Gantt would have used money cut from the defense budget to boost funding for education. Helms backed supply-side tax cuts and wanted to repeal the 1993 4.3% increase in gasoline taxes; Gantt was more concerned with getting control of the deficit before proceeding with tax cuts, although he advocates cutting $80 billion in business subsidies and tax breaks, which he considers "corporate welfare (Connoly, 96.)
A frame is the central organizing idea for making sense of relevant events and suggesting what is at issue (Britton, 99). Little is known why the media frames events like they do. When Americans hear Helms’ name, usually he is thought of in polar opposites. But North Carolina has decided four times to send Helms to the U.S. Senate because he has more than two dimensions. "Helms blends a combination of moralistic outspokenness, Capitol Hill clout and Old South consideration", says the Associated Press. Basically, Gantt and Helms were framing each other through their commercials. Gantt framed Helms as a staunch, non-caring, homophile, because of his stand against homosexuals. Helms framed Gantt as a liberal, first off stating that Gantt was as liberal as Bill Clinton, and also a homosexual lobbyist. Gantt refuted saying that, "I only want to reach out merely to affirm that we need to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination".
Helms has been notorious for his attacking of other candidates. In the 1990 election, it was a close race. Helms, feeling a loss, went negative with the campaign rhetoric. He launched a controversial series of attack ads, among them the now infamous "white hands" commercial. The commercial showed a close-up pair of white hands crumpling a rejection slip while the voice-over told how the man lost his job to a less qualified minority because of racial preferences and suggested that Harvey Gantt supported minority hiring quotas. Widely condemned by the media as playing up racial divisions, the ad was a success nonetheless. By bombarding the airwaves with his ads, Helms used his huge spending advantage ($17.7 million to $7.8 million), to turn back Gantt and keep his seat 53%-47% (Charlotte Observer, 96).
In the 1996 campaign, Helms promised a kinder, gentler, campaign. It did not last long though! Helms launched an ad attacking Gantt as "more liberal than Bill Clinton," pointing to his opposition of the death penalty and support for same-sex marriages. Gantt fought back, citing the fact that his support for gay rights does not extend to same-sex marriage. His campaign drew attention to the inaccurate allegation in the Helms spot, and aired its own stating, "Jesse Helms said it would be different. But his ads are the same old lies." Though Gantt refrained from going negative in 1990, in 96, Gantt ran ads exposing Helms' advocacy of cuts in Medicare funding (News and Observer, 96).
In conclusion, we have taken a brief, but thorough look at the North Carolina Senatorial campaigns of 1990 and 1996. Jesse Helms squeaked out of each race with barely a boastful margin. Harvey Gantt has gained recognition as a fighter and valid politician. I doubt we have seen the last of Harvey Gantt. Senator Helms is seventy-nine years old. How much more will we see of him?