From: TJGOH@RTI.BITNET (TIM GABEL (EXT. 7415))
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Subject: Re: Fairly random comments
Date: 5 Nov 92 21:48:07 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
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As Peter pointed out,

>Faircloth's campaign was bizarre.  He started out running against
>Ted Kennedy, using the typical Helms/Congressional Club tactics
>(unrelenting negativity, harping on cliches like "tax and spend").
>When Terry Sanford went into the hospital for heart surgery, his
>campaign essentially wound down until he was back in circulation.
>That's when Faircloth started pulling ahead.  At the end, he started
>associating himself with Clinton's criticism of the Caribbean Basin
>Initiative, claiming that "Terry Sanford is TOO LIBERAL for North
>Carolina" (an assertion designed to make your drink come out of your
>nose).  But it worked--we now have another Helms clone in the Senate.

     Oh, what the rest of the country must think about us in NC.  Once
     Faircloth's victory was called, most of the national coverage I saw
     described him as a "farmer/businessman supported by Jesse Helm's
     Congressional Club".  That pretty much says it all, I guess.  Between
     Jesse, Lauch, and Jim and Tammy Baker, the country must think we're a
     bunch of hayseed hicks who watch basketball, go to Klan rallies, and
     fall somewhere to the right of David Duke.

     I doubt whether an average North Carolinian could tell you what Faircloth's
     views are.  I know I can't.  His entire campaign was negative babble spewn
     forth in 30-second attacks on Sanford.  As previously stated, most of his
     ads identified Sanford as being on the Liberal side of both Clinton and
     Bush.  Lauch trying to ride Clinton's coattails is hypocracy in its finest
     form.  I'd be busting a gut except that it seems to have worked (even
     though Bush won the state).

>Do the people really support term limits?  Well, they voted for the
>propositions, but they also sent most of the incumbents back into
>office (including the ones like Glenn and Specter who had lots of
>problems this year).  Here in NC, every House incumbent was reelected.
>(We have two new faces--one new district, and one member who retired
>and then, perhaps fearing that we didn't take him seriously enough,
>promptly died.)

>Despite the positive votes on the propositions, I think that the term
>limit movement has started to run out of gas.

     Clinton's campaign man (and Mary Matalin's main squeeze), Carville, had
     some interesting things to say about term limits last night on Nightline.
     He thinks public campaign financing is the key to eliminating candidates'
     dependence on PAC money.  However, how do you convince taxpayers to spend
     tax dollars ELECTING politicians?  To the average citizen that will seem
     counter-intuitive and will never get passed.  You think people howled
     when Congress voted itself a pay raise....

>BTW. I'm sure you'll all be glad to know: North Carolina's new governor
>will be named Jim.  Wouldn't want to break with a 20-year tradition.

     But it's definitely the right (er, correct) Jim.


I've been monitoring the POLITICS list for about a week now.  My impression
so far is that reasonable moderates seem to outnumber the fanatic
right-wingers.  Thank God.  My favorite posting has been one of the first I
read which was from Missy Yet 2 B.  It didn't reflect my point of view, but was
certainly entertaining and well-written.  2nd place goes to all of the virtual
election campaign postings.  Congrats to those of you who fought the good fight.

As a rookie to POLITICS, I'm curious about a few things:

1.  Are most of the regulars academics?  Students?  Both?
2.  Should I expect the frequency of postings to drop now that good has
    triumphed over evil?
3.  Are there POLITICS rules of etiquette I should be aware of?  I seem to
    recall a posting in the last few days to that effect.
4.  If virtual beers are consumed every Friday afternoon, will I start
    having virtual headaches on Saturday mornings?

Cheers.  New Tim (Signature TJG)