He had a fresh one every day as the cameras closed in on the latest recovery nightmare. For weeks Hunt was on every imaginable broadcast program, sometimes several times a day, highlighting his administration's effort to cope with the massive damage in the eastern part of the state. He was everywhere - managing meetings, listening to complaints, questioning federal officials, handing out words of encouragement and serving up hope. Hayes, trying to run a gubernatorial campaign on a shoestring, found himself competing with the rest of the world for a few paragraphs on an inside page somewhere. It illustrated sharply the contrast between the power of the incumbency and the comparative impotence of a challenger trying to make a case for change when no one's paying attention.
Time moves on, of course.
Jim Hunt is now out of office and out of power. President Bush invited him to join in the festivities Wednesday, but Hunt had other obligations and did not take part. Sen. John Edwards, who has his eye on the White House and who would have liked to ride down on the president's plane, was also there at the Concord event and was gracefully noted by the president. But at least in the evening news reports and the papers the next day, Robin Hayes finally got to enjoy some of that nurturing power of the incumbency. I bet it felt good this time around.