The US Senate primary in North Carolina just got a lot more interesting this week.
While the Republicans are basking in the glow of their incumbent neocon Richard Burr, the Democrats have a rollicking primary featuring three major candidates:
• Elaine Marshall;
• Ken Lewis and
• Cal Cunningham
Elaine Marshall is the 13 year incumbent Secretary of State who has been aching to join the US Senate for years. In 2002, she ran third in the primary garnering a disappointing 15% of the vote, but this time her supporters believe she will go all the way. Currently, Marshall is leading in the polls, but her lead is beginning to erode even though the campaign has barely begun - and no candidate has launched any media yet. Self-described as the “oldest rat in the Democratic barn,” Marshall (65) presents herself as a “progressive” who – to the shock of Al Gore - remains skeptical of climate change legislation.
In October 2009, the Asheville Citizen reported,
“With climate change, Marshall said she didn't know enough to comment about the bill introduced by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2050...Climate change was something to which the government should pay attention, but it might be too early to take large steps, she said."
Ken Lewis (48) is a highly respected attorney with a degree from Harvard Law School. Early on, Lewis retained the services of Joe Trippi as his Lead Consultant. But, after months languishing in single digits in the polls and suffering from a high burn rate of huge campaign expenditures that were not productive – Lewis dismissed Trippi. With a strong following in the African-American community, Lewis expected to win the endorsement of the powerful Black Caucus in Charlotte, the state’s largest city and one of America’s leading financial centers – but it was not to be. Lewis did not attend the caucus’s forum last weekend – and in his absence, they endorsed Marshall – even though every other black caucus in the state endorsed Lewis, and his wife was in attendance to represent him.
Backed by the DSCC with the personal encouragement of Obama, Cal Cunningham (36) holds most of the wild cards in the primary. At 36, Cunningham is a popular attorney with a distinguished law firm, who served in the North Carolina Senate, and – here’s the kicker – Cunningham is a veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan where he won the Bronze Star for prosecuting corrupt contractors. Early in the race, Cunningham assembled a team of top-ranking specialists and surged to the forefront of campaign fund-raising.
Last weekend, Marshall’s surprising selection by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Caucus set up a fascinating series of plays that promises to change the shape of this keystone primary.
The following day, General Wes Clark (65) endorsed Cunningham – giving him a strong boost among North Carolina’s massive population of military families at the state’s huge military bases including: Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Camp Lejeune and about five more sprinkled across the eastern counties of the state.
Marshall responded to Wes Clark’s endorsement of Cunningham with the endorsement of her hometown Democratic warhorse, former US Senator Robert Morgan (84). Both Marshall and Morgan hail from Lillington, the county seat of Harnett County in eastern North Carolina. The Morgan endorsement is where Marshall stumbled and mixed her messages – again, because Morgan brings a heavy legacy to Marshall’s now faltering campaign.
At Wake Forest School of Law, Robert Morgan was a direct student of I. Beverly Lake, a stalwart segregationist, who would guide Morgan throughout his political career from Clerk of Court to the NC Senate to state Attorney General to the US Senate.
In 1960, Morgan was the Campaign Manager for Lake who ran for governor against the progressive, Terry Sanford. During the campaign, Lake was a resolute advocate of segregation – and Morgan defended him. Lake lost to the immensely popular Sanford who went on to nominate JFK at the Los Angeles convention that summer. In 1978, Lake retired from the North Carolina Supreme Court, and even then - he castigated the US Supreme Court for the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education decision that led to desegregation as, “grossly in error.” In 1998, Morgan was still apologizing for Lake. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Morgan defended Lake with the tortured argument:
"He was an old Southern gentleman. He just believed in the separation of the races… He believed in the segregation of the schools - but he was not a racist. You have to remember who did believe in the segregation of the schools back then. Almost everybody."
What Morgan meant by “almost everybody” did not include: the NAACP, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, James Baldwin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Hubert Humphrey, JFK, RFK and tens of millions of Americans. Maybe Morgan meant, “almost everybody I know.” Perhaps, some reporter with the Charlotte Observer should ask him to clarify his views lest his endorsement tarnishes and taints Marshall’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Senate with the unmistakable scent of Jim Crow era segregation.
Not only has Robert Morgan consistently apologized for Lake at every turn, but when Morgan became Attorney General, he hired Lake’s son, I. Beverly Lake, Jr. a chip off the old block.
In the 1970s during the desegregation of North Carolina’s schools, Morgan was accurately described in print as “uncompromisingly anti-busing.” Recall that these were the days of Lester Maddox, Ross Barnett and George Wallace. The record is perfectly clear - Morgan felt comfortable in the political company of high-ranking opponents of desegregation – a group of individuals we now categorize as ‘racists’ – precisely because they did not believe in the racial integration of public schools.
But it gets worse. As Attorney General, Morgan publicly supported the prosecution of the Wilmington Ten. The historic trial of the Wilmington Ten became a scandal of global proportions. In the highly charged 1970s, the Wilmington Ten would become the most celebrated case of political prisoners in America and the first time Amnesty International declared a case of political prosecution in the USA. Morgan personally appeared in court to support the now discredited case against ten civil rights workers (nine black and one white) who faced a hostile prosecutor, a hostile judge and a disproportionate jury of ten whites and two blacks. The trial took place in Burgaw, the seat of Pender County in the deeply segregationist culture of eastern North Carolina.
More – in the early 1970s when he was North Carolina Attorney General, Morgan collaborated with the now-infamous COINTELPRO operation during the Nixon administration to conduct covert surveillance on civil rights workers and peace advocates as reported in the Raleigh News & Observer in the 1970s.
Still more – even though he was a prominent Democrat, Morgan never supported the impeachment of Richard Nixon – and he brazenly announced that he would run against now legendary Sam J. Ervin, Jr. who directed the Watergate investigation.
Ervin was unmoved by Morgan’s vaulting ambition, but the grand old man of the North Carolina mountains did not want another term in the Senate – and he chose to retire rather than serve six more years after bringing down Richard Nixon and his criminal government. Ervin retired to his home in western North Carolina to practice law and write best-selling books. Ervin’s retirement paved the way for Morgan to serve his rather undistinguished single term in the Senate.
In the 1974 primary while Ervin was sitting as Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee, Morgan was the only Democrat who did not call for the impeachment of the deeply unpopular Nixon – yet he won handily on name recognition against two opponents who were not in the same league.
In the Senate, Morgan’s term was marred when he staunchly opposed the creation of the Department of Education – a vote he defended with the enigmatic argument that it, “would lead to more spending on education.”
Morgan was not a popular Senator – and he was defeated after one term. 1980 was a horrible year for Morgan. He was defeated for the Senate – and the Wilmington Ten were set free. These two events effectively ended Morgan’s political career.
Odd and troubling as Marshall’s alliance with Morgan undoubtedly is, on one level it seems timely - because re-segregation has recently emerged in Wake County, North Carolina in the Raleigh school system with the controversial eradication of the diversity policy by the local school board last month. It is instructive to note that a slender Republican majority that is politically uncommitted to the merits of desegregation dominates the Wake County School Board. The NAACP announced that they will file a lawsuit to reinstitute racial diversity and desegregation in Raleigh and Wake County. As Secretary of State, Marshall is situated in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina and the hub of politics and government.
The moral of the story is that Elaine Marshall’s message is now so mixed up as to be virtually incomprehensible. Marshall is now posturing as a, ‘progressive’ climate change skeptic strongly endorsed by Robert Morgan who is:
• A stalwart defender of the state’s most prominent postwar segregationist, I. Beverly Lake;
• An uncompromising opponent of school desegregation;
• A prominent oppressor of the civil rights movement;
• An official collaborator in COINTELPRO and
• A longstanding opponent of government spending on education.
After Marshall’s endorsement by Robert Morgan, her supporters have little reason left to comprehend her message. Fundamentally, Marshall’s political appeal is reduced to her 13 years as Secretary of State.
Marshall’s problems are only just beginning. This week, the North Carolina Association of Educators and the Teamsters endorsed Cunningham, while the hugely popular former Mayor of Charlotte, Harvey Gantt, endorsed Lewis.
As Easter approaches, the turn of the tide is upon North Carolina as we enter the final month in what promises to be a riveting and pivotal Senate primary in the state that may prove to be the most crucial battleground in the presidential campaign of 2012.