Fayetteville Observer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
www.fayettevillenc.com

Hunt stumps for Kissell

By Andrew Barksdale
Staff writer

The four-term N.C. governor says Congress needs new blood.

Jim Hunt, a four-term North Carolina governor, greeted people on their front porches Tuesday morning to stump for Larry Kissell, a fellow Democrat who is running for Congress.

Kissell hopes to topple U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a wealthy Republican from Concord who was first elected to the 8th District in 1998.

"This is my friend, Larry Kissell," Hunt told people who answered their doors in a neighborhood off Bragg Boulevard. "He is a fine, upright Christian man."

Hunt is 69 with a thatch of thick white hair. He smiled and spoke in a folksy tone that played up Kissell's experience in education and textiles. Many people recognized Hunt.

Hunt has some experience against Hayes, a wealthy heir to the Cannon family textile fortune who won the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1996 and then got trounced by Hunt in the general election.

Hunt didn't mention that race Tuesday, choosing instead to focus on Kissell's chances in the 8th District, a largely blue-collar district in central North Carolina that stretches from Fayetteville to Charlotte.

At one house, Beth Willis opened the door in a pink nightgown. The newspaper was still rolled up on the porch. The men had found a receptive Democrat.

"Bravo for him," Willis said. "Good luck."

"You know we really need a change in Washington," Hunt said.

"Lord, yes. Please. Amen."

The men pressed fliers into her hands and left. "Thank you," Kissell said.

At another house, Michael Knight took his picture with the politicians and thanked them for the visit. "I'll seriously consider it," he said.

Knight is a 58-year-old landscaper. He is also a Republican, but he didn't live in Fayetteville for the last congressional election.

Eye contact

Between houses, Kissell and Hunt talked basketball and education. Kissell, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall, often stayed one step below the front porch to talk to people eye to eye.

"We would appreciate your vote come Nov. 7," he told one resident. "We just think we can do things better in Washington."

Kissell, 55, is running for the first time. He is a social studies schoolteacher in Montgomery County. He is campaigning against high gas prices and the national debt, which he says will hurt his students one day.

"They have no idea what my generation is doing to them," he said. "We can do better. It's not right."

As a publicity stunt in August, a station in Montgomery County sold gas for $1.22 a gallon — the average price of regular unleaded when Hayes was elected in 1998.

Hayes was considered vulnerable in 2002 during an ailing economy that shuttered textile mills across the state, but he beat a Charlotte lawyer. Hayes defeated another political newcomer in 2004 with 55 percent.

This year, GOP sex scandals and the Iraq war are bolstering Democrats' chances of retaking the House. Some polls have shown Congress with approval ratings as low as 16 percent.

Hunt said Congress is a mess that needs new leaders such as Kissell.

"He started out as an underdog," Hunt said. "People said he didn't have a chance. He has a great chance now."

With $1.9 million in his war chest, Hayes has raised almost 16 times more money than Kissell through Sept. 30, according to the Federal Election Commission. Kissell has $316,599.

Kissell said personal touch and his stances on issues will help him overcome that financial disparity. He asks voters if they are happy with Congress. If they aren't, their choice is obvious, he says.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.