After a year of reading all our research files on Jim Hunt and watching Hunt on TV I’d come to the conclusion Hunt was kind of political Caspar Milquetoast – a politician who always had his finger to the wind and changed with the breeze. Well, Hunt had his finger to the wind but at the first debate proved I was dead wrong about him being a Caspar Milquetoast.

Mr. Ellis didn’t want Jesse to debate at all, but early in the campaign (when we were behind) Arthur figured it was worth the risk, so, never dreaming Hunt would accept, we challenged him to debate. We were too cute by half because in July when we polled even with Hunt in the polls Hunt accepted the challenge and we were caught in our own mousetrap.

Negotiating the rules of the debates was sort of like the Paris peace talks at the end of the Vietnam War – it was the first time I ever laid eyes on Gary Pearce and to say the temperature was frigid in that room is an understatement. There was no trust at all on either side of the table. We settled on five debates and held the first one in August at the Public Television Studios at N.C. State University.

Jesse wasn’t too worried about debating Hunt. He told me, Well, I’m used to debating. I do it all the time in the Senate – I couldn’t argue with that but, in fact, Jesse was comparing a Sunday social debate to a barroom brawl – the buzz saw he was about to run had nothing to do with debating in the Senate.

David Tyson – one of our researchers – flew to Washington to hold a mock debate with Jesse. He brought back a videotape and I watched it that night. The camera started rolling and David, playing Hunt, looked at Jesse and said something like, Senator Helms you voted against Senate Bill 212 – to deny school lunch milk to poor children. You voted for Senate Bill 316 – and cut aid to women with breast cancer. Then David rapped the podium and said, But what I want you to explain is why on earth you voted for Senate Bill 423.

Jesse turned beet red, spun to the cameraman and said, Turn off that camera.

A minute later my phone rang and Jesse – who was plenty mad – sputtered, I’ve voted on thousands of bills in twelve years in the Senate how am I supposed to remember Senate Bill 423? Then, in effect, he said, I’m handing the phone to Tyson, you tell him to play fair.

I told Jesse it might not be fair but I reckoned if David could think to ask about Senate Bill 423 – so could Jim Hunt.

That was Jesse’s only debate rehearsal and it lasted two minutes.

The night of the debate a reporter asked Jesse, Senator, what did you do to prepare, and Jesse said, I got a haircut – which was just about the literal truth.

I’d never laid eyes on Hunt until I walked into the TV studio: He was standing in front of the two desks holding a sheet of paper in the air in front of him reading it and rocking back and forth on his heels and he didn’t look a bit like a weak-kneed Wally Cox or Mr. Peepers – the first thought that flashed through my brain was, Tennis player – because Hunt looked and walked and moved like an athlete.

My second thought was, This isn’t what I expected at all.

And my third thought was, We may be in big trouble.

We were.

What happened next was like Moe in the old Three Stooges movies slapping Curly back and forth across the cheeks a dozen times with the back of his hand.

Jesse asked the first question (which Bob and David had written) and I didn’t see any way Hunt could answer it that didn’t lead him into trouble. Jesse said, Governor, you’ve changed positions on Reagan’s tax cuts and on spending cuts – and you’ve even come out for both shorter and longer school years. Could you explain these flip-flops to folks?

Hunt reared back and threw a hard fastball straight at Jesse’s head. Senator Helms that’s not true and you know it. I haven’t flip-flopped on those or any other issues.

Hunt said it so strong – that fastball came in with so much steam – for a moment Jesse just stopped and stared at him: I could almost see the wheels of doubt whirling in Jesse’s head wondering – for one stunned moment – if Tom Ellis and I had really just made up all those Hunt flip-flops.

The right answer – for Jesse – was simple. All he had to do was say, Well, Governor, here are two quotes from newspapers. One says you’re for longer school years and the other says you’re for shorter school years. Are the newspapers wrong?

But Jesse hadn’t read his briefing book and didn’t know the quotes – for another moment he stared down at the piece of paper (with the question typed on it) puzzled, then coughed, cleared his throat and said, Okay, let’s move on.

It went on like that an hour: Big, mean, brawling two-fisted take no prisoners Jesse Helms being punched around by flip-flopping Casper Milquetoast – and a whopping sixty percent of the people in North Carolina watched it on TV.

And Jesse dropped back to ten points behind in the polls.

To be continued… Serenading Jim Hunt.

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