| Biographical Conversations with James B. Hunt, Jr. begins with Hunt's recollections of President Ronald Reagan, elected to the country's highest office in 1980. Though critical of some of Reagan’s policies—such as the president's tax cuts—Governor Hunt respected the charismatic leader’s positive attitude. "For him it was always morning in America," Hunt says of the 40th president. Reagan’s optimism made him the overwhelming favorite to win reelection in 1984. Throughout his presidency, Reagan remained enormously popular among North Carolina Republicans and Independents, as well as some Tar Heel Democrats.
Jim Hunt remained immensely popular in his home state as well, and in the early months of 1984, the governor held a small lead in his senatorial race against Republican incumbent Jesse Helms. But this was to be a brutal campaign, filled with personal attacks on Hunt’s character. "Oh, it was ugly," Gov. Hunt recalls. “The ads that Senator Helms’ team ran were almost all negative ads against me.”
Hunt and Helms agreed to debate four times during the summer and fall of 1984 with each showdown becoming more dramatic and divisive. The two traded barbs on a range of issues from campaign finance and benefits for military veterans, to legislation creating a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., which Helms opposed and Hunt supported. By the final debate, in which Helms called Hunt a "radical liberal" and Hunt labeled Helms "a tool of the radical right," the two candidates were neck and neck in the polls.
At the same time, Hunt had a state to govern. In June 1984, the state legislature passed the governor’s $255 million economic package aimed at improving public education. A few weeks later, Hunt attended the annual governor’s conference, where he promoted rewarding the country’s finest educators with higher pay. "Paying the best teachers the highest salaries," said Hunt, "is the most important thing."
Hunt continued his senatorial campaign through the fall of 1984. But in November, the governor came up short. Riding the coattails of President Reagan, who emerged victorious against the Democratic candidate Walter Mondale, Helms won his bid for reelection. In his concession speech, Hunt said he was "beaten but unbowed." In retrospect, Hunt admits that Helms' negative and divisive strategy was effective. "He was tearing me down as a person, and I was talking about the issues. And I would have to say their ads worked."
Hunt left the governor’s mansion in January 1985 to return to a private law practice. Eight years later, he returned to public service, and posted a resounding victory in the 1992 gubernatorial race. Hunt approached his third term pragmatically. “It wasn’t the overwhelming feeling of when (I) first ran,” Hunt recalls. “It was more a feeling of, okay, now we’ve got another opportunity to do it better. I’ve learned a lot. I know how to do this job, and I can’t wait to get started.”
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