Full Text of the Excerpt

WALTER DE VRIES:

Well, does this suggest to you that we're moving back to another one-party South?

JIMMY CARTER:

No, I don't think so. I believe that both Democratic and Republican candidates who have been elected-say, Winfield Dunn in Tennessee and Holshouser in North Carolina and Linwood Holton earlier in Virginia-were candidates who did not enjoy the support of the powerful special interest groups. Who may be benevolent in nature, but who have in the past been the leaders, with their positions of leadership adequate to influence voters. I think those of us who either had to forego their support because we couldn't get it, or who wisely chose not to depend on those powerful people but to go directly to the voter, in every instance I can remember, the one who went directly to the voter was elected. And that includes George Wallace. Wallace lost the support of the bankers, the power company, the utility company, and so forth, the newspaper editors. Although he had been a former incumbent, he had to go directly to the people, because he lost that establishment support. Brewer had it, and I think that's a major factor in his loss.