A positive campaign appeals to a variety of voters
Sanford describes the different groups of voters who supported him. They included a few bankers and industrialists, as well as teachers thanks to his strong record on education. However, Sanford believes he gained support from a wide swath of the electorate because of his basically positive approach to campaigning and governance.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Terry Sanford, December 16 and 18, 1986. Interview C-0038. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- BRENT GLASS:
-
In your travels across North Carolina during the campaign, what were some
of your lasting, not lasting impressions, but how would you describe the
Terry Sanford voter? What were some of the impressions you
had of North Carolina 1986 as opposed to other times you've
campaigned?
- TERRY SANFORD:
-
I think that the voter this time was pretty much like the voter in
'60. You name the category, and I had my supporter in that
category.
- BRENT GLASS:
-
Sort of broad based.
- TERRY SANFORD:
-
I had some of the top bankers. I didn't have as many of them
as I ought to have had. I had a few of the top industrialists. When I
ran for governor, I had the head of Cannon Mills, Mr. Cannon, and I had
the head of the AFL-CIO. Same way it was this time.
- BRENT GLASS:
-
Teachers?
- TERRY SANFORD:
-
Oh well, of course, we had the teachers with enthusiasm this time. In
1960 they weren't much of a force. I had people from all
segments of society because that's been the
way I've attempted to serve them is
to—I haven't played one against the
other. I haven't attempted to unduly favor or unduly punish
any segment of society because I don't think
that's the way to run a state. So I
couldn't—there's no typical
supporter. Obviously, I would get the supporter
that—the typical Chapel Hill resident would be
more likely to support me than to support a Republican.
- BRENT GLASS:
-
In your travels across the state was there anything that surprised you
about North Carolina, made you more aware of certain problems, or
perhaps that were not as much on your agenda as…
- TERRY SANFORD:
-
Well, you always learn campaigning. A campaign is a communications
process. You learn a lot as well as attempt to teach them a lot. And so,
of course, I did. On the other hand, I've been here so long,
you might say, that I don't know that I was surprised by
anything in particular, not anything that comes immediately to mind. I
found the reception extremely good everywhere. The crowds, for the most
part, with maybe no more than a half-dozen or dozen exceptions all
across the state, crowds bigger than we'd really anticipated.
The only thing that bothered me was how deep that ran. Here are the
loyal Party people eager to go now, and from all segments of the Party.
Everywhere we'd go, people would say, "I see folks
here that haven't been out in a long time," or
"Well, I never saw those two together," or "I
didn't think so and so's daughter,
who's the biggest Republican in the county, would be here
supporting you." They didn't know that she was a
Duke graduate
[laughter]
. But really, not surprised but constantly
reassured that the crowds were better than we thought. They always
responded and they always gave the impression that they could go get
them. And they pretty much did.