A second term for North Carolina's governor diminishes lame-duck status
Holshouser supported the constitutional amendment that permitted a second term for North Carolina's governors. He believes a second term precludes lame duck status and allows the chief executive to maintain a degree of control over the state party.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with James E. Holshouser Jr., May 9, 1998. Interview C-0328-3. 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
- JACK FLEER:
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How important would an ability to be re-elected have been in your control
of the party? In other words, would your relationship with the party
have been different if you had been able to be re-elected?
- JAMES E. HOLSHOUSER, JR.:
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Yes, I think so. I know I agreed to co-chair the drive for the
constitutional amendment on second terms, partly because I felt like it
would keep the governor from being a lame duck while still in office.
That goes right over into activities with the party. If the governor is
getting ready to run for re-election, he probably has a stronger tie,
although he probably shouldn't, if he faces a primary in
particular. If he doesn't that's a different
matter. But you don't find many governors or many presidents
who don't control the party at the level that they are
involved in. Now sometimes you have states where there's no
governor and have a United States senator. They'll be the
ones to control the party, although it's been my experience
that people in Washington don't want to be bothered with the
state party.
