Voters Give Primary Only Secondary Attention
Turnout Disappoints State Elections Officials

The only shocker was Attorney General Mike Easley's runaway victory over Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, by 59 percent to 36 percent. Wicker lost badly even though he had the endorsements of most traditional party organizations and eight years to get prepared for the race.

Similarly, state Rep. Leo Daughtry of Smithfield lost the Republican gubernatorial nomination to former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot even though Daughtry was endorsed by most GOP groups.

What Easley, 50, and Vinroot, 59, lacked in endorsements and grassroots organizing they more than made up in TV ads. They spent the lion's share of the $13 million the five gubernatorial candidates blew on 30-second spots during the primary.

Incumbents and women did well in the primaries. North Carolina's next lieutenant governor will be a woman, either Democrat Beverly Perdue or Republican Betsy Cochrane, both veteran Senate legislators. Incumbents won in 166 of the 170 state House and Senate races. The three who lost:

* Rep. George Miller of Durham, a 15-term Democratic leader in the state House and co-chairman of the powerful House Finance Committee, finished last in a four-man race for the three-seat district. The two other incumbents in the district, Reps. Paul Luebke and Mickey Michaux, will be on the ticket with former Durham city councilman Paul Miller, who polled 21 percent to George Miller's 18 percent. Luebke, Michaux and Paul Miller face no Republican opposition in the fall.

* Rep. Steve Wood (R-Guilford), the maverick who was ousted from the GOP Caucus last year for supporting Democrat Jim Black for speaker, lost to former state Sen. John Blust in the 27th District GOP primary. Blust has no Democratic opposition in the fall.

* Rep. Ted Kinney (D-Cumberland) finished third in a four-candidate race for two Democratic nominations for the 17th District. Second place went to Spring Lake Mayor Marvin Lucas. The two winners will join GOP candidate George Boggs to vie for two seats in November.

The person who has been appointed to replace Rep. Jerry Braswell and is now serving was defeated by Larry Bell.

If the May 2 primary turn out of 20 percent was bad, the 8 percent predicted for the May 29 second Republican primaries for state labor and agriculture commissioners was worse. John Miller of China Grove, who trailed state Rep. Cherie Berry (R-Catawba) in the labor commissioner primary, 39 percent to 31 percent, sought a runoff. Tom Davidson requested a runoff against Steve Troxler in the GOP agriculture commissioner race. Troxler received 28 percent of the vote to 24 percent for Davidson.

Runoffs also were called in two legislative races. Former Rep. Annette Bryant had 36 percent to 34 percent for David Huskins in the Democratic primary for the 49th House District. The winner will challenge Rep. Mitch Gillespie (R-McDowell). In the 38th Senate District, Republicans Larry Potts and Stan Bingham had 26 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in a field of six candidates seeking to fill Sen. Cochrane's seat.

The governor's race between Vinroot and Easley race pits a former big-city mayor from the Republican Piedmont against an activist attorney general from Democratic Down East.

A Vietnam vet who mostly warmed the bench when he played basketball at Carolina for Dean Smith, Vinroot will face a former small-town prosecutor who made a name for himself prosecuting Colombian drug lords. Vinroot teaches Sunday School at Myers Park Presbyterian in Charlotte. Easley is a parochial school graduate who'd be North Carolina's first Catholic governor.

Their November shoot-out will mark the official end of the Jim Hunt era in gubernatorial politics. Although both candidates have taken centrist positions on many issues, Vinroot veered hard to the right during his primary, and have more ground than Easley to cover to get back to the middle of the road. They disagree on a state lottery, abortion and school vouchers.

Vinroot, who was mayor of Charlotte from 1991-95, was careful during the primary not to oppose a vote of the people on a lottery, although he said he's personally opposed to it. He's also said he opposes abortion but would not ban it outright.

Easley is poised to portray himself as a progressive champion of North Carolina's working people on issues like health care, the environment, lending practices and crime. He has been somewhat aloof from the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly, and politics observers say they expect he would be a little less partisan than Hunt has been.

Primary Election Results
x = won primary outright
r = candidates in a runoff

Democratic President

• x-Al Gore 377,825 70%
• Bill Bradley 102,417 19%

  Republican President

• x-George W. Bush 252,031 79%
• John McCain 34,813 11%
• Alan Keyes 25,199 8%
• No Preference 5,285 2%
• Gary Bauer 3,307 1%

Democratic Governor

• x-Mike Easley 327,976 59%
• Dennis A. Wicker 199,090 36%
• Robert Ayers 9,275 2%
• Ken Rogers 7,255 1%
• Kenneth Gottfried 3,799 1%
• Brian M. Ipock 3,311 1%
• Roger Maines 3,088 1%

  Republican Governor

• x-Richard Vinroot 142,120 45%
• Leo Daughtry 115,422 37%
• Charles Neely 47,845 15%
• Art Manning 7,142 2%

  Libertarian Governor

• x-Barbara J. Howe 921 80%
• Jonathan Littlejohn 237 20%

  Democratic Lieutenant Governor

• x-Beverly Perdue 326,644 64%
• Ed Wilson 106,756 21%
• Ronnie Ansley 55,116 11%
• Joel Harbinson 24,990 5%

  Republican Lieutenant Governor

• x-Betsy L. Cochrane 202,698 72%
• Anders Nilsson 78,017 28%

  Democratic State Auditor

• x-Ralph Campbell (i) 287,311 61%
• Pamela Ann Connell 183,585 39%

  Republican State Auditor

• x-Leslie Merritt 110,432 45%
• Jack Daly 80,134 33%
• Johnnie Mayfield 52,246 22%

  Democratic Agriculture Commissioner

• x-Meg Scott Phipps 213,601 43%
• Graham Boyd 133,893 27%
• Norris Tolson 80,565 16%
• Bobby McLamb 65,440 13%

  Republican Agriculture Commissioner

• r-Steve Troxler 68,065 28%
• r-Tom Davidson 59,033 24%
• Billy Guthrie 51,042 21%
• David Rouzer 28,305 12%
• Frank Tadlock 20,103 8%
• Elbie Powers 19,386 8%

Democratic Labor Commissioner

• x-Doug Berger 171,486 40%
• Dana Cope 135,966 32%
• George Parrott 120,131 28%

  Republican Labor Commissioner

• r-Cherie Killian Berry 91,463 39%
• r-John Miller 72,675 31%
• Mac Weatherman 47,134 20%
• Carl Southard 24,587 10%

Democrat State Treasurer

• x-Richard H. Moore 313,443 70%
• Richard James 137,508 30%

Republican Supreme Court Justice

• x-Robert H. Edmunds Jr. 173,324 69%
• Marvin Schiller 78,308 31%

  Democrat Court of Appeals

• x-Robin Hudson 284,338 67%
• Tab Hunter 140,377 33%

SOURCE: State Board of Elections

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