FIELD REPORTS

October 4, 1998
		Correspondent Jeffrey Kaye reports on how the president's problems are shaping one campaign for Congress in North Carolina.

Oct. 1998: Online NewsHour's coverage of this race Online NewsHour Special Report: Election '98   U.S. House of Representatives Rep. Bob Etheridge's Web Site at the House The Raleigh News & Observer	DAN PAGE, Republican candidate North Carolina: It's important to send a message to Washington that the people here in the second district care about what kind of men women we have serving in Congress and the White House.
	Launching the air campaign.
	JEFFREY KAYE: Republican Dan Page was among the first in the country to run an ad directly tying his Democratic opponent to the controversy surrounding President Clinton. In August, the North Carolina State Senator, jump-started his campaign with a TV ad attacking first-term Congressman Bob Etheridge. AD: Who stands with Bill Clinton even now? Liberal Bob Etheridge. Etheridge gives Clinton a standing ovation, applauding Clinton's values, not ours. JEFFREY KAYE: Page says he took a risk running the commercial since some party leaders thought it might backfire. DAN PAGE: Party leaders were saying do not run this ad. Do not do this. We did it because we thought it was right, regardless of what the consequences were, which at the time some would say would have been terrible for the campaign. JEFFREY KAYE: But, says Page, the commercial has energized his campaign. President Clinton's problems have also motivated Republicans, according to Bill Peaslee, chairman of the Wake County republican party. BILL PEASLEE, Wake County Republican chair: The phone at the county party headquarters has been ringing off the hook. It's generated a tremendous amount of interest in people wanting to work for the Republican Party this year. It's been great as far as local politics is concerned
	An incumbent on the defensive.
	BOB ETHERIDGE: We ought to save it, to save Social Security first. JEFFREY KAYE: When Democrat incumbent Bob Etheridge campaigns, he prefers to stick to issues -- like Social Security, education, and Medicare --and not talk about the president. BOB ETHERIDGE: These people down here they want to talk about the issues that affect their daily lives, where they live, you know. Of a morning when they get up most folks don't worry about the other. JEFFREY KAYE: Are you saying that the scandal in Washington is irrelevant to the issues and to your campaign? BOB ETHERIDGE: Well, I don't know that I'd say irrelevant. What I would say is that as far as the people in the 2nd district are concerned, they are more concerned about the day to day issues. JEFFREY KAYE: But there is little question that moral issues resonate in North Carolina's second congressional district . Although it includes fast growing urban Raleigh, much of the district is politically conservative, big tobacco and bible belt country. JEFFREY KAYE: Page, who sings in his church choir, says his polling data indicate district voters see the election in part as a referendum on President Clinton's conduct. DAN PAGE: It remains to be seen what kind of effect that's going to have. But I think people think that it's important. And I think that in some way or another they're expecting the Congressman to address this issue. JEFFREY KAYE: But Jenny Edwards, chair of the Franklin County Democratic Party, says it's the media, not the public, that insist on raising the Clinton controversy. JENNY EDWARDS: Most of the calls I get is wanting a reaction on the Clinton situation. Well, my response to that is that the Washington scandal has not educated one child in Franklin County, it hasn't built one school or raised one teacher's pay. We're dealing with that locally and trying to do the best we can. JEFFREY KAYE: But Peaslee says that the Washington uproar may have a local impact, particularly on democratic voters. BILL PEASLEE: If they feel demoralized, if they feel let down by their president, they may decide to stay home. And if they stay home, that means that not only they don't vote for the federal candidates, but they don't vote for the local democratic candidates either.