By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
Cal Cunningham was talking on a cell phone and seated in an SUV when two members of his campaign staff noticed that the candidate’s sign wasn’t posted in the window of the local Democratic headquarters in Washington Saturday.
As the candidate prepared to make his entrance, the faux pas, if it was one, was remedied when one of the staffers handed a Cunningham for Senate sign to Ann Cherry, secretary of the Beaufort County Democratic Party.
Cherry quickly taped the sign in the window next to one for Elaine Marshall, the candidate’s rival.
Soon after, a smiling Cunningham strolled up to headquarters to shake hands and chat with a handful of local Democrats, some of whom are known Marshall supporters.
The small gathering reflected the so-far-miniscule turnout for the June 22 second primary pitting the former state senator against Marshall, North Carolina’s secretary of state.
Recently, area elections officials reported that eligible voters were trickling in for the one-stop, no-excuse absentee voting period ahead of the second primary, and turnout was expected to be dismal on voting day.
“Not many at all,” Cunningham said of the turnout to date.
Alice Mills Sadler, chairwoman of the Beaufort County Dems, noted that the county organization held a phone bank a week or so ago, reminding people about the runoff.
She indicated the time of year is a hindrance to the party’s efforts to draw voters to the polls.
“When schools close, everybody gets in that vacation mind-set,” she said.
In an interview, Cunningham made it clear he has no regrets about calling for a second primary against Marshall, who scored a majority of votes in the May 4 primary but failed to get the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff.
Asked about the fact that the second primary is proving costly to the two Democrats, who have been far outstripped in fundraising by incumbent U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Cunningham referenced his two targets: Marshall, briefly, and the incumbent he hopes to go up against.
“We can and should be using this opportunity to build our party and invite folks to check out the candidacies throughout this runoff,” the Lexington attorney said. “I can continue to hold Mr. Burr accountable for the bad decisions he’s made — (Burr has) hurt North Carolina, undermined the foundation of this economy.”
He said he’s called on Marshall to hold a series of five debates.
“She’s agreed to two,” Cunningham continued. “We saw in our old primary, May the 4th, that the heightened attention to our candidacies, and the attention that was given to the choices that voters are going to have this fall, brought us in the polls neck and neck with Richard Burr. And this runoff primary can and is providing the same opportunity, perhaps in much the same way that the extended primaries in 2008 made Secretary Clinton and President Obama better candidates.”
Asked about the apparently lagging voter interest in the runoff during the one-stop period, he said, “We’re actively out … standing here today, traversing North Carolina, encouraging voters to go to the polls to check out these options, this candidacy.”
He said he’s been to nearly all of the state’s 100 counties on the campaign trail.
Asked if his willingness to show up in Washington was a sign of the tightness of the race, Cunningham said, “No.”
“It’s more a reflection of our recognition that I’m the new guy in the campaign,” he said.
Later, Cunningham and his crew fanned out at the Washington Summer Festival to distribute campaign literature and meet voters.
Saturday’s appearance was the first time Cunningham had stopped for a campaign event in Beaufort County this season.
In mid-April, Marshall appeared in Belhaven at a fundraiser for her campaign.
The last available polling in this race was done in May. The poll, by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, showed Marshall and Cunningham dead even.
It’s unclear how a light turnout could change things when the final voting is done, and many observers at the Beaufort County level say it’s anybody’s contest at this point.
It appears both of the campaigns are concerned about minimal turnout for the runoff.
“It’s the summer. It’s hot,” Thomas Mills, a spokesman for the Marshall campaign, said in a June 7 e-mail to the Daily News. “We know voters statewide, and especially on the coast, are thinking about other things right now and aren’t used to voting in June. But we think this is important, and we’re gonna keep talking about it, and keep doing everything we can to reach out to voters.”