The N&R’s Doug Clark (unposted) reviews Gary Pearce’s biography of longtime Gov. Jim Hunt.
Clark addresses the big question: Could Hunt have become president had he beaten Jesse Helms in the 1984 Senate race?
“If Hunt had beaten Helms, he might have become president,” Pearce muses. Hunt, not Bill Clinton, might have been the moderate Southerner elected to the White House.”
I’m sure he’s right. In fact, many years ago I wrote a column for the High Point Enterprise speculating that Hunt would have been the Democrats’ nominee in 1988 instead of Michael Dukakis —- and would have stood a much better chance of beating George H.W. Bush.
As we learned two years ago —or in 1992, for that matter —- anything’s possible, although Hunt has nothing on Bubba and Obama in the charisma department.
