FRED SMITH GOVERNOR 2008 - "A Little Extra Effort" Statewide BBQ Tour
Thursday, October 11, 2007, Buncombe County.Did you ever have a project that required special attention? Buncombe County proved mine and as Shakespeare ably put it "All's well that ends well." While the invitations were delayed, the GOP in Buncombe and Henderson counties stepped up to send emails and make phone calls to their Republican friends in Buncombe. When people received their books, they also read them and the cafeteria at Valley Springs Middle School was abuzz with excitement for Fred Smith. One of the guests engaged Fred in a conversation about the difference between a "democracy" and a "republic." Important to him as an eastern European immigrant. Many volunteers provided support - Chad, Nancy, Paul, Kathy, Kim, and Linsey. Our team gives them thanks. Fred told the guests the importance of Buncombe County to the outcome of the race. He urged them to work together and give the little extra effort that it will take to elect a Republican governor. I believe they will!
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Fred Smith, October 12, 2007
I arrived in Asheville around 9:30 in the morning and began my visit with a 30 minute interview with Russ Bowen of WLOS TV, the ABC affiliate in Asheville.
My next stop was Veritas Christian Academy in Fletcher. Kay Belknap, the Head of School took us on a tour of classrooms and the facility and the school choir performed in the library. We left Veritas and proceeded to the Buncombe County Homebuilders luncheon in Swannanoa, N.C. where Caroline Sutton was our host. After the luncheon we toured Auten Printing and I met with the owner, Stewart Auten. We stopped for a coffee break at Caffiend 21 where we ran into former N.C. State Representative Mark Crawford. I then had a late afternoon campaign meeting with several members of my team.
We had a good energetic crowd for the barbeque at the Valley Springs Middle School with approximately 140 people in attendance, which I was told was excellent for Buncombe County. There were quite a few elected officials in attendance including Buncombe County BOC Chairman Nathan Ramsey, BCGOP Chairman Mark Delk, Henderson County BOC Vice Chairman Charlie Messer and Fletcher City Councilman Jim Clayton, as well as Bill Russell, a candidate for city council in Asheville. I appreciate them coming out for the evening. Much thanks is also due to volunteers, Kathy Erwin, Chad Nesbitt, Nancy Nesbitt, Linsey Henthorn, Paul Perdue, Rick Jenkins and Dwayne "Doc" Durham who helped Deirdre make the barbeque a great success.
After the barbeque ended around 9, I caught the second half of the Wake Forest - Florida State game (Wake Forest won) before flying home. I got home around 1 a.m. Tomorrow I will be visiting Bertie and North Hampton counties in eastern North Carolina.
Fred
October 11, 2007
IN THE NEWS
On The Road, Smith Sticking to His Plan As He Runs for Governor
By Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press
Fred Smith was meticulous in building his law firm. Ditto in building the suburban homes that helped make his fortune. Now that the state senator from Johnston County is running for governor, his approach to the campaign isn't any different.
"The job of the governor is like the CEO of a company," Smith told student government leaders at Veritas Christian Academy in Fletcher during a daylong campaign trip to the Asheville area last week. "Hard work will go a long way to help you be successful in life."
It's been nothing but meticulous hard work for the 65-year-old Smith in the two months since the state Legislature adjourned in August, as the Republican hopeful for governor sticks to an aggressive travel schedule. He's already held one of his signature barbecues in about a third of North Carolina's counties, an event he's prepared to take to all 100 by February.
"I don't think there's one race for governor. There are 100 races," Smith said Thursday during a run of seven barbecues in a week that took him from Bertie to Buncombe county. "I've got a strategy for each county and we're putting that into play."
There is, however, a base strategy for each visit. About 10 days before each barbecue, Smith's campaign sends out packets to Republicans who have cast ballots in at least two of the last four Republican primary elections. Inside is an invitation and his biography, "A Little Extra Effort."
The biography chronicles his life from growing up at the Methodist orphanage in Raleigh, where his parents worked, to building a Raleigh law firm, entering the home-building business and his first run for public office in 2000. It gives his take on a life that's also included a difficult divorce in the 1970s and the near failure of his development business in the early 1990s.
"Don't let anybody in the opposition paint your barn," Smith said during a recent speech, recalling a word of advice from a political mentor in Johnston County. The book is "an effort to paint my barn."
Smith isn't alone on the campaign trail as he and two other Republicans - Salisbury attorney Salisbury attorney Bill Graham and former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr - look to wrest the Executive Mansion from Democratic control. Graham had college students out knocking on doors last summer, and Orr is holding court at weekly "Pancakes & Politics" breakfast meetings with the media.
A recent Elon University poll showed all three about even, but with two-thirds of Republicans surveyed yet to decided on a choice.
"It's still a wide open race," said Ballard Everett, a longtime GOP operative who isn't working for any of the candidates. "It's a very volatile group of voters out their right now, and I don't think they're sure what they want."
Smith's personal wealth has helped the make his campaign trips a little easier. He paid about $2.5 million for a six-seat private jet, reducing travel times and allowing him to sleep at his Clayton home every night. For shorter trips, he bought a used RV equipped with an office.
"I can take care of my business, I can run my campaign and I can get home," he said. "I'm not going to be able to run from the fact that I'm successful."
Seated in his Cessna Citation, Smith reviewed a three-ring binder prepared by his campaign staff about Buncombe County, studying voter registration trends and memorizing the names of elected GOP officials he might meet on the ground. He signed a stack of thank-you cards for people who attended an earlier barbecue in Hendersonville.
After landing, he stepped off the plane wearing alligator boots and a polo shirt embroidered with his campaign logo, ready to go.
But at a printing company in Woodfin, a group of employees largely looked indifferent as Smith spoke. "You've got a challenge, buddy," said company owner Stewart Auten. The next event wasn't much better, as only a few people showed up for a private reception in the exclusive Biltmore Forest neighborhood outside of Asheville.
"Putting something together in Buncombe County is very difficult - for a Republican," said Jonathan Hill, Smith's chief of staff.
But there was a lively crowd of 150 for the barbecue at Valley Springs Middle School in Arden. They cheered when Smith pledged to improve the state's roads, create a culture of integrity in Raleigh following the Jim Black scandal and push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"When a book is mailed to you ... to me that's going the extra mile to get the word out," said Dana Custer, 60, of Swannanoa, who attended the barbecue that ended with Smith's wife, Ginny, singing "God Bless America."
Smith's sprits were high at the end of his campaign day, boosted both by the response at the barbecue and the fortunes of Wake Forest, where he played football in the early 1960s. The Demon Deacons had just beaten Florida State as Smith left Asheville shortly before midnight.
"If you've left everything on the table, and you don't win, you don't walk off the field feeling bad, because if you did you would never go on the field to begin with," Smith said. "You just want to know that you've prepared, that you've given it your all and you've done everything you could do to win. And if you do, you can leave the ball game with your head held high."
Original article can be found online HERE.
IN PICTURES
Click HERE to view all Buncombe County BBQ photos.
