carolina senator jesse helms was pulling behind his black democratic challenger. so helms called in the political consultants who in turn helped the helms campaign to fight back. this is what theygn came up wit this ad. you needed that job because you were the best qualified, but they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. is that really fair? harvey gains says it is. your vote on this issue, for racial quota, harvey gain, against racial quotas, jesse helms. you were a better candidate than the minority guy that they went with. can you feel the injustice of it all? that ad was exactly what senator jesse helms needed. he won re-election to a fourth term in the senate 54 to 46%. that strategy worked, it worked well, making gant the face of affirmative action, a racial quota system that kept whites at a disadvantage ipfavor of less qualified minorities, it was potent stuff. the race baiting and the zero-sum politics, it moved people because it angered them a
all? that ad was exactly what senator jesse helms needed. he won re-election to a fourth term in the senate 54 to 46%. that strategy worked, it worked well, making gant the face of affirmative action, a racial quota system that kept whites at a disadvantage ipfavor of less qualified minorities, it was potent stuff. the race baiting and the zero-sum politics, it moved people because it angered them and made them believe the system was rigged against them and in favor of someone else. it was politically explosive and that was 33 years ago. but the strategy to undermine affirmative action, a program to combat racial injustice, it war against all that started well before jesse helms. this is what was happening 14 years before that.at certainly no one of us would challenge government s right and