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1809.1-3
Collection: ROB CHRISTENSEN COLLECTION
1984
Physical Description: Approximately one cubic foot of printed brochures,
leaflets, press releases, speeches, statements to the press, newspaper
and magazine cuttings, and one tape recording.
Acquisition: Gift of Rob Christensen, News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C.,
January 29, 1993.
Description: These political campaign reference files were created during
the general election of 1984 by the donor, chief capitol correspondent for
the News and Observer. They relate specifically to the campaigns of
Governor Hunt and Senator Helms for election to the U.S. Senate. Both men
commenced their campaigns long before ever filing formally as candidates
for election, and both candidates enjoyed a threefold support from (1) their
respective party headquarters, (2) their respective campaign headquarters,
and (3) their related political committees and support groups. The election
was hotly contested. The two candidates were said, upon conclusion of the
campaign, to have spent in excess of $25 million, of which $15 million were
said to have been spent in the purchase of television broadcast time.
The greater part of this well-balanced collection is made up of
materials prepared for and released to the press by the two candidates,
by their party headquarters, and by their various support groups. Many of
the press releases, speeches, and statements set forth the candidates'
positions on political issues. Researchers who consult the speeches and
press statements in the collection will see that Mr. Christensen amended
many of them to record what the speaker actually said in those cases where
the prepared text was not followed precisely. Brochures and leaflets in
the collection sometime state political positions of a candidate, and
sometime attack his rival's position or political record. In addition to
these, there are a few examples of texts of negative television "spots" used
by both candidates, with resulting press releases in which one candidate
cried "foul" at the statements of the other. Included, too, are materials
relating to the financing of the two campaigns — letters, for example, used
in Senator Helms' highly successful direct-mail fund-raising drives, and
articles showing to what extent both campaigns relied on funding sources
from all over the nation.
