Joel Burgess

jburgess@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE - Tim Kaine's appearance Monday was a rally for the party faithful, but it was also meant to sway the fence-sitters and even the skeptical.

The stakes for all those North Carolina votes are high. Polling information shows Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump in a statistical dead heat, putting North Carolina's 15 electoral votes up for grabs.

Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, spoke to about 300 people at the Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center in Asheville's Southside neighborhood. His speech was supposed to focus on jobs and the economy but also veered heavily into criticism of Trump.

Among those who came to hear Clinton's running mate were the die-hards, converted Bernie Sanders supporters and even self-described "Republicans for Hillary."

Retired pre-school teacher Marsha Cozart of Fairview said she'd supported Clinton "probably from the beginning. I’m a Democrat. I feel like that is my party."

"I think that tax changes they're proposing will create more jobs as opposed to not taxing the rich. I think Republicans seem to think that will create jobs but it hasn’t been the case," Cozart said. "Reagan tried that."

Retiree Jewell Wilson of Fairview was a field director for some former top Democrats, including Sen. Terry Sanford and Gov. Jim Hunt, and said she attended the rally as long-time Clinton supporter.

The ex-secretary of state and former senator was “best qualified,” had the “best experience” and had “honesty and integrity,” she said.

In terms of jobs, Wilson said Clinton’s campaign has “a real plan.”

“It’s not just pulling something out of the air, and I really think it is going to work,” she said. “I think they have economists who have helped them work these things out...They have experts giving them information they need, and it’s not just a dream.”

Lisa Davis, a part-time resident of Asheville and Naples, Florida, said she too had been decided for a long time. "That's like the Rock of Gibraltar decided," said Davis, a retiree who worked in magazine advertising.

"There is no ambivalence about this election. And anyone who has any needs a checkup from the neck up," she said.

But for some it was less clear cut.

History teacher John Martin of West Asheville voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Backing Clinton now wasn't too difficult, he said.

“Because I agreed with 90 percent of what Sanders said and 80 percent of what Clinton said, and that’s a small difference to me.”

Martin joked that Kaine needed to work on his Trump impersonation and said one of the best speakers on the importance of job plans was Justin Tweed, a graduate of the nonprofit Green Opportunities who introduced Kaine’s wife Anne Holton with a story about his personal financial struggles and how he improved his life with GO’s job training.

Martin said he liked the plan described by Kaine to use increased corporate taxes to fund debt-free college education.

“As an educator, that really struck home for me.”

Others were less sure.

Alaysia Black-Hackett of Candler is director of diversity and multicultural affairs at Mars Hill and said she was undecided.

She said she was looking for "a productive" set of policies that would help make the country more financially stable and unified. She also said college debt needed to be reduced. But Black-Hackett said she was wary of plans that could cut money coming to colleges.

"I do know it takes finances to run a college."

The event even drew disaffected Republicans. Joe and Karen Scheliga of Weaverville said they are registered Republicans but came to the event because they don't want to vote for Trump.

"I just feel like the more we know about each one, the easier it will be when we get in there when we vote," Karen Scheliga said.

"We’re kind of Republicans for Hillary at this point," Joe Scheliga said.

"Basically, no thinking person could vote for Trump, even being a lifelong Republican," he said. "It’s a depressing race this year. I want to find out if this is the lesser of the evils. I’m very cynical."

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