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— The Sunday Messenger, November 1, 2009 —
Mayoral candidates gear up for Tuesday election By Andy Matthews andy@surrymessenger.com
W
ith just two full days left before Tuesday’s Mount Airy mayoral election, Deborah Cochran and Teresa Lewis are campaigning hard, both of them pressing the flesh, working the polls and calling on volunteers to help get out the vote.
Most political observers believed all along it would be a showdown between Lewis, a well-known business owner, and Cochran, a popular radio personality and city commissioner. Now it’s up to voters to decide who will replace Jack Loftis, who decided this summer not to run for a third four-year term. Cochran and Lewis, who defeated Gene Clark and Paul Eich in a four-way primary last month, are both networking and lobbying their supporters to go the polls, which will be open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. But the two are going about in a different way. In the final week before Tuesday’s vote, Lewis began running television advertise-
Teresa Lewis
Deborah Cochran
ments. And she said on Friday that she’s getting results. “The TV ad has created a lot of interest. We’ve had some contributions come in this week,” Lewis said, adding that the television exposure has resulted in more campaign contributions. “That was our last expenditure.” Lewis, the founder and owner of Workforce Carolina, also has a Facebook page on
the Internet where she has more than 260 fans and where her television advertisement can be viewed on Youtube.com. According to her most recent campaign disclosure form, which was filed Monday with the county Board of Elections, Lewis had raised $12,874.13 and spent $12,131.29. That doesn’t include the television advertisements on WXII. Lewis said that her expenditures show
that she takes the campaign seriously. Lewis herself has contributed $6,370.13 to her campaign. The way to get results, Lewis says, is to get your message out to voters. She also notes that her expenditures have gone to local businesses. By contrast, Cochran says that she still doesn’t expect to meet the $3,000 spending threshold that requires candidates to file disclosure forms with the elections office. “I have a simple campaign strategy,” Cochran said. “I stick with things that work for me . . . I’m using a lot of ‘sweat equity.’” Cochran, who works for WSYD, said that she is utilizing the same methods that got her elected two years ago — a grassroots, doorto-door campaign with no major advertising until some newspaper spots on the Sunday before election day. “Several of my volunteers have made phone calls,” Cochran said. “But I haven’t spent a lot of money . . . I’m still well under $3,000.” Two of Cochran’s volunteers are former mayoral candidates who were defeated in the Oct. 6 four-way primary. Clark and Eich have both endorsed Cochran, saying they believe she would do more to shake up city government than maintain the status quo. “They are out there working,” Cochran Continued on next page
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