Essay: What's Really Fair

The biggest disappointment for Democrats in last week's generally pleasing election results was Harvey Gantt's loss to Jesse Helms in the North Carolina Senate race. Gantt apparently was leading until near the end, when Helms unleashed TV ads focusing on affirmative action in general and Gantt's own profit from a television-station deal in particular. No doubt these ads were intended in part to promote simple racism against Gantt, who is black, and no doubt they succeeded. But genuine resentment against racial favoritism is also something the Democrats are going to have to come to terms with.

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