News-Record.com

Adams was not shy about reminding people that she had fought that battle for more than a decade. In fact, all that experience probably paid off on the way to getting the bill passed. It’s experience that Adams points to on the campaign trail.

“People don’t have to wonder where I’m going to be on issues and wonder if I’m going to be reluctant to speak out,” Adams said with a chuckle. While she can play certain issues close to the vest, Adams is not known as being shy when it comes to expressing her opinions.

But her opponent in this year’s election thinks that experience has come with a price. She charges that Adams, a college professor who has occupied high profile leadership positions for two decades, is no longer in touch with the people she represents.

“I am genuinely concerned for the people,” Wright said Friday, calling the General Assembly “detached” from the voters. “I want to bring that common man, that worker, back to the legislature to represent the people.”

House District 58 is a majority Democratic district and it was drawn to maintain African American voting strength under the federal voting rights act. So it is worth noting that both women in this contest are African American.

An as much as this is a contest between two personalities – anyone who watches Morgan Wright and Adams in the same room for three minutes can tell they’re not friends and probably won’t be any time soon – it can also be seen as a contest between two ideas of who is an African American leader.

Adams, a Democrat, is from Greensboro’s old school. She currently sits as chairwoman of the Simkins Political Action Committee, a long-running group made up of prominent African American leaders. Like many in that group, she was elected to office in the 1980s as previously disenfranchised groups began to reap the benefits of struggles during the 1960s and 1970s.

Morgan Wright, a Republican, has come onto the public scene more recently. She still lists the parent-teacher group at her children’s school among her civic involvement and is involved in grass roots voter education work. While these are fairly typical credentials for a local candidate, they are not the same bona fides that Adams’ and her contemporaries such as Rep. Earl Jones, county commission Skip Alston or city councilwoman Yvonne Johnson have brought to the table during their campaigns.

A very telling moment happened when the two women interviewed before the News & Record editorial board. Morgan Wright said that she had never seen Adams at a community event. Adams shot back that she had been around "for years" and that she had yet to see Morgan Wright out and about. The two simply don't run in the same circles.

And the Republican criticizes Adams’ involvement wit the Simkins PAC, saying elected officials should not be involved in endorsements. As you can hear in the audio below, Adams shoots back that Morgan Wright has her own conflict of interest with another pac.

As you might expect, the two also differ on the issues. Adams favors raising the minimum wage higher, Morgan Wright does not. Morgan Wright says the state should look into private school vouchers for kids in failing public classrooms, Adams does not.

Both list education and fixing public education as a top priority, although have pretty different ideas on how to go about that. And while Morgan Wright says Jim Black needs to step down as House Speaker and the lottery needs rapid and radical reform, Admas says Black should be given due process and that no one has shown the lottery needs any major changes.

Audio Links
Note: In previous interviews I have used audio from individual interviews I did with each of the candidates. In this case, because I did the bulk of my work with these two ladies over the phone, I’m using audio from my paper’s editorial board interview where Adams and Morgan Wright were interviewed at the same time. By way of full disclosure, I sometimes sit in on the editorial board interviews because they can be a good source of information. I do not take part in the editorial or endorsement process.
Now for the links:
(I'm told our audio server is flipping out once again. I'll update - again - when things are working, again.)

• Both candidates were asked about how to approach the health care problems in the state. Click here to listen to their replies. Morgan Wright answers first, followed by Adams.
• Raising the minimum wage was a big issue last session and promises to be an issue again next year. Click here to listen to the editorial boards Q+A on that. Olga answers first and has some give and take with editorial page editor Allen Johnson. Adams then gives her answer.
• Both ladies were asked about House Speaker Jim Black. Here’s that answer.
• And curiously enough, the Simkins Pac cam up as an issues, as did the Triad IMPAC group I’ve written about. Here’s that give and take.

About the candidates

Alma Adams
Party: Democrat
Age: 60
Address: Liberty Valley Road, Greensboro
Family: two children, four grandchildren.
Education: Westside High School in Newark, N.J.; Bachelor’s and master’s degrees, N.C. A&T; doctorate, Ohio State University
Professional: Professor, Bennett College
Elective experience: House member since 1994; Greensboro City Council, 4 terms; Greensboro City School Board, 1 term.
Civic leadership: American Legacy Foundation, past board member; African American Atellier, founder; Simkins Memorial Political Action Committee, chairwoman.

Olga Morgan Wright
Party: Republican
Age: 47
Address: East Lee Street, Greensboro
Family: Divorced, two children.
Education: Dudley High School graduate; Attended N.C. A&T and Greensboro College
Professional: Assistant at Smith Moore, paralegal by profession.
Elective experience: Ran for same seat in 2004.
Civic leadership: Member, Triad IMPAC; Previously volunteered with the Guardian Ad Litem program; executive member, Guilford County Republican Party;
Analysis
This is a rematch of the 2004 campaign for this same seat. The district stretches from east Greensboro through rural parts of Guilford County to the Alamance and Randolph county lines. Voter registration in the district is heavily skewed, with 64 percent of voters registered as Democrats to only 22.4 percent Republican.