Former N.C. Democrats get warm welcome at GOP convention

By Kirsten B. Mitchell

August 2, 2000 Web posted at: 11:04 AM EDT (1504 GMT)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Winston-Salem Journal) -- James Lilley Jr. remembers holiday dinners with his extended family when discussions about politics were so heated ''we would almost throw drumsticks at each other.''

When he registered to vote in Eastern North Carolina in 1978, there was no question about his affiliation: Democrat with a capital ''D.''

This week, Lilley, a veterinarian from Plymouth, is one of the state's 62 delegates to the Republican National Convention. He is one of at least four Tarheel delegates who have switched party affiliation, a notable trend throughout the Southeast.

''It mirrors what has been going on in the South, in that we had a lot of conservative Democrats switching parties, back to the 1960s,'' said Thad Beyle, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina.

Changes such as Lilley's reflect why George W. Bush, the GOP nominee-in-waiting, is courting southern Democrats, said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.

''The biggest Republican success story of the past quarter-century has been the conversion of the South from Democrat to Republican despite Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton,'' he said.

Lilley, 40, changed his registration in 1997 after mulling it over for several years.

Democrats had always been the dominant party in North Carolina, but Lilley felt that the eastern part of the state had been left behind economically. In 1995, Harold Brubaker, who was the House Speaker at the time, met Lilley during a fund-raising trip and convinced him that he should change parties. Lilley waited two years, until his tenure as the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Washington County ended.

Brubaker also is a delegate at this year's GOP convention.

GOP officials from the heavily Democratic First Congressional District approached Lilley about being a delegate to this year's convention and elected him earlier this year.

''Its extremely exciting,'' he said. ''You're one person, and you can have the grain-in-the-sand attitude. But you're representing a huge chunk of folks back home. Its a real privilege for me to be part of this.''

Allowing someone such as Lilley to go to the convention is a ''perk that the party can use to reward someone who has switched parties,'' Beyle said. ''It sort of gives them some notoriety, some legitimacy. Not only did you change from that other party, but we recognize you as a bonafide member of our party.''

Former state Sen. Henry McKoy is one party switcher who is getting a lot of recognition at the GOP convention: not only did he leave the Democratic Party but he's black.

He was a delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention and voted for Gary Hart.

''There are lots of blacks and black input in the Democratic Party, so my view was just one of hundreds,'' said McKoy, who switched parties in 1989 when Republicans were in power in the White House and North Carolina's governor's mansion.

He said he felt he could have more of an impact in the GOP.

''I feel a lot more involved. I feel a lot closer to the leadership in the party,'' he said. McKoy ran as an at-large delegate at the state convention because ''it's not something I would watch from the sidelines.''

Former state Rep. Bobby Ray Hall switched parties in 1994 after he lost the Second Congressional District Democratic primary to Richard Moore, who later lost to Republican David Funderburk.

''I came to the conclusion that conservatives were not welcome in the Democratic Party,'' said Hall, 67, who sought out and won delegate status this year.

''I never dreamed that I would be a delegate to any convention ,'' Hall said. ''It's exciting. When you're on the floor you can just feel the electricity in the air and the excitement.''

Former Sen. Lauch Faircloth, chairman of the delegation, is one of the most well-known party switchers.

He changed to the GOP in 1991 to run for the U.S. Senate, where he served one term.

He was a Democratic National Convention delegate in the 1960s but is loath to talk about it.

''I don't know who I was supporting, but I was there,'' Faircloth said before ducking out of the hotel.

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