Notes from Maggie Lauterer’s political education

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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We just got finished watching The Political Education of Maggie Lauterer, so forgive us for re-living a bit of 1994. The masterful documentary brought back a lot of memories, and reminded us of a few lessons that may well resonate during this campaign season.

Maggie Lauterer was a WLOSer held in high regard across these mountains until she quit her TV job to run for congress. As the documentary notes, Maggie was the “Charles Kuralt” of WNC, going around and doing fluff bits on mountain life. She sat on front porches and played bluegrass and bit into ginseng roots. People loved it.

But Maggie was a naive political candidate. She didn’t know what it took to raise money. She swore she wouldn’t do the negative campaigning stuff. And she had a hard time swallowing people judging her on her political beliefs, which included favoring a woman’s right to choose when it came to abortion, as well as favoring some gun control measures.

Still, Maggie believed in the system. She took her dulcimer and her good intentions and hit the campaign trail. She sang “Amazing Grace” and debated Charles Taylor on television.

Taylor fought back, hammering Maggie with negative ads and a whisper campaign. Also, Maggie’s timing was bad. Across the country, the Contract with America had taken hold. And in the end, on Election Day 1994, Republicans scored one of the most sound, sweeping victories in all of politics.

The lessons are pretty simple. Don’t be naive. You’ve got to have money to win. And you must fight fire with fire. Take it from Maggie.