Jack Hawke, a veteran political consultant and former N.C. Republican Party chairman, did something last week he said he hadn't done in 45 years - left a campaign.
Hawke was a top adviser to Tim D'Annunzio, one of six Republicans running for the 8th District congressional seat Democrat Larry Kissell holds.
Hawke said that he left in part over D'Annunzio's postings on the blog "Christ's War," which combines politics with biblical references and end-times theology. Hawke said he advised the candidate to take it down after an article in The Charlotte Observer in February quoted passages from the blog.
It disappeared from public view for a while but then reappeared. Another news story about the blog ran last week in The News & Observer's Under the Dome column.
"He took it down, told me it was down and down to stay," said Hawke, who advised former Gov. Jim Martin and gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. "Next I knew, it was in The N&O telling me it was back up. ... I don't think any candidate should get up at 3 or 4 in the morning, sit down in front of a computer and pour your heart out. It's just not a smart thing to do."
Hawke says the two "mutually parted ways." D'Annunzio spokeswoman Lauren Slepian said, "No one was fired, and no one quit."
"The change was initiated by Tim, but agreed to by Jack, that Tim would take full control over future strategy," she said in an e-mail message. "Jack is still an informal adviser."
Only four congressional candidates in the country have put more of their own money into their races than D'Annunzio, a Hoke County businessman who has invested at least $553,000 in his. His own polls show he has a 2-1 edge over his nearest primary opponent.
In the "Christ's War" blog reported last week, D'Annunzio laid out what he called a "four-year plan for the revitalization of the US Federal Government."
"Abolish the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation, Treasury, and Home Land Security," he wrote.
"Any duties remaining that are Constitutional should be rolled into other Departments. Social Security and Medicare should be ... given to the control of the states."
Combined with the more conventional stands of D'Annunzio's TV ads, Hawke said, such posts send voters confusing messages.
"Right now people ... have issues that they want solved on the national level. It's not just 'I'm against the entire federal government.'...The message was on the verge of getting muddled."
