The folks at the North Carolina Collection have unearthed an interesting item from the 1984 U.S. Senate race between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt.

It's a 45 rpm record entitled "Jesse Can't Shag." In a post on their North Carolina Miscellany blog, they describe it as a polished country song with a honky-tonk piano, a horn section and backup singers.

Given the passions that Senator Helms evoked, it's a surprisingly gentle song. The gist of the song is that the vocalist is leaning toward Hunt because "Jimmy" likes beach music. On the other hand, Jesse "has two right feet" and has never learned to shag. The singer thinks it's time for Jesse to "shag or get off the floor."

The Collection is looking for people who know something about the recording. Anyone out there got any answers?

Overwhelmed by all the campaign material filling up your mailbox (the old-fashioned one, not your e-mail box)?

If you're looking for a way to get rid of it, Eileen McGrath is ready to help.

McGrath is the assistant curator of the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill. The collection, as she puts it "attempts to document the heritage of the state - and that includes our politics."

But she said in a recent letter to fellow librarians (quoted here with her permission) that the collection is "very Triangle-centric."

"To overcome that I'm contacting you, asking you to save those postcards, letters, flyers, etc. and mail them to me."

McGrath is interested in any mailers having to do with state or local elections, as well as anything related to the presidential race sent to North Carolina voters.

So, stuff it all in an envelope and send it to Eileen McGrath, Assistant Curator, North Carolina Collection, Campus Box 3930, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC, 27514-8890.