Jim Neal channeled another first-time U.S. Senate candidate.
In a 10-minute speech at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the Chapel Hill investment banker clearly hit on several favorite themes of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, who like him came from nowhere to run for the U.S. Senate.
Neal began by noting that his mother "grew up in a mill village," just as Edwards frequently noted that his father worked in a mill.
He then argued that people in North Carolina's rural communities are being left behind, feeling as though they are voiceless and "being left to die on the vine." He even borrowed a favorite statistic of Edwards, noting that one in four Americans "sleeping under a bridge" are veterans.
Neal ended his speech with a variation of Edwards' argument from his 2008 presidential campaign that the country didn't need to replace "corporate Republicans" with "corporate Democrats."
"The Democratic Party wins elections when we stand firm for our values. We win when we give the voters a clear contrast between our opponents in the Republican Party," he said. "We lose elections when we run safe campaigns ... right down the middle of the playbook."
He added, "Now is the time to vote for what you want and not what you think you can get."
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