DG

I first heard of DG Martin in 1984, when Governor Jim Hunt was running against Jesse Helms for Senate and DG was an underdog Democrat running for Congress in the traditionally Republican district around Charlotte.

With his million-megawatt smile and prematurely white hair, DG looked like the twin brother of comedian Steve Martin, who was big on Saturday Night Live back then.

In a campaign year dominated by negative ads, DG ran a positive, volunteer-based campaign.

He came within 321 votes – out of 218,000 cast – of beating Alex McMillan.

When Governor Hunt decided not to run again for Senate in 1986, my friend Harrison Hickman, a North Carolina native and Washington-based pollster, suggested we meet DG.

We went to the Martins’ home in Charlotte on a Saturday morning, sat on the deck and talked about the race while DG made pancakes.

I was impressed.

Tall and athletic – he was a daily runner – he had a refreshing openness, honesty and sense of humor. He had no political pomposity.

He had a great resume: played basketball at Davidson for Lefty Driesell, served in the Army Special Forces (“they said, join the Army and see the world; all I saw was Fort Bragg”), Yale Law School and active in his church and community.

Harrison and I thought he could win the Senate race. But DG wanted another crack at Congress; he hated losing.

He ran again – and lost again. Former Governor and Duke University President Terry Sanford ran for Senate – and won.

That was the first of three times Harrison and I tried to get DG to run for Senate.

We tried in 1990, but former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt was running against Helms, and DG had taken on a big job with the UNC System. He passed.

We tried in 1996, but a Gantt-Helms rematch was shaping up. DG passed again.

Harrison and I gave up.

In 1998, we were looking for a Democrat to run against Senator Lauch Faircloth, a former Democrat and member of Governor Hunt’s Cabinet who had become a Republican and defeated Sanford in 1992.

A friend introduced me to John Edwards, a political outsider who had a winning smile, a knack for winning multimillion-dollar jury verdicts as a trial lawyer and a willingness to spend some of his millions on a campaign.

Harrison and I agreed to work with him.

I felt I should tell DG, so we met for breakfast at Big Ed’s in downtown Raleigh. We shared a love of country food.

I told him my plans. DG said, “But I’m going to run this time.”

I kept my commitment to Edwards, but running against DG in the primary was no fun. Edwards won, then went on to beat Faircloth.

You know the rest of that story.

DG and I reconnected later. He interviewed me on Bookwatch when my biography of Governor Hunt was published. He had Carter and me on his radio show several times.

I became friends with his son Grier when he served in the legislature.

But I regret what might have been.

DG would have been a great Senator. He would have served North Carolina well in Washington.

Grier Martin said in an interview that his father was hit hard by his loss in 1998.

The big loser was North Carolina.

DG died Tuesday at his home in Chapel Hill, with his wife Harriet by his side. He was 85.