Hails North Carolina as Example of Republican Prosperity : Vote GOP ‘Top to Bottom,’ Reagan Urges

President Reagan campaigned Friday for conservative candidates “from top to bottom,” hailing this state as an example of Republican-induced prosperity.

In a speech to GOP donors at the Raleigh Civic Arena, Reagan urged support for a long list of GOP candidates seeking congressional and statewide offices, as well as for presidential nominee George Bush.

The effort, part of Reagan’s focus on obtaining more congressional and local political support for what he presumes will be a continued GOP presidency, was linked to the highly publicized economic boom of North Carolina.

Gives Credit to Governor

At one point, Reagan, crediting Gov. James G. Martin for the state’s improved economy, ticked off statistics on job prosperity and said that “several corporations” had moved here from Massachusetts, home state of Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee.

But Kathleen Blystone, assistant director of research at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, said that “the only one we can think of is Data General,” a computer assembly firm that moved from Westboro, Mass., in 1980, four years before Martin assumed office.

Later in the day, White House officials circulated a list containing four companies that they said had relocated to the Research Triangle Park here, but two of those firms actually are branch offices of existing Massachusetts companies.

Reagan said 120,000 new jobs had been created in this state in the last year, pointing to the influence of high technology in Research Triangle.

And, on the topic of high technology, he termed his planned “Star Wars” missile defense system “wildly successful.”

“SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) is no fantasy,” he said. “It’s a reality, and it’s going to shape the future as long as there is a Republican in the White House.”

The President’s optimistic description of North Carolina’s employment picture was challenged by Christopher Scott, president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, who pointed out that the state has lost 100,000 jobs in the textile industry over the last 10 years.

Scott complained that North Carolina has “the lowest average hourly wage--$7.90--of any state in the country, including Mississippi. Reagan is not speaking to the whole of North Carolina. Rural and small-town North Carolina is really suffering.”

However, Reagan portrayed the state differently.

“North Carolina is a leader, a pathfinder, as this country travels down the road toward the future,” he told an enthusiastic audience. “I’m here to help that future along, from the Statehouse to the courthouse, because what North Carolina has been teaching this nation is that the future has an honest face, a good face, a conservative face.”

Martin, who introduced Reagan to the crowd, basked in the praise of his state. However, his willingness to embrace national GOP leaders was called into question earlier this month when he refused to join Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle at a rally here, sending his wife, Dottie, to welcome the Indiana senator. In addition, Martin skipped a visit by Vice President Bush earlier this year.

No-shows are not a problem for Reagan, however, as he crisscrosses the country in search of support for GOP candidates. Many apparently believe the popular President has longer coattails than Bush, even if he is not running for office.

After his speech here, Reagan flew to Bowling Green, Ky., where he addressed students at Western Kentucky University, urging them to vote against liberals, from the presidency on down.

Near the end of his speech at the Diddle Arena, he said that “it doesn’t make any sense” to elect a conservative President and then “send people” to Congress who oppose him.