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Bonanza Photo - Emma Garrard Jack Carter speaks at the Incline Village Library Thursday night.
Some 70 bi-partisan Incline residents showed up at Thursday night's North Lake Tahoe Democrat Club presentation of U.S. Senate candidate Jack Carter.
Carter, 58, son of former President Jimmy Carter, harkened back to a time and an administration that many Incline residents, both Democrat and Republican recall as a gilded age... and a president whose legacy as a humanitarian has only grown since leaving office.
Indeed, Jack Carter may have appealed to many progressives or moderates in the room of both parties as he spoke of his father's influence on his politic.
"My father for the last 25 years has been partisan," Carter said. "... Meaning he criticized both Clinton and Bush.
"I guess my policies are similar (to stay non-partisan)... but this year, this election, is important enough to bring me out from my business, my running in the desert, my guitar playing - my job of taking care of my family," he said.
Carter, 58, son of former President Jimmy Carter, harkened back to a time and an administration that many Incline residents, both Democrat and Republican recall as a gilded age... and a president whose legacy as a humanitarian has only grown since leaving office.
Indeed, Jack Carter may have appealed to many progressives or moderates in the room of both parties as he spoke of his father's influence on his politic.
"My father for the last 25 years has been partisan," Carter said. "... Meaning he criticized both Clinton and Bush.
"I guess my policies are similar (to stay non-partisan)... but this year, this election, is important enough to bring me out from my business, my running in the desert, my guitar playing - my job of taking care of my family," he said.
Carter, who described himself and his wife, Elizabeth, as "Nevadans all our lives, we just figured it out three years ago" said that it's the current presidential regime that really drew him into the public eye.
"This is the most crucial election of our time," Carter said. "We have to take one of the houses back and put a tourniquet on what the republicans are doing. If we take the Senate back we can provide sanity and start investigations into what these guys have done to us. We need to investigate Iraq, Valerie Plame... how far the wire tapping has gone.
"I'm not for impeachment, not for censure, I'm for finding out what's going on."
Carter also pulled back for an audience of moderates, nothing that his is not some left-wing rant; but drawing on his experience as a young man with a father in the White House and his successful run as a businessman, Carter said there's a difference between not agreeing with policy and not wanting to be told lies.
"When you look at the eavesdropping, Congress passing a law and the President ignoring it, and the secrecy ... we see this president has lied to us," Carter said. "People can say 'I do/don't agree with him on (issues) and that's OK, but leaking classified information for political reasons, that's not what presidents do."
Carter's candor won much of the crowd over.
"This is the most crucial election of our time," Carter said. "We have to take one of the houses back and put a tourniquet on what the republicans are doing. If we take the Senate back we can provide sanity and start investigations into what these guys have done to us. We need to investigate Iraq, Valerie Plame... how far the wire tapping has gone.
"I'm not for impeachment, not for censure, I'm for finding out what's going on."
Carter also pulled back for an audience of moderates, nothing that his is not some left-wing rant; but drawing on his experience as a young man with a father in the White House and his successful run as a businessman, Carter said there's a difference between not agreeing with policy and not wanting to be told lies.
"When you look at the eavesdropping, Congress passing a law and the President ignoring it, and the secrecy ... we see this president has lied to us," Carter said. "People can say 'I do/don't agree with him on (issues) and that's OK, but leaking classified information for political reasons, that's not what presidents do."
Carter's candor won much of the crowd over.
"I am a Democrat and my husband is a Republican," said Incline resident Jane Hoff. "But we vote for the best candidate. Carter has really brought some people out here tonight and made them think."
His straight talk mixed with business savvy, revealed his strategy to campaign in the rural areas of Nevada, a place where he feels his small-town Georgia roots and faith in the "working voter" will have the most impact.
"I grew up with southern hospitality," Carter said. "But I've come to know western hospitality... that is a rebuttable assumption that you're a good guy until you do something that will make me not like you. And that's something good."
Incline resident Andy Whyman thought he saw something good in Carter as he noted the senatorial candidate is campaigning in a way that may be a better solution for the country.
"He's not a sleek politician, just an intelligent fellow with a honest and good heart," Whyman said. "That's what we need a return to, someone that doesn't get bogged down in partisan issues or divisiveness, someone you can trust."
His straight talk mixed with business savvy, revealed his strategy to campaign in the rural areas of Nevada, a place where he feels his small-town Georgia roots and faith in the "working voter" will have the most impact.
"I grew up with southern hospitality," Carter said. "But I've come to know western hospitality... that is a rebuttable assumption that you're a good guy until you do something that will make me not like you. And that's something good."
Incline resident Andy Whyman thought he saw something good in Carter as he noted the senatorial candidate is campaigning in a way that may be a better solution for the country.
"He's not a sleek politician, just an intelligent fellow with a honest and good heart," Whyman said. "That's what we need a return to, someone that doesn't get bogged down in partisan issues or divisiveness, someone you can trust."
Carter was also self-effacing and aware that his name gives him cache amongst the "Great Generation" and said that it is a "superpower" he hopes to use for good.
"People who meet me go home to their (spouse) and say 'hey, I met Jimmy Carter's soon'," Carter said. "That conjures imagery of honesty and integrity. So, it's my legacy but it's also a responsibility."
Bob Westervelt, a Republican, watched Carter speak and recalled a few months in 1976 when he served as security for Jimmy during the Democratic Convention.
"Regardless of (politics) the Carters are nice people," Westervelt said. "There are quite a few people like me, Republicans that are fed up with this (administration), with getting lied to. We need good people."
That Carter is running against Sen. John Ensign, who plans this August to announce the public acquisition of the 777-acre Incline Lake, a move that has, for the most part, been met with praise and approval from Incline and basin residents, will be an "uphill" battle Carter admitted.
"But, he's also aligned with Bush," Carter said. "It's time for the people to stand up, because when they do, nothing can stand in the way."
"People who meet me go home to their (spouse) and say 'hey, I met Jimmy Carter's soon'," Carter said. "That conjures imagery of honesty and integrity. So, it's my legacy but it's also a responsibility."
Bob Westervelt, a Republican, watched Carter speak and recalled a few months in 1976 when he served as security for Jimmy during the Democratic Convention.
"Regardless of (politics) the Carters are nice people," Westervelt said. "There are quite a few people like me, Republicans that are fed up with this (administration), with getting lied to. We need good people."
That Carter is running against Sen. John Ensign, who plans this August to announce the public acquisition of the 777-acre Incline Lake, a move that has, for the most part, been met with praise and approval from Incline and basin residents, will be an "uphill" battle Carter admitted.
"But, he's also aligned with Bush," Carter said. "It's time for the people to stand up, because when they do, nothing can stand in the way."
