Charlotte:

The "black Jesse Helms" has ripped a page out of the real Jesse Helms' playbook. Republican Vernon Robinson, a no-holds-barred conservative running in North Carolina's 13th Congressional District, which stretches from Greensboro to Raleigh, has a new ad that mimics one that helped Helms defeat former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in the 1990 U.S. Senate race.

Helms' ad showed a pair of white hands crumpling a rejection letter, as an announcer said, "You needed that job. ... But they had to give it to a minority."Robinson's ad features the hands of a black woman crumpling a letter. "You needed that job," an announcer says. "And you were the best qualified. But they gave it to an illegal alien -- so they could pay him under the table. ... These illegals pay no taxes, but take our jobs and our government handouts. Then spit in our face. And burn our flag. Well, Vernon Robinson has had enough!"

(h/t Deanna)