Democratic primary debate featuring the three Democratic candidates from NC for U.S. Senate in 1996: Harvey Gantt, Charles Sanders and Ralph McKinney. Gantt explains why he is running for senate again in his opening statement and says that he will help working families in NC achieve the American Dream. McKinney focuses in his statement on how the Democratic Party has a long way to go in achieving its loftiest goals, and that's why voters should choose him. Sanders opens by focusing on the Republican incumbent, Jesse Helms, and why North Carolina is ready for a change. Debate questions include the federal minimum wage, working families, balancing the federal budget, cutting corporate welfare and government waste, public education, the Endangered Species Act, affordable health care for disabled people in their 50s, the Republican-supported Contract with America and Contract with North Carolina, welfare fraud, protecting wetlands and the environment, criminal sentencing, and prisons.