By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — In the GOP primary for eastern North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, a contest that has become a referendum on Rep. Walter B. Jones ’ party loyalties, challenger Joe McLaughlin is counting on legwork and conservative turnout to help him unseat the seven-term incumbent.

As a grass roots candidate firmly entrenched in retail politics, McLaughlin has spent the final days before Tuesday’s primary focused almost entirely on get-out-the-vote efforts. He has made hundreds of phone calls to confirmed and potential supporters, and volunteers throughout the district were manning phone banks to do the same. “I ask the people I talk to, have you ever had a candidate for Congress call you before? And they say no,” he said Monday from the campaign trail.

McLaughlin said he thought that Jones entered the race at a disadvantage “in an election where ‘change’ is the watchword.” With the exception of two years, a Jones family member has represented a North Carolina district for the last 42 years: Jones was elected in 1994, and his father, Democratic Rep. Walter B. Jones Sr., served in the House from 1966 to 1992.

McLaughlin’s campaign centers around Jones’ opposition to the Iraq war. While he originally supported the war, by June 2005, Jones joined Democrats to vote for a plan to withdraw U.S. troops.

Supporters of McLaughlin say that expected turnout for the hotly contested Democratic presidential primary actually works in his favor. North Carolina voters who have registered with either party have to vote in their party’s primary, but unaffiliated voters can participate in either contest. McLaughling’s campaign argues the majority of independents will vote in the Democratic primary, and that this leaves Republicans with a pool of the party’s more conservative voters, which is his base.

McLaughlin added that support for Jones from groups including VoteVets.org, a group of veterans who are critical of President Bush’s handling of the war and ran ads praising Jones for his “moral courage” in opposing the war, helped raise questions about the congressman’s allegiance.

“Mr. Jones’ allies on the far left have been helpful in getting our message out,” he said.

The race “is not even about Walter Jones. It’s about the future of the Republican Party in the 3rd District. And if he wins it’s virtually the end of the party,” McLaughlin said.

Appealing to the conservative base of the party has helped McLaughlin win five consecutive straw poll contests at Republican county conventions.

Bob Pruett, chairman of the 3rd District Republican Party, said that Jones has not been available for many campaign events. “He does not participate very much within the district, especially if he knows it’s going to be a controversial situation.”

Jones did not attend a convention in the town of Havelock, N.C., this weekend, which McLaughlin won 91 to 19.

But, in addition to incumbency, Jones has a strong financial advantage in the race. By April 16 the congressman had raised $433,000 and had spent $669,000 (mostly on advertising and political/media consultants) on the race while McLaughlin raised $123,000 and spent $108,000.

A poll published March 10 on the (Raleigh) News and Observer’s website showed Jones leading McLaughlin, 54-16 percent.