CAMDEN — State Sen. Fred Smith, R-Johnston, believes given the right economic incentives, a Navy practice airfield could work in North Carolina. But from what he's seen of Camden County, it's not the place for an outlying landing field.

Like many other state and local officials, Smith disagrees with locating the Navy's proposed OLF in an area that won't receive enough jobs and other economic benefits to compensate for the jet noise the airfield will generate.

"I think it's got to be a win-win situation," Smith, a Republican candidate for governor, said in an interview Saturday. "I believe there should be some places where (an OLF) would work; but it's got to be one that's a benefit to North Carolina."

So far, Navy officials have said only that the airfield — where Navy pilots will practice simulated

nighttime carrier landings — would generate about 52 local jobs. An East Carolina University study found that the jobs, while few, would pay an average annual salary of $53,577, or more than average wages for workers in Camden.

Smith was stumping for votes at Camden County High School on Saturday as part of his 100-county barbecue tour. Camden was the 72nd stop on Smith's tour and Currituck County — where the candidate visited later Saturday — was the 73rd.

Smith, who spoke to an audience of about 20, said he hopes to offer state residents a different kind of political campaign. Smith, a third term state senator representing Johnston and Wake counties, says he's not focusing on large cities as much as his competitors for the Republican nomination in the May primary, choosing instead to stump for votes in every county.

"I believe people in every county count," Smith said.

Deirdre Jersey, an aide on Smith's "barbecue team," said the campaign is seeing turnout as high as 13 percent of those invited in small counties and about 3 percent in larger counties. The campaign invites Republican and unaffiliated voters to the events. The campaign invited 334 voters to Camden's event.

"The response has been great," Jersey said.

Johnson's opponents in the Republican primary include Salisbury attorney Bill Graham, former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory. The top Democratic candidates for governor are Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore.

Smith said his goals include cutting government spending and lowering what he claims is one of the highest state income tax rates in the Southeast. He also hopes to improve roads and reduce school dropout rates, he said.

Smith also says he has specific plans for keeping undocumented immigrants from receiving health, education and other services from state government.

He wants each sheriff's office equipped to participate in an already existing program that detains and deports immigrants who commit crimes. He also wants to ensure that only those legally allowed to receive driver's licenses do so. He also wants to establish voter identification cards so that illegal immigrants don't vote.

Finally, Smith supports passage of immigration reform legislation that requires citizenship checks to determine eligibility for social welfare benefits.

Smith says much of the consternation over illegal immigration is a result of lax enforcement by the federal government.

"The problem that we have today is the tremendous velocity of illegal aliens that come into our country," he said. "...We're not able to deal with them. And the reason we have that problem is because our federal government has let us down. Our federal government has not protected the borders when they should."

Camden voter Mary Lou Jones said she thought Smith's remarks were excellent and believes he has a good chance of being elected governor.

"I think he expresses what most Republicans feel," Jones said.

Camden resident Rodney Needham said he doesn't know how well Smith will do with other Republicans, but the senator said a lot of things he likes.

"When he's not afraid to mention God, I really like that," Needham said.

Smith is set to visit Pasquotank and Perquimans counties in March, according to Bill Fields, the candidate's northeastern campaign manager.