BIG JOHN
For a mere mortal, it would probably be enough to make him want to
turn Republican. But this is Democrat colossus Rep. John
Dingell we’re talking about, and one has to wonder if
Republicans would ever feel comfortable enough to accept him in
their ranks. “Hey, if we’re desperate enough, we’d take him,” says
a Republican House member. “Lord knows we probably wouldn’t have
allowed what’s happening to him to have occurred on our watch.”
Just “what’s happening to him” begins with congressional
redistricting, which has left Dingell, a 23-term institution,
forced to run for his political life against fellow Democratic Rep.
Lynn Rivers, a much more liberal member of the
Democratic caucus.
Dingell’s humiliation has been compounded by his having to watch
many of his fellow Democrats pick sides — and not choosing his.
Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi is backing Rivers.
The liberal PAC EMILY’S List is backing Rivers. Sarah
Brady and her anti-gun nuts are backing Rivers. And then
there is Hollywood celeb Michael Douglas, who in
backing Rivers has raised more than $40,000 for her.
And Dingell has? Tipper Gore.
“The reality is that Dingell has probably done more for women’s
health issues than Rivers has, but no one wants to hear that since
there is a woman in the race. They just assume that must be her
passion,” says a Dingell staffer in Washington. “We’re all nervous
about this one. It’s been a real fight, an ugly fight.”
It’s a nip and tuck race headed toward the August 6 primary,
with Rivers given the better shot of pulling out a victory. But no
one wants to sell Dingell short. “He’s had to run a real campaign
for probably the first time in 20 years, and he hasn’t done a bad
job,” says his Republican colleague. “I’d hate to be those
Democratic colleagues who backed Rivers if he wins.”
DEAN’S LIST
If anyone’s still searching for a reason to back moderate North
Carolina Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole, here it
is: retired University of North Carolina coaching great
Dean Smith says he likes Democratic candidate
Erskine Bowles.
Smith, one of the most liberal men college basketball history
(assuming anyone cares), and the only man beyond Father Time who
could contain Michael Jordan’s offensive game, is
throwing a high profile fundraiser for Bill
Clinton’s former chief of staff later in August.
While there is little doubt that Smith is a card-carrying
Democrat, it is doubtful he’d be involved in the fundraiser if
there weren’t some payback involved. Seems Bowles and his rich
pappy raised a lot of money for the UNC Tarheels’ new basketball
arena that everyone from the start knew would be dubbed the Smith
Center. (The hoops haven quickly became better known as the “Dean
Dome.”)
It all may be for naught. Recent polls show Dole with a
commanding lead over Bowles. In one of them her favorability
ratings are at 72 percent, his at 45. But Bowles has raised plenty
of money and should have more than $4 million available by August’s
end.
McCAINIANA
Sen. John McCain recently was much in the news
when even more eagerly than Democrats he imposed a hold on Bush
judicial and other nominations. In fact, ask any Redskin fan and
he’ll likely tell you that McCain does more holding than a typical
NFL offensive lineman or defensive back. It’s surprising, then,
that during the recent contretemps that saw McCain punish the White
House for opposing his selection of a well-connected
Democrat to fill a post on the Federal Election
Commission, no one called McCain on what he said earlier this year
when Sen. Joe Biden put a hold on a couple of
nominations of importance to McCain (in retaliation for McCain’s
opposition to Amtrak measures of importance to Biden).
“I just think it’s wrong to hold up people’s nominations that
are otherwise qualified because you have an agenda item,” McCain
said at the time, as reported by the
Hill last March 6. “I intend to tell Sen. Biden that I
won’t negotiate with him on Amtrak issues until he lets these
people go.”
Why was it wrong then and not now?
