BLUE STATER
Democrats in North Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when Sen.
John Edwards finally backed out of a re-election
race that would have taken the back seat to his presidential (or
vice presidential) aspirations. His retirement, as it were, opened
the door to Erskine Bowles, the former Clinton
chief of staff who has already run for the Senate once and lost
once to Elizabeth Dole.
Bowles was the state Democratic Party’s pick to run for the
seat, in part because it believes Bowles has the personal financial
wherewithal and the fundraising connections nationally to make it a
competitive race against Republican Rep. Richard
Burr, who is raising money for his campaign at a fierce
pace.
But where Democrats hoped that Bowles’s presence would scare off
others, it now appears that won’t happen. Former state speaker of
the House Dan Blue, an African American and one of
the most well-known politicians in the Tarheel State, appears to be
toying with the idea of challenging Bowles. Again.
Blue lost to Bowles in the Democratic primary for the privilege
of challenging and losing to Dole. But where Bowles was buried by
Dole across the state, some believe that Blue could actually make a
better candidate against a Republican statewide. “Blue could
mobilize [the black vote] in a way that Bowles probably didn’t
against Dole, and wouldn’t against Burr,” says a Blue supporter in
Charlotte. “Bowles didn’t get the African American vote out on
election day, and that hurt him. It hurt him because he didn’t show
Blue enough respect once he won the primary.”
Bowles high-handed treatment of Blue has already cost him big
time in a race that really hasn’t started yet. Traditional Democrat
donors and fundraisers have been holding fundraisers for Burr, and
this was long before Edwards was out of the race.
“There was a sense that if Edwards was out, then Bowles was
going to be the party’s boy,” says a DNC staffer in Washington.
“You saw traditional Blue supporters turning to a Republican, and
that shows how much animus is out there toward Bowles.”
But Blue has already lost once to Bowles, and one has to wonder
where Blue makes up the difference a second time around. Some
believe that difference is that if Blue wins the primary, he
energizes the black vote, and keeps the Democratic base in line,
thus increasing the pool of active Democratic votes. Bowles failed
to energize the black vote in the general election, thus dooming
any chances he had.
Blue has been coy about his running, saying he is talking to
people, and that he will make a decision shortly. But in the
influential church community across the state that rallied behind
Blue last time, there is no thinking about it. Pastors in
traditionally African American churches are calling on Blue to run
for the good of the state. Bowles came out badly bruised and
weakened after his primary battle in 2002. This time around it
could be even tougher. As it stands, Burr has raised millions and
leads in just about all of the polls.
STREET CITY
Just how desperate is the national Democratic Party for a win?
Desperate enough to send both DNC chairman Terry
McAuliffe and Democratic lightning rod James
Carville to Philadelphia to campaign for embattled Philly
Mayor John Street.
Street, who is in a tough race against moderate Republican
Sam Katz, remains ahead in the polls, and
Democrats don’t feel he can afford to lose. “If we lost
Philadelphia, even in an off-year election, it would be devastating
to the party’s psyche,” says a DNC fundraiser. “We got beaten up in
2002, McAuliffe is getting hammered for his lack of leadership, our
convention in Boston is hemorrhaging money and we’re fighting
amongst ourselves over that. To lose that mayoral race would be
just be icing on the cake. It would hurt.”
McAuliffe was in Philly around the same time that GOP Golden Boy
Rudy Giuliani was in town raising money for Katz,
who is fighting an uphill battle for the mayoral chair.
With the exception, perhaps, of the New York City, Chicago or
Los Angeles mayoral runs, national parties have rarely played up
any role they might take in what is considered basic backyard
political races. But McAuliffe is said to sense an urgency to win a
race, any race, leading into what could be a bad 2004 season for
the party, particularly with the economy showing signs of
growth.
THE JOYS OF JESSE
Where’s Leo Rosten when we need him? Thirty-five
years ago, long before the Brothers Menendez, in The Joys of
Yiddish, he defined “chutzpah” as murdering your parents and
then asking the court for mercy because you were an orphan. We may
now need another word for Jesse Jackson.
The Rev. appeared this week at a Santa Monica, California rally
for striking grocery workers. The problem is, the owner of one of
the targeted big chains — grocery tycoon Ron
Burkle (big friend of Bill, and the guy Bill stays with
when he’s in L.A.) — is the man who gave Jackson mistress
Karin Stanford a sweetheart job in Los Angeles
when she fled Washington, D.C. after being impregnated and then
getting cut off from child support. So is Jesse biting the hand
that feeds his illegitimate daughter?
