Posted on 02/20/2004 7:26:14 PM PST by jern
Democrats seem more united than ever
By DICK POLMAN Philadelphia Inquirer
WASHINGTON - When the AFL-CIO staged a sun-kissed lovefest for John Kerry the other day, with the White House glimmering just two blocks away, the portable JBL loudspeakers blasted the opening stanzas of "Street Fighting Man," by the Rolling Stones.
Whether intended or not, the lyrics were perfect: "Where I live, the game to play is compromise solution."
And that was labor's game, played out for the sake of Democratic party unity. Labor had flatly rejected John Kerry last year when his candidacy flagged, yet now here he was on the podium, clad in well-tailored Washington gray, nodding with practiced humility as AFL-CIO president John Sweeney lavished praise upon him and intoned, "Brothers and sisters, the time has come to unite behind one man!"
Front-runner Kerry may not have been the first choice for a lot of Democrats, but they buy him now as a compromise solution, somebody with the resume and political smarts to rid them of the president whom they openly despise. They're also aware that he's beating Bush right now in the national polls.
And even those other Democrats who prefer John Edwards - they're not mad at Kerry. They won't sit home if he's nominated. They just think their own candidate is electable, too, and just as capable of forging party harmony against the common foe. Edward's beating Bush in the polls, too.
Harmony, unity, compromise solutions ... are these really the Democrats? The same folks who have earned a reputation, at least since the Vietnam-marred race of 1968, for staging circular firing squads?
Yes.
In 2004, they're flocking to the polls - sometimes in record numbers - in part because they're sick of being powerless, and the fervor could fuel a high November turnout. As national party strategist Jenny Backus put it, "Desperation drives unity."
And they sense, for the first time since the shock of 9/11, that Bush can be taken. Polls indicate that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction has hurt his credibility - the most precious presidential asset - and the specter of a jobless recovery is dogging him. The national mood could change again, and Bush will have $200 million to spend on his message, but right now the Democrats are happily stunned at their good fortune and determined to milk it.
Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democratic senator and a former national party chairman, said over coffee in Philadelphia the other day, "This party is in better shape politically, and more united, than at any time I can remember. And then there's the intensity factor. The Clinton elections (1992 and 1996) had nowhere near this much intensity. For intensity, I suspect you have to go back to 1960," the John F. Kennedy election.
Mark Aronchick, a prominent Philadelphia attorney and Democratic fund-raiser, shares the intensity. Talking about Bush, he could barely sit still:
"I haven't seen this kind of anger and disdain directed at a president since the worst days of Richard Nixon. Bush is playing to base fears. He has a contemptible pseudo-sincerity. Our anger is that fundamental. It is primal. These are evil forces we're up against. I'm 54 years old, a mature person, and I mean what I'm saying, there's a heart of darkness. And they're getting away with it."
He didn't mention another festering grievance: The belief, widely espoused by blacks who are sensitive about disenfranchisement, that Bush stole the election in Florida. Most Americans don't hold this view, but those who do might feel strongly energized to vote in November.
Republicans didn't expect this much solidarity; they had anticipated an intramural bloodbath. They figured that Howard Dean would ride to the nomination, with half the Democrats howling in agony and complaining (as they did all last year) that Dean would be painted as another George McGovern (the liberal dove of 1972) and lose in a landslide.
Instead, said Tom Rath, a national Republican official who advises the Bush campaign in New Hampshire, "Dean came apart without a glove being laid on him by his opponents. They criticized Dean sometimes, but overall the whole Democratic tone has been very, very mild. It's been a love-in. I can think back 40 years, and I've never seen them this serene.
"And yet the depth of feeling about the president, the intensity of it - given how much we Republicans like the man - is a bit jarring."
More often, Democrats have tended to wage intramural war. In 1968, Vietnam tore them apart. In 1980, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy challenged his own president, Jimmy Carter; Carter publicly declared, "I'll whip his ass," but Kennedy bloodied him by winning 10 primaries before bowing out. And Bill Clinton, in 1992, was dogged all the way to the summer convention by party critics who said he'd never beat the senior Bush.
But this time, voters have ousted the candidates who attacked other Democrats (Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, Dean), and sent Kerry and Edwards, with their almost exclusively anti-Bush messages, to the finals. New Hampshire, with strong participation from independents, reported record turnout, and South Carolina doubled its 1992 primary tally.
Perhaps the most noteworthy race occurred largely under the radar. In Kentucky last week, a special election was held to fill a congressional seat. The Democrat won, beating a Republican who ran on Bush's record. But the way he won is what matters: Turnout was 33 percent higher than anticipated, because his campaign had identified 30,000 anti-Bush voters and got most of them to the polls.
There are no guarantees, however, that Democrats can sustain solidarity. Over the next two weeks, Kerry and Edwards could stoke ill will if their disagreements become personal. The competitive juices are flowing in both camps, and the two senators aren't particularly chummy. Also, their showdown in the March 2 primaries will cost several million dollars, minimum, and that's money that could've been aimed at Bush.
Simon Rosenberg, a top centrist Democratic organizer in Washington, said, "They have to be careful how they conduct themselves, going forward. There's a fatigue among voters about attack politics, and there are major things at stake now. This is not a frivolous time."
But Democrats aren't overly concerned. They say that Edwards realizes he has a bright future even if he doesn't overtake Kerry, and that he's too smart "to start throwing molotov cocktails," as Aronchick put it. And, besides, they say that a few more weeks of Kerry-Edwards will keep the Democrats in the headlines.
"Providing that they don't cut each other up, I opt for the contest," said Dodd, who hasn't endorsed anyone. "Every day we're getting news coverage of two guys attacking Bush, and that has a lot more impact on the public than a TV ad."
Dean, however, is another wild card. Democrats know that unity will not be fully achieved until Dean and his diehards are brought to the table. The party wants to channel the Deaniacs' grassroots prowess. Right now, there are all sorts of backstage emissaries - Aronchick, who was Dean's co-director in Pennsylvania, has been conferring with Kerry counterparts - and Dean himself must be mollified.
"What will he want, realistically?" said Dodd. "A major speaking role at the convention? A meaningful role in a Democratic administration, if he's interested? Anything you can do to ensure there's a trickle-down to the grassroots people, so they won't spin off to some Ralph Nader-type candidacy.
"Make 'em feel needed, part of the family. One thing that my father (the late Sen. Thomas Dodd) taught me was, `Good politics is good manners.' A simple lesson, in this business."
That's the motto at national Democratic headquarters, where officials are mapping plans to enlist Dean and his disappointed foot soldiers. At a minimum, they'd love it if he stopped referring dismissively to "the salons of Georgetown," the tony neighborhood where Kerry and Edwards both reside. A "party unity" dinner is even scheduled next month in Washington.
The betting among Democrats is that most Deaniacs, still focused on Bush, will gravitate to the compromise solution. That's what labor has done. The Teamsters were at the AFL-CIO lovefest, singing Kerry's praises, even though Kerry voted to block oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness (they wanted it), and voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (they opposed it).
No wonder the Bush camp is getting restless. Rath said so himself: "There are a lot of Americans who like this president a lot, and we need to start telling our story, get assertive. So let's get going."
"The Republicans are coming," said Backus. "You can almost hear the thump of their boots. We have to make sure our defenses are up, and not divided. The American revolutionaries weren't always unified, but they came together because they were fed up with King George."
Philadelphia Inquirer
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Support is tepid at best.
seem
Kerry has gotten 50% in how many of the 17 primaries??... something like 3?? That ain't unity.
Just 6 weeks ago John Kerry was almost dead last in the Polls, everyone was saying Howard Dean had it locked up. Dean has a Tarzan moment and the democrats jump ship and support an even bigger phony. Now that John Kerry's past is coming back to haunt him, the Democrats are considering to line up behind a slimy ambulance chasing trial Lawyer, who made his millions on the suffering of others.
Nope.... "United" is not how I would describe the democrats..... "Desperate" is more like it
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.