Posted on 07/30/2004 12:13:16 PM PDT by areafiftyone
Despite Democratic claims of solid unity among members, some top candidates for office either showed up and quickly fled the national convention in Boston, or shunned it entirely.
Most of the no-shows came from the South, or other conservative red state areas, and are seeking to distance themselves from the liberal Kerry-Edwards ticket.
According to the Los Angeles Times, some of the party's most promising U.S. Senate candidates in the South opted to stay home and campaign in an effort to avoid being connected to their party's far-left nominees.
Wrote the Times, "Many have staked out positions on such issues as gay marriage and gun ownership that are to the right of Kerry and Edwards," and are stressing their independence from the national Democrat party they see as far too liberal for their conservative voters at home.
"Being at the convention in Boston, the symbol of Massachusetts liberalism, might put them on the defensive," Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University who has studied Southern politics told the Times. "They have more to lose than to gain by appearing at the convention."
According to the Times, of those Democratic candidates in the nine most competitive Senate races, three declined to attend the convention and three others left early. Among the missing or near-missing, the Times reported, were:
Noting that Tenenbaum left Beantown about the same time Bush basher Michael Moore showed up , South Carolina's GOP chairman Katon Dawson told the Times "It's almost as if Mrs. Tenenbaum is ashamed to be around Michael Moore. But how can that be? They're both such strong Kerry supporters."
Tenenbaum, the Times noted, also has kept herself at arm's length from Kerry on some hot-button social issues such as a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, broad application of the death penalty and a ban on "partial-birth" abortion all of which Kerry opposes.
Her opponent Rep. James DeMint says that despite her distancing herself from Kerry, she's still a liberal: "She can run but she can't hide," Glen Bolger, DeMint's pollster told the Times, noting that she was the state's co-chairwoman for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
The Times says that his GOP rival, Rep. John Thune, sent him a travel bag that included a Groucho Marx disguise to hide behind at the convention.
"These candidates are running to be an independent voice," Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told the Times.
"They want to maintain that message of independence." He admitted that it looks bad to have Democrat candidates distancing themselves from the party's national leaders, but argued that some candidates needed to inoculate themselves from what some say are the liabilities of the party establishment.
And Woodhouse saw a silver lining in the clouds. "They are also providing contrast with Republicans who were rubber stamps for George Bush," he told the Times.
My beeber goes off when ever a democratic candidate shuns a convention
The Times says that his GOP rival, Rep. John Thune, sent him (Dashle) a travel bag that included a Groucho Marx disguise to hide behind at the convention.
Any one confirm this? Would love it if true.
Joe Lieberman said he didn't feel comfortable with the crowd that was there.
BWAHAHAHA!!!!! Our NC RAT Governor who is running for re-election won't go anywhere near sKerry or Edwards either LOL. Those 2 must be pure poison to a future RAT political career.
The Democratic mouthpieces in this state have been giving them he!! for it too. They even issued a media statement earlier this week that they were "disappointed" in our Gov for not going to the convention. He of course had to reply, to the media, his statement that he was too busy "creating" new jobs LOL.
MKM
The Cash and Kerry campaign is RAT poison.
When did he say this?
I'm not surprised he said it. His speech was pretty hawkish and didn't seem to resonate with the audience. I think he was the first speaker to identify the terrorists as Islamists.
It was on one of the radio shows. It might have been on Dennis Pragers show.
The radio shows were much more informative than the cable and network media.
I see. I watched the convention on public TV with Jim Lehrer hosting and Mark Shields and David Brookes bantering between speakers as well as a panel of nerdy historians. It was well done. Afterwords I listened to FOX radio with John Gibson hosting and Tony Snow and Jeff Bernbaum (?) bantering, which I found underwhelming. They should have cut Snow and Bernbaum and just let Gibson speak. He is the more insightful of the three.
That's clever!
Where was Michael Du-caca? The convention was in his backyard for goodness sake and no one has seen hide nor hair of him.
The Kerry people let Dukakis only give tours of the city to the various state delegations. No lie.
Fortunately, Michael drives a bus better than he drives a tank.
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.