Posted on 12/10/2001 4:19:27 AM PST by wimpycat
South Carolina Democrats blew it. The special election last Tuesday for Senate District No. 43 was a gimme for them, but they frittered it away by deciding to play the race card at the end.
At issue was a controversial radio ad played on black radio stations to energize the African-American vote.
The commercial, paid for and produced by the state Senate Democratic Caucus, had a black announcer portraying Republicans as country-clubbers who want to take the state back to the days of segregated communities and poor schools in black neighborhoods.
"These are the same Republicans who put the Confederate flag in our face and wanted the symbol of hate to stay atop our State House dome. ...
"They are the same narrow-minded people who want Republican John Kuhn in the Senate," the announcer said.
It backfired.
Republican Kuhn defeated Democrat Leon Stavrinakis, the favored candidate. The vote wasn't even close: 57 percent to 43 percent.
The district is 38 percent black. It has been in Democratic hands for a dozen years or more. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore carried it by a comfortable margin. The seat became vacant when state Democratic Sen. Ernie Passailaigue resigned to become executive director of the State Lottery Commission.
The race turned ugly.
Mark Hartley, immediate past chairman of the Charleston County GOP and a moderate, was offended.
"That ad was way out of bounds. It was ridiculous for them to imply that Republicans want to send blacks to inferior schools or return to segregated communities. It's just hogwash," he protested.
As always, negative ads beget negative ads.
So, what did the Republicans do? They took the Democratic ad and played it on radio stations serving the white community. Their attitude was if Democrats want it out, then let the whole community see the kind of politics they practice.
It cost the Democrats the election.
While the ad had its intended effect -- to increase black turnout -- it sacrificed the white voters in the process.
The Goose Creek precinct, 21 percent black, voted 78 percent for Kuhn. White voters turned out in large numbers. The same was true for whites south of Broad Street.
"There's no question that by stooping to the level they did, the Democrats energized our base. We couldn't have done it without their help," said GOP consultant Heath Thompson.
Campaign consultants for Stavrinakis made it clear the radio ad wasn't their idea. It was the Senate Democratic Caucus. They said in hindsight that if they had to do it all over again, they would have vetoed the radio ad.
Senate Minority Leader John Land, chairman of the Democratic caucus, said he didn't hear it or sign off on it.
But generally, he said, "I like a positive campaign."
Democrats blamed defeat on turnout, not the ad. "We just have real difficulty in special elections," said state Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian.
State GOP Chairman Henry McMaster weighed in, saying, "It was the same old discredited and contemptible fear tactics that Democrats have used successfully, but this time it backfired on them."
If this is a foretaste of what we can expect next year, the 2002 elections could become really nasty. Here's hoping wiser heads will prevail.
Ah, you've got me wrong. I left the Libertarians in '90 and have voted the straight Republican ticket without fail since '92, and plan to continue to do so. Not all Reps are cowards and not all Dems are corrupt, nor did I say they were.
I just find "party of cowardice" and "party of corruption" to be useful shorthand for describing the respected leaderships. Those are the folks running the ads we're discussing, no?
A very good point and one the national GOP can learn from. It was a brilliant tactic. Everytime the 'Rats play the race card, the 'Pubs should throw it right back in the Dems' ugly, lying, racist faces. If they want to sow the seeds of racial divisiveness, then that is precisely what they should reap. A few more of these kinds of results and the 'Rats will learn that its a losing political strategy as well a morally bankrupt one. Getting a few more points from increased black turnout that is offset by twice that in the non-black vote is a result that even the most stupid 'Rat will understand.
Take your win and smile, FRiend. :o) Never let Perfect be the enemy of Effective. ;^)
Actually, the article here quotes the ad as saying "These are the same Republicans who put the Confederate flag in our face and wanted the symbol of hate to stay atop our State House dome. ...". If this means that they are the ones who put the flag down at eye level next to that memorial, or that they wanted to keep it on the statehouse, then all of that is correct, right?
I am not saying it's a good ad, or that the GOP is racist, but in 2001, it seems pretty clear that the home for neo-confederates is in the Republican party, not the Democrat party, and that the white South now votes reliably Republican, not Democrat. Isn't that right?
Why not do this all the time?
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