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come resolve the way to yesterday's Target Post, you're not out of the running yet
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Posted on 06/27/2002 12:12:49 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
After the resounding defeat of Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.) on Tuesday marked the end to a contest that strained relations between black and Jewish Democrats, observers said the same tensions are all but certain to erupt in other races in this cycle.
As some members of the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday began reaching out to Artur Davis, who defeated Hilliard by a solid 56 percent to 44 percent margin in a Democratic runoff, political operatives wondered aloud how Hilliard's demise might impact a Democratic primary in neighboring Georgia.
Even before Tuesday's runoff, some had sought to draw parallels between the Hilliard-Davis race and the primary contest between Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) and former Judge Denise Majette (D). All four candidates are black, and both Hilliard and McKinney are viewed as hostile to Israel by some Jewish political groups.
The Alabama race gained national attention in recent weeks in part because of the amount of out-of-state money funneled to the candidates in the majority-black district, one of the poorest in the nation. Although Davis has maintained throughout that the race was a referendum on the incumbent's lack of legislative accomplishment and poor constituent service, donor interest in the race was fueled largely by Middle East politics.
Davis was heavily supported by the Jewish community, while Hilliard got considerable support from Arab-Americans and affiliated interest groups. Hilliard voted against a resolution passed by the House earlier this year that condemned Palestinian suicide bombings.
"I think any dispassionate reading of that election is going to say that there are a couple of factors that are consistent with what's going on in [Georgia's 4th district]," noted one adviser to the Majette campaign. "One, you have an embattled incumbent who has kind of worn out their welcome over a period of years ... and then secondly, that the funding was in place for a reasonable and viable alternative to emerge."
With the Hilliard race over, the strategist speculated that donors may look to throw their financial support to Majette. The race has gained increased exposure after a Majette poll released in May showed her with a slight lead over McKinney.
"I think this will give national donors who were involved and invested in defeating Earl Hilliard the confidence and the resolve to come back and do the same thing in Georgia four," the Democrat said. "There's no way around looking at it that way."
Bernadette Budde, an official with the Business Industry Political Action Committee, which supported Davis toward the end of the race, said the organization is also looking at the McKinney-Majette race, which she noted has "some of the same conditions" as the Alabama runoff.
"We've made no decision on that race," she said, adding that BIPAC will probably look at it after the upcoming recess.
One official with a Jewish political organization said some of the pro-Israel support Davis received could shift to Majette, but stressed that the support was based entirely on ideological differences.
"Clearly, folks who are looking at candidates, who have competitive primaries [and] whose records aren't supportive of Israel, can look to the McKinney race as a place to go," said the official. "But this is not about anything except voting records."
A GOP leadership aide also questioned how the Hilliard outcome might impact the Democratic Party's role in the McKinney race, should it become as hotly contested as the Hilliard contest.
"With Black Caucus anger over the defeat of Hilliard and the DCCC's reluctance to fight hard for Hilliard, does that up the ante for them in the McKinney race?" the aide asked. "Will the national party go out and fund a blatantly anti-semitic, anti-Israel candidate? If they do, it sets up a real, stark national referendum to Jewish voters on the differences between the parties."
A spokeswoman for the Majette campaign downplayed the influence of the Hilliard defeat in their race and stressed that the Georgia race is different because the challenger has been elected in the district before. Davis, by contrast, ran unsuccessfully against Hilliard in 2000 and has never held elected office.
"We're focusing on the issues that affect the voters in the 4th Congressional district of Georgia and that's our priority," said Majette campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Wilson. "We're so busy responding to the people who want to help us ... we just haven't had time to focus on it."
Wilson said the campaign is watching all races with interest, and added that they hope their contest doesn't become as bitter as the Alabama runoff.
"We certainly hope that this race will not get into the kind of ugliness that that did," she said.
Wilson also stressed that 70 percent of the campaign's contributions so far have come from within the district, a stark contrast to the Hilliard-Davis race, in which both candidates received a majority of their funding from out-of-state sources.
"It's the people who are going to vote for her that are making the contributions, they're not coming from outside the state," Wilson said.
But, the Democratic strategist noted, that could change with almost two months before the Aug. 20 primary.
"The motivated voters there were against that incumbent getting re-elected, and you have the same situation in spades in Georgia four," the strategist said. "You even have more immediate, more explosive, more incendiary kinds of comments from the incumbent that puts distance between her and voters in the district."
McKinney gained national attention earlier this year for remarks she made indicating that President Bush had prior knowledge that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would happen. After being harshly criticized for the comments, she later claimed vindication after reports surfaced that the White House had received intelligence briefings that indicated an al Qaeda attack was possible.
A McKinney spokeswoman was not available to comment for this story.
Meanwhile, Davis attributed his win, and the sizable margin of victory, to a backlash against Hilliard's attempt to "racialize" the contest and a "remarkable" voter turnout.
"We felt that voters in this district would reject a campaign of racial and religious intolerance, and I think that's exactly what occurred yesterday," Davis said Wednesday.
Davis also said 93,000 voters came out for the runoff, just slightly less than the 100,000 people who had voted in the primary.
Davis, who faces no GOP opposition in November, spoke yesterday with Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), who told the 34-year-old attorney that he looked forward to having him join the Democratic Caucus.
"I explained to him that I certainly understood the party's support of Congressman Hilliard and that I certainly bore no ill will ... regarding the party's actions in this race," Davis said. "We simply look forward to starting anew and to developing a very strong relationship with the party."
Gephardt said Wednesday he wished Hilliard success in his next endeavor.
"I'm sorry Earl lost, he was a valued Member of our Caucus," he said. "You never like to see your colleagues lose."
Also on Wednesday, the process of mending fences with the CBC appeared to begin in earnest. In the final weeks of the campaign, CBC members rushed to the aid of Hilliard, pouring upwards of $25,000 into Hilliard's campaign coffers and campaigning for the incumbent last weekend. Davis said he had spoken with at least one CBC Member as of Wednesday morning, although he declined to name the Member.
"We have no doubt that we will be able to build a very strong relationship with the Congressional Black Caucus," Davis said. "There's a lot of diversity in the caucus, and we have no doubt that we will be able to fit in."
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), chairwoman of the CBC, released a statement yesterday that did not mention Davis by name.
"We are very saddened by the loss of a very valued Member of our caucus. Mr. Hilliard has made great contributions to the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congress, the 7th Congressional District of Alabama and to the United States," she said in the statement, adding that she will be "looking very closely and analyzing the race."
"Contrary to the opinions of some, this race did not create a rift between the African-American and Jewish Members of Congress," she said. "As a matter of fact, the two Caucuses will continue to work together and engage in dialogue to build a stronger relationship."
As for the impact the Davis-Hilliard contest may have on other races around the country, Davis said there are some factors that make the race unique and it will be hard to translate to other races.
"Earl Hilliard was somewhat unique in that he has been a relatively lackluster Member of Congress, so I'm not sure that one can draw a lot of global conclusions about the race," he said.
Above all, Davis said local issues drove his campaign, and he said the same will be true in the Georgia primary.
"Obviously I'm sure the national focus on the Majette-McKinney race may be heightened by our victory yesterday, but I think that that race, as ours, will be driven by local issues in the degree to which her opponent can emphasize those local issues effectively," Davis said.
Still, he noted that fundraising is what helps to boost the credibility of any campaign. Davis has said repeatedly that the difference in this year's race and his unsuccessful challenge to Hilliard in 2000 was that he had the funding, and thus the capability to get his message out.
"Certainly viability is what drives fundraising more than any other, and I think that to the extent that that race is seen as being a competitive, viable contest, I'm sure there will be significant interest around the country."
Chris Cillizza contributed to this report.
the Case of the Freeper FRiva Feva is under scrutiny - super-sleuths are welcomed
come resolve the way to yesterday's Target Post, you're not out of the running yet
win your registration fees to the FRive Las Vegas Conference if you dare
Then go to a Jewish Democrat forum and paste in the replies....then back to the Black Democrat forum to post replies from them...and so on.
Pretty funny. Now that you won, boy, make sure you stay on the plantation here.
Gotta run... on another forum now discussing how, now that vouchers are legal, we Democrats are going to handle keeping black kids out of our private religious schools without appearing to be racists.
Then I have to go to a Black Forum and provide them with links...
Ta-ta!
Formenting racial hatred as a conservative strategy. Not surprising is appeals to LL.
Fits nicely with the stereotype of Republicans as bigots too.
Jeb was in a real fight in Florida. I am not positive but I have heard the liberal private schools in the Boca Raton area are among the few in the state to refuse students with vouchers. That is fine with me. They have a right to accept whom they wish. But I wonder...if they are a public accomidation and if they refuse a member of the public based on nothing more than race...hmmmm...maybe Abe Foxman at the ADL and Mary Frances Berry at the Commission on Civil Rights need to find out if what many suspect is true..
:-)
I think we all know that secret of the limosine liberals.
What is bigoted about pointing out the hypocrisy of Democrats? What is wrong with trying to increase tension within the Democratic coalition?
I really don't see it.
They do it to us all the time. They've been so good at it, only 9% of Black Americans voted for Bush. Liberals are always trying to drive a wedge between conservative Christians and the rest of the party.
This is hardball politics but it is an American as apple pie. David Horowitz tells the right over and over it is time to stop playing nice.
The only people I can see who this upsets are liberals.
Nothing. You’re not suggesting pointing out hypocricy. Read your suggestions:
Go to liberal black forums and start asking questions. Why are there no Black Democrats in the Senate? Why was Lieberman and not a Black Democrat picked for VP? What do we get for voting 91% Democrat? We are 13% of the population. Why does a group which is 2% of the population and votes 80% Democrat have a handful of Senators and we have none? Why did Clinton nominate Ginsberg to the Supreme Court and not one of us? Republicans put Blacks in positions of power, Democrats do not.How long are we going to put up with this?… Then go to a Jewish Democrat forum and paste in the replies....then back to the Black Democrat forum to post replies from them...and so on.
You’re recommending Republicans foment hatred for political gain, something the Dems do accuse us of, usually falsely. Your strategy plays right into the stereotype of the right wing Republican bigot.
BTW, if your “plan” works, how would you represent the Republican party, a refuge for racists or Jew haters.
They do it to us all the time. They've been so good at it, only 9% of Black Americans voted for Bush. Liberals are always trying to drive a wedge between conservative Christians and the rest of the party.
ROFLMAO. If I had a dollar to split with JR for everytime you’ve whined about others using the “they do it all the time excuse” he wouldn’t have to do a fundraiser for years.
This is hardball politics but it is an American as apple pie. David Horowitz tells the right over and over it is time to stop playing nice.
Sorry, encouraging hatred is playing it stupid. Clearly you think conservative ideas can’t compete in the light of day.
The only people I can see who this upsets are liberals.
It upsets me, and I’ll bet I’m not unique. In fact, I thought playing the race card upset you? Guess you lied.
No it won't. It's transparent. You have to be able to position yourself as the alternative. Who do we decide to hate?
I admit, it would be fun.
The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
Democrats want to squeal whenever there aren't enough of this group of that group in a corporation or in congress? OK. Let them explain why there are no Black Democrats in the U.S. Senate while there are 5 or 6 Jewish Democrats here. If liberals are made to abide by their standards of "diversity" there should be around 6 Black Democratic Senators and 1 Jewish Democrat in the Senate.
If we push this enough, maybe they will drop it and consider our position: It doesn't matter what race or religion anyone is.
Forgot, we need to expose them, play on their weakness, but not emulate them.
I don't believe Horowitz would endorse this strategy. He would endorse pointing out to the black community their misplaced loyalties.
And to the Jewish community the lack of support for Israel on the left.
But playing them off against each other is not only wrong it's counterproductive (and I admit again it would be fun).
We have a good case to make to both groups, why not just make it.
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