| JOE MARQUETTE / JOE MARQUETTE |
| Unable to fulfill the slogan on the banner behind them, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., stands with Vermont Gov. Howard Dean the day after the election at party headquarters in Washington, D.C. |
Posted on 11/10/2002 4:36:35 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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The chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) began her morning two days before the election with a round of talk shows, then dashed off on a final campaign trip to help friend and incumbent Jean Carnahan in Missouri.
Murray is a true believer who understood the polls, the message and her task: making sure her party kept control of the Senate. When Fox anchor Brit Hume grilled her about her party's positions, she let loose a barrage that silenced the domineering anchor:
"With a majority of Democrats in the United States Senate, we will offer a check and balance to this White House and the extreme proposals they put forward," she said. "If there is a Republican-controlled Senate and White House and House of Representatives, there will be no debate. There will be no discussion. There will be no compromises."
Two days later, Murray's passion went unrequited. Republicans won 51 of 100 Senate seats.
No president has taken control of the Senate during a midterm election since 1914, when voters rather than legislatures began electing the Senate.
It should be a crushing blow for Murray, who personally has only lost one race — for school board in 1984. She finishes her term as head of the DSCC — a grueling and largely thankless role that made her a flag-bearer for her party — owning a significant defeat.
But Murray is counting wins. She talks about the party's fine candidates and eye-popping fund-raising totals. She pulled in $129 million over two years — $42 million more than the previous record-breaking election cycle.
Impressive as those figures are, the Republicans raised more. And some say the Democrats lacked a coherent message, an adequate voter turnout and a spokesman powerful enough to compete with President Bush.
On Wednesday morning, Murray said she would change only one thing if she had the election to do over: tell her dear friend, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, not to take that plane Oct. 25.
It had been a rough few weeks.
"We did as good as we could do," Murray said, noting her major losses were in states Bush won in 2000. "We were dealt a really tough hand."
11:40 a.m. Sunday
Murray arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport as CNN pumped the latest on the close elections through the terminal. Murray didn't break stride, looking instead for a place to grab breakfast with her husband, Rob.
Weekends — normally cherished time for the Murrays — had been consumed by the DSCC with increasing intensity since she first came on board as the committee's vice chairwoman in 1999 and then chairwoman two years later.
The DSCC helps coordinate strategy and fund-raising efforts for the party's Senate candidates. For Murray, that has meant weekend fund-raisers with donors all over the country and dinners with candidates in D.C. She's one part money-maker, one part recruiter and one part party-message strategist. In the final days of the election, her schedule was so intense that Rob traveled with her.
This Sunday took them to St. Louis for a Carnahan rally starring three female colleagues — all freshman Democrats who scored narrow victories in 2000. Among them was Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Carnahan, who was appointed to the Senate after her governor-husband, a Senate candidate, was killed in a plane crash Oct. 16, 2000, and elected posthumously.
This year, Carnahan had to win with her name on the ballot. Three days away from the election, her race against former Rep. Jim Talent was a tossup.
Murray had seen plenty of campaigns — some organized, some disasters. She wouldn't name the disasters. Nor would she guess the outcome in Missouri.
"I'll know more after I get there," she said. "She's a tough lady. She's been through a lot."
2:45 p.m.
Murray's flight touched down 30 minutes late. The pilot couldn't seem to find their gate. A news conference for Carnahan was about to begin.
"We're lost," Murray said, as an Air Force cargo plane rolled down the tarmac right toward them.
Murray was watching the time. Fifty-three hours until the polls closed. Thirty minutes until the rally began. Three minutes for an interview with a radio reporter who spotted Murray on the flight.
Murray often touts the patience she learned teaching preschool. She had trouble finding it now.
"You know where you're going?" she twice asked volunteer aide Todd Webster as they trucked through the airport.
In the car, Murray gathered facts: the Election Day weather forecast, the population of St. Louis, a summary of the message used on get-out-the-vote phone banks.
She wanted the local view. "How does it feel here?" Murray asked the driver, a Carnahan supporter.
"A nail-biter," the driver replied.
3:40 p.m.
Murray joined her colleagues at The Pageant, a music venue popular with students at nearby Washington University. Festooned with balloons, the hall was filled with women, many from National Organization for Women, EMILY's List and National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
"Two years ago... right at this time, they told me Maria Cantwell couldn't win. They told me (Michigan Sen.) Debbie Stabenow couldn't win. And they told me that Jean Carnahan couldn't win," Murray told the audience, her cadence faster with each sentence. In 1992, "they said I was just a mom in tennis shoes."
She was shouting now. "I told those guys we need women in power.... Jean, you are going to win. Every single one of these people is for you."
Aretha Franklin's "Respect" pulsed through the speakers. Murray led her candidates into the audience like rock stars to shake hands, sign autographs and pose for photos.
Murray's support from women is genuine. She's proud of her own unlikely path.
And she has been known to joke about scoring the Senate majority for her party in June 2001 — early in her tenure as DSCC chairwoman — when Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become an independent: "I was given the job to get the majority back. As a woman, I knew I had to do it under budget, ahead of time."
Her chief of staff, Rick Desimone, said Murray took the DSCC job in part because she wanted to be the first woman to do it. "I don't know that it was a big factor, but I don't think it was insignificant.
"People respect her and her ability here," he added. "She figures out what decisions need to be made, and she makes them... She's not big on theatrics."
5:45 p.m.
With cigarette smoke hanging thick, more than 500 supporters at the United Auto Workers (UAW) hall raised the roof when Carnahan and Murray walked in.
The passionate Democrats had come out on a rainy Sunday night to be schooled in ways to rally people to the polls.
"This rivals anything we've done for a presidential election," said Carnahan adviser Roy Temple, dismissing the Republicans' get-out-the-vote effort. "It's like putting a high-school football team up against the NFL."
Murray knew she couldn't outspend the Republicans, even though she crushed her committee's previous fund-raising records.
So for two years, Murray had made it a priority to get more Democrats to the polls. She hired the committee's first national field coordinator to help locals motivate voters. Then she showed up at rallies like this one to prove her commitment.
The energy of the rally put a bounce in her step.
"Jean is in really good shape," she said as she headed back to the airport for a flight that wouldn't land back in D.C. until 11 p.m.
Despite those efforts, Democratic voter turnout appears to have been down this year. Curtis Gans, director of the independent Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, estimates that while turnout overall was up for a midterm election, it was because of the Republicans.
"The Republican Party had a message and had a standard-bearer going to the entire country," Gans said. The Democrats' only message, he said: They weren't Republicans.
10:20 p.m. Election Night
Murray tried to appear calm and optimistic. "We keep the majority," she predicted.
The senator and her husband camped out in the office of Jim Jordan, executive director of the DSCC, to watch results. In two years, Murray never set up her own space at the committee's crowded office. "We are budget saving," she said.
As the night wore on, staffers started to deflate. No come-from-behind wins in North Carolina or New Hampshire. And they were losing Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a beloved Vietnam veteran.
Murray's day wouldn't end until after 2 a.m., when Carnahan conceded to Talent. She ultimately lost by more than 20,000 votes, or about 1 percent.
As the widow from Missouri made her way through her concession speech, a graphic flashed across the screen: Republicans had won control of the Senate.
11:45 a.m. The Day After
Murray stood with other campaign leaders at the Democratic National Committee for a news conference. Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe tried to put a positive spin on the election, pointing out Democratic gains in governors' races.
Murray stood to his side, her glassy eyes betraying exhaustion and the hard truth: This had not gone well.
When she spoke, it was with a care so practiced that her speechwriters know she can squeeze in 165 words per minute. On two sheets of paper in Murray's hands were 766.
"The American electorate is as closely divided as any time in history," she said. "We gave the Republicans a very strong fight, though ultimately we could not compete with the power of the bully pulpit and a wartime president.
"I am here today to tell you that we will not back off our legislative agenda. We will fight to invest in our people and our country to get our economy going again."
Epilogue
Some Murray watchers say she grew more polished during her term as DSCC chairwoman. "She's grown," said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
But Desimone, her chief of staff, disagrees. The visible role just helped people see her with new eyes, he said.
"She has always been confident in her ability to get things done," Desimone said.
There will be plenty of blame to go around for the Democrats' losses on Tuesday. And as head of the DSCC, Murray may take more than her share.
But she won't be alone. Some political observers even joke about a circular firing squad.
"She put together a strong staff. They raised a lot of money. Their recruiting was strong," said Jennifer Duffy, Senate campaign analyst for the Cook Political Report, a closely read D.C. newsletter.
Duffy cautions against reading too much into how the party's losses reflect on Murray: Her predecessor at the DSCC, Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., helped gain seats but was driven out of the Senate this year by scandal. Torricelli's Republican committee counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who suffered his party's losses two years ago, is expected to be elected to his party's leadership this week.
Murray had hoped for more, but isn't wallowing.
"We need to not feel we lost, as everyone likes to portray at this point," she said. "Had we not had those two plane crashes, we would still be in the majority," she said, referring to the deaths of Wellstone and Gov. Mel Carnahan.
Murray believes the party will learn from defeat. "When you lose, you step back and say, 'What are the priorities? And how do I sell that message better and bring more people with me?' "
As she looks ahead to her own future, Murray says the DSCC job gave her contacts around the country to call on for help with the state's problems, including transportation and health care.
She has also proved she's a formidable fund-raiser.
Thursday morning
At home in Washington state with her 20-something daughter, Murray wasn't getting much sympathy for the hard week behind her.
Sara's question for Mom: "OK, now what are you going to do about this?"
Katherine Pfleger: 206-464-2772 or kpfleger@seattletimes.com
Washington state is divided by the Cascade Mountains. West of the Cascades has fallen to the communists. The east side is still pretty much conservative.
Patty....WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!
Doesn't that explain a lot about why the Dems lost?
"With a majority of Democrats in the United States Senate, we will offer a check and balance to this White House and the extreme proposals they put forward," she said. "If there is a Republican-controlled Senate and White House and House of Representatives, there will be no debate. There will be no discussion. There will be no compromises."
This is why the Democrats lost this election. They had NO positions. They ran as the Anti-Republicans.
P.S. Note the shot at Brit Hume for being "domineering" because he dared to ask tough questions of a woman? I thought feminists like Patty Murray wanted to be treated equally (actually, I know better).
The 1998 hair
Ummmmmmmmm! That coffee is soooooo good!!
!!BAAAH-BYE!!
A strong person in that position might have fought for more money into the close Senate races where the Dems might have won. So the Repubs should not only be grateful for the Dem functionaries who were malignanatly wrong (McAuliffe), but also for the supporting cast of those who were cluelessly incompetent (Murray).
Did I get that about right?
Congressman Billybob
Billybob
Now she's wearing the obligatory wire-frame glasses, that all deep thinking lib's MUST wear.
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