This time last year, Zell Miller was one of the biggest stories in Georgia, and in Washington.03/17/02
This time last year, Zell Miller was one of the biggest stories in Georgia, and in Washington.
The freshman U.S. Senator, who had been appointed the previous summer to the post by Gov. Roy Barnes to fill the unexpired term of the late Paul Coverdell, R-Atlanta, had turned Democratic party loyalists on their ear with his unexpected support of new President George W. Bush’s agenda.
Miller crossed the aisle to vote for the Bush tax cut, was the first Democratic senator to announce support for the nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general, and bashed fellow Democrats like Hillary Clinton in magazine articles and letters to the editor of the Washington Post. His maverick style translated to the widest home-state popularity of his long political career, and also to suspicions that he was about to jump ship on the Democrats and take up with the elephants.
Miller denied such ambitions numerous times, but many still wondered. But they can stop wondering. All doubters need do is read the latest fund-raising letter mailed by Miller statewide on behalf of Georgia’s senior senator, Max Cleland, D-Lithonia.
Cleland, a triple amputee from the Vietnam War who faces re-election this fall, remains widely popular on a personal basis, but has irked many Georgians with his voting record.
Cleland’s Vietnam experience gives him the political freedom to criticize the handling of the war on terrorism if he chooses without fear of voter backlash.
He now faces a strong, well-financed opponent in U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Moultrie. Also hoping for the GOP nomination is state Rep. Bob Irvin, R-Atlanta.
As Miller rightly puts it in his letter, “Max is facing the fight of his political life.”
Miller begins the letter by recounting how one of his most important decisions in life came in 1953 when he joined the Marine Corps, and the values it instilled.
“One — and it’s the reason I’m writing to you today: Is that when a friend needs you, be there — especially when that friend has been there for you as much as Max Cleland has been for Georgia.”
The former governor reminds readers how Cleland fought for campaign finance reform as secretary of state and how he was the youngest secretary of state ever to head the Veterans’ Administration.
As a senator, Miller said Cleland has worked tirelessly for affordable health care, better schools and to cut taxes “without blowing a hole in the budget.” In actuality, Cleland’s tax-cut vote was made easier for him by the fact that Miller had already come out in favor of it.
Concludes Miller: “If Max is going to compete, he’ll have to raise enough money to tell his story and counter the attacks that are sure to come. And — given his lifelong opposition to the causes the special interests hold dear — the only way Max can raise that kind of money is from everyday folks like us.
“Max needs our help. Let’s be there for him like he always has been for us.”
Miller repeated his endorsement at the recent state Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day banquet, causing Cleland to crack: “We have you on tape!”
After hearing all that, is there anyone out there naive enough to think that Miller has any plans to jump ship on the Democrats?