This endorsement will be a "biggie" in November. "The Hill."
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September 24, 2003
Clyburn ready to tip scales in primary
By Hans Nichols
Rep. James Clyburn, long one of the most important Democrats in South Carolina, is fast becoming one of the most important Democrats in the country.
As South Carolina’s premier black politician, he is positioning himself to play kingmaker in the state’s Democratic presidential primary Feb. 3. But he does not want to show his hand too early, lest the weight of a Clyburn endorsement make the winner of South Carolina a foregone conclusion.
“I’ve got a badge with an arrow and it has all 10 names on it,” Clyburn told The Hill.
“I get up every morning and spin that arrow to see who I am for,” he said.
In a brief interview, Clyburn said he will make an endorsement in the late fall, arguing that “this thing hasn’t taken shape yet.”
“I am not in a position to handicap this yet, I think they’re all doing well,” he said.
But Democratic strategists, both in state and out, see Clyburn’s waiting game as just another example of his shrewd political instinct. They suggest Clyburn is scheming to maximize his impact on the Democratic nominating process with a November surprise.
In a front-loaded nominating schedule, South Carolina’s contest comes just one week after the New Hampshire primary, a slot it shares with five other states. However, due to a combination of early media attention and its high percentage of African American voters, South Carolina is widely regarded as the third most important primary state by many Democratic strategists, not to mention the campaigns.
“The winner of our primary will have demonstrated that he or she can effectively communicate with Southerners, white moderates and African-Americans, which comprise the vast majority of our party’s primary electorate,” said Nu Wexler, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.
With such high stakes in South Carolina, Clyburn has been the object of intense wooing by all the campaigns. “I’ve talked to them all,” Clyburn said. “Many times, many times.”
But some campaigns suspect that Clyburn already has made up his mind.
“[Rep. Dick] Gephardt’s [D-Mo.] going to get it. Everybody down here knows that. Clyburn and Dick Gephardt go way back and are very close friends,” said John C. Land III, the Democratic leader of the South Carolina Senate, who has endorsed native-born Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).
“I don’t know why Jim’s playing coy like this,” said Land, who himself admitted to stringing the campaigns along.
He continued: “I played it along with Jim for a while, but after a while, I wanted to cut down on those phone calls [from the campaigns]. I didn’t have the time to play.”
“Jim’s just loving the attention, isn’t he? Just loving the attention,” said a fellow member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
But not everyone sees cynicism or egoism in Clyburn’s stance. Democratic Rep. John Spratt, a fellow South Carolinian, said, “Jim doesn’t want to foreclose the competition, so he’s keeping his powder dry.”
“Jim Clyburn is extremely well respected by Democratic voters and it’s not just a matter of the African American vote, it’s all voters who will be watching his endorsement,” said Spratt, who has endorsed Gephardt.
Even among those who disagree about Clyburn’s intentions, there is near unanimity on the influence his endorsement will have in a primary where it is estimated that close to half of Democratic primary voters will be African Americans. Many regard Clyburn as “their third senator,” a Democratic strategist said.
“In South Carolina, Jim Clyburn will have more influence than any other individual and after him, it’ a big void to any comparable individual,” Land said.
The other big undeclared Democrat is the state’s senior senator, the retiring Sen. Fritz Hollings. He is rumored to be leaning towards fellow Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
But a Hollings endorsement, should he decide to confer it, might not translate into direct support at the polls.
“Clyburn’s support is the most transferable. He may even be more transferable than [former Sen.] Strom Thurmond [R-S.C.],” said Ike Williams, Clyburn’s longtime district director who is on leave to head Gephardt’s state operation.
Williams noted that it was Thurmond’s “transferable” endorsement of then-Texas Gov. George Bush that allowed him to defeat Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the 2000 GOP primary.
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