Clark may prove that 'centrist' is not a dirty word
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By Bronwyn Lance Chester
VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Posted on Sat, Oct. 04, 2003
In the now-classic political manual "Hardball," author and inside-the-Beltway veteran Chris Matthews advises candidates with problems to "hang a lantern on them."
A savvy candidate will brandish, rather than hide, an aspect of his background that might render him vulnerable. Think Ronald Reagan's age ("I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience") or Jimmy Carter's roots and vocation (Southern peanut farmer, Washington outsider).
Diehard Democrats and gloating Republicans think retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark has two problems.
First, he's a Johnny-come-lately Democrat. His catapult to the top of the polls and his besting of Bush in several potential matchups don't sit well with some longtime party loyalists.
Clark stole the thunder of several fellow Democrats who believed niche assets could be parlayed into front-runner status. With Clark in the game, John Kerry is no longer the only war hero, John Edwards the only Southerner and Joseph Lieberman the only centrist.
And second, Clark committed party heresy by publicly praising the Bush administration in May 2001, and by voting for - gasp! - Reagan back in the 1980s.
Speaking at a Little Rock dinner two years ago, Clark said, "I'm very glad we've got the great team in office. Men like Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney our president, George W. Bush. We need them there."
Predictably, Clark has been assailed by rivals, most notably Lieberman, for both transgressions.
But the whip-smart Clark has taken a page out of the "Hardball" playbook. Rather than parsing his past Republican support or pretending that he's been a yellow-dog Democrat all along, Clark has touted his vote for Reagan and played centrism to his advantage, saying, "I was going to be either a very, very lonely Republican or I was going to be a very happy Democrat and you know what, I'm going to bring a lot of other new Democrats into the party."
If Clark can make it to the general election, he may be right.
Party officials, journalists and other campaign camp followers, who tally political statistics with the fervency of baseball fans, need to wake up. Between dropping off dry cleaning and picking up kids from soccer practice, most Americans could give a rat's patootie whether Clark once supported an incredibly popular Republican president. We are not a nation of party loyalists.
Numbers bear this out. According to Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, only about 37 percent of the electorate strongly identify as Democrats or Republicans. The majority's vote could be up for grabs.
To middle America, unnerved by political polarization, "centrist" is not a dirty word; it's a welcome return to sanity. Says Stephen Medvic, professor of government at Franklin & Marshall College, "The notion that someone isn't a diehard partisan, a lot of Americans will like that aspect of Clark's candidacy."
But while Clark may do well in New Hampshire, a state that routinely picks mavericks, his first task must be to appeal to party activists who make up the Democratic nominating electorate.
The Democratic Party, too, should hang a lantern on its problem. Other than the carpetbagger Clark, few of its candidates have much more than fringe appeal.
Even the much ballyhooed Howard Dean doesn't poll well in the South or upper Midwest, critical regions for national Democratic success. And Clark appeals to NASCAR men, who have fled the Democratic Party in droves since the Reagan era.
Democratic activists need to honestly ask themselves: Which candidates is electable and has the most crossover appeal? While they may be peeved at Clark's lack of party credentials, many party faithful also want to back a winner.
If Clark continues to paint himself as the man who can stand up to Bush - the real issue of 2004 - and can bring in independents and moderate Republicans, he could garner a large enough share of Democratic delegates to become a force to be reckoned with at the convention.
The silver-haired ex-general's real problems may be a lack of cash and his too-close association with the bevy of Clintonites now running his campaign.
But to Americans sick to death of right and left wings, a candidate's past party crossovers and centrist bent are more assets than problems.
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Bronwyn Lance Chester is a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.
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