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At the Starting Gate: The Democrats
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12079 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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12 / 1987 |
6,287 Words |
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Don McLeod
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The biggest problem facing Democrats in the 1988 presidential campaign is that almost all of the name candidates are on the other side. The second biggest problem is that their own candidates may self-destruct before they even get a shot at the Republicans.
When 1987 opened, there was only one real Democratic candidate: Gary Hart. Few people had ever heard of the other contenders, with the exception of Rev. Jesse Jackson. Then the former Colorado senator dropped off the landslide in May amid allegations of adultery. Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware was forced out in September under a cloud of plagiarism and prevarication. Then it was learned that the campaign manager for Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis had prepared and distributed the videotape that started Biden's tumble. Dukakis apologized, shed three top campaign officials, and stayed in the race, but he was limping.
The result of all this is a picture of bickering, bitter Democrats that goes far toward erasing the negative images attached to the Reagan White House - and consequently the Republican presidential candidates seeking to succeed him. It also negated, at least to some degree, the sleaze factor Democrats had hoped to use against the GOP. In some ways this could have a few positive effects for the Democrats seeking to be president. For one thing, it narrows the field; now there are a manageable six. The first wave of primaries and caucuses surely will weed this crop a little more.
Following are close-up looks at the individual strengths, weaknesses, and messages of the six Democratic presidential candidates:
Bruce Babbitt
If Bruce Babbitt has one single advantage in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, it is that the first caucuses, Iowa, and the first primary, New Hampshire, are held in the kind of states that inspired the term grass roots. Population-wise they are small states where personal contact is the mainstay of politics, and Babbitt is an undisputed master of small crowd personal contact. When he talks, it's almost like a testimonial at a revival meeting.
This same magic over individuals and small groups in Iowa and New Hampshire launched Jimmy Carter to the White House in 1976. Usually, though, this is not enough by itself. So Babbitt, like Carter, is putting a lot of his effort into organization. He was one of the first candidates into Iowa signing up supporters and working to hold them. Now retired as governor of Arizona, he pretty much spends full time on his campaign, and his time in the field is reflected in a strong base in the early states.
Babbitt has used other means in an effort to set himself apart from the pack, including an unusual mass media advertising campaign in Iowa during the summer aimed at getting him the name recognition that is about the only thing measured by early polls and straw votes.
The most recent Babbitt gamble came in September when he called for an end to the "conspiracy of evasion" about the federal budget deficit and proposed a national sales tax he said would raise up to $60 billion a year.
"We've
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