The Republicans were no less ill mannered. President Bush not-so-subtly questioned Patrick Buchanan’s patriotism (for failing to support the Persian Gulf War), while Buchanan attacked Bush’s morality. A Buchanan ad showed a clip of a federally funded film that portrayed gay black men dancing together. “Even after good people protested,” the ad blares, “Bush continued to fund this kind of art.”
Forget the No Bull Campaign. For now, at least, it’s the All Swill Campaign. The race is in its nasty, survive-or-die phase: a coast-to-coast hurly-burly of seven candidates in two parties running in some or all of 23 state primaries and caucuses, with a heavy emphasis on the South. “It’s a ‘Rush to Judgement’,’ says Kerrey.
At this stage, voters seem ready to turn thumbs down on everyone. Bush continues to slide in the polls, but the numbers also show that Democrats remain doubtful that any of their candidates can defeat him. The Super Tuesday free-for-all is unlikely to raise voters’ estimation of the candidates-even as it whittles down the field. “This is a kind of reverse Darwinism,” said Democratic strategist Rick Sloan. “It’s survival of the weakest.”
Still, somebody has to survive. For the two front runners-Bush and Clinton-the fond hope is this: to use their money, their network of establishment endorsements and their Southern base to blow out the opposition. But the bottom line after March 10 could just as easily be more muddle. The rest of the pack must pray for chaos and hang on long enough to become “the last man standing.” Two roads to the nomination:
More than half the delegates to be chosen over the eight-day span are in the South, an increasingly diverse region (page 35) where the politically fickle “Bubba vote” of conservative, white male voters remains crucial. Bush, the adoptive Texan, is politically at home in the South. In 1988 the late Lee Atwater built Bush a Southern “fire wall” in the Republican nomination race. This time around, Bush hopes his family-man image will fend off Buchanan’s attacks on administration funding of “obscene” art. But his wariness toward Buchanan can be illustrated by a seemingly innocuous scheduling change last week. After planning to attend services at the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta-a bastion of “country club” Republicans-Bush decided abruptly to go to the First Baptist Church in Atlanta-a citadel of middle-class born-agains.
Ironically, macho-man Bush is making a special play for middle-class Southern Republican women. Bush aides went “up” at the weekend with their sharpest attack ad yet: a spot telling voters that Buchanan, who did poorly among female voters in New Hampshire, once said women are “less equipped psychologically” to succeed in the workplace than men.
On the Democratic side, Clinton, the five-term governor of Arkansas and Rhodes scholar, is the Beltway’s favorite Bubba. But he’s also a genuine Southern pol. For Clinton, frontrunnerhood has one aim: to stifle the advance of Paul Tsongas, the only foe he takes seriously. Feeling secure about his support in this week’s Georgia primary, where Gov. Zell Miller has been a bulwark, Clinton planned to confront Tsongas in Colorado and sneak up on him in supposedly pro-Tsongas Maryland. Clinton hopes to use the media momentum of an early-evening Georgia victory call (plus a raft of endorsements) to launch his drive in the Super Tuesday Southern states of Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Clinton also hopes to do well with black voters-despite his ballistic reaction, accidentally recorded on videotape, to an erroneous report that Jesse Jackson had endorsed Tom Harkin. (“It’s a dirty, double-crossing, back-stabbing thing to do,” Clinton fumed.) Clinton touts endorsements from black mayors in Baltimore and Atlanta and is stepping up his visits to black-belt churches.
Candidates with less organizational clout must play guerrilla warfare. Their mission is just to live on, picking their spots, until the race turns to the Midwest and industrial East. As he did in New Hampshire, Buchanan focused his campaign on one state, Georgia, where “crossover” voters can take part in either primary. He attacked the president from the right on every hot-button social issue-including “quotas” and abortion. He acidly declined to attack Vice President Dan Quayle, saying he didn’t want to be “accused of child abuse.”
But living on past Super Tuesday will be more difficult, Buchananites concede. He will adopt the classic survivalist strategy, targeting selected congressional districts (CDs), since, in every state, most delegates are chosen in mini-elections in each district. Buchanan courts Cuban-Americans in Miami, accusing Bush of being “soft” on Castro. He will pinpoint especially conservative districts in Louisiana and Mississippi, where he invokes his slave-owning ancestors in a naked bid for what’s left of the old-line “seg” vote. He will also target parts of Texas, where his anti-immigration rhetoric could score points with Anglos worried about the influx of Mexican illegals.
By playing to the worst of the Old South so savagely, Buchanan is eliciting new charges of racism and could finally destroy his ties to a Washington press corps that has sometimes looked the other way at his screeds. Buchanan forces expect to be obliterated in the delegate count because most Republican rules require that primary elections be “winner take all” affairs, statewide and in each district. Buchanan could get 35 to 40 percent of statewide votes but still earn no delegates unless he bests Bush in a particular district. “The rules are horrible for us everywhere,” says Buchanan polltaker Frank Luntz.
For Democrats, the first goal is to weigh down Clinton further with “character” questions. Kerrey, in a dramatic switch of tactics, last week attacked Clinton’s draft story, while Harkin and Tsongas said his comments about Jackson showed a lack of presidential maturity. Meanwhile, the other Democrats focused on specific CDs and on states. Tsongas, for example, targeted Colorado and Maryland this week; next week he will try to “cherry-pick” districts in Florida and Texas. Under Democratic rules, any candidate who gets at least 15 percent of the vote in a CD earns delegates. If the GOP rules help guarantee a blowout, the Democrats’ rules help prevent one.
Every non-front-runner’s goal, says Kerrey campaign director Tad Devine, is to “break threshold” if he can’t win a state outright. “It’s a long campaign,” said Devine. “And we want to be the last man standing.” After next week’s scramble, the nation could be a step closer to knowing that man’s identity-in both parties. But the Super Tuesday season may not have left either one in much shape to begin the sprint toward November.
Photos: Blasting away. Bush campaigning in Texas, Buchanan’s anti-obscenity ad (left) (JOHN FICARS-NEWSWEEK)
Photo: A dramatic switch of tactics: Kerrey battered Clinton on the draft question (CHRIS O’MEARA-AP)
Going for a Super-heated Delegate Harvest
Super Tuesday, March 10, is the great divide in the nomination race. With 11 contests, more delegates are chosen on this day than on any other. Losers in the delegate harvest may drop out soon after. Florida and Texas are the fattest prizes.
Dukakis won Florida in ‘88-fanning Tsongas hopes to snag decent delegate share. Buchanan’s anti-alien stand leaves him sin amigos among Florida Latinos. (PLEDGED DELEGATES 148 DEM. 97 GOP)
Clinton has courted the new generation of Texas Democrats ever since he was George McGovern’s state coordinator in 1972. The draft question may hurt but he looks like a good bet. (PLEDGED DELEGATES 196 DEM. 121 GOP)
Late Chicago mayor Richard Daley arguably got JFK elected. Today son Richie, the current mayor, is the key to Illinois’s March 17 primary. A Cuomo fan, he is uncommitted, but his campaign chief runs Clinton HQ in Arkansas.
Mid-campaign, with many contests and few dollars, polltakers reign. Clinton’s Stan Greenberg and Tsongas’s ‘Tubby’ Harrison help target ad money and “tarmac time.” Greenberg blew one recently, at first telling Clinton he had little chance in winnable Maryland.
title: “Nasty As They Wanna Be” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Gregory Cade”
The Republicans were no less ill mannered. President Bush not-so-subtly questioned Patrick Buchanan’s patriotism (for failing to support the Persian Gulf War), while Buchanan attacked Bush’s morality. A Buchanan ad showed a clip of a federally funded film that portrayed gay black men dancing together. “Even after good people protested,” the ad blares, “Bush continued to fund this kind of art.”
Forget the No Bull Campaign. For now, at least, it’s the All Swill Campaign. The race is in its nasty, survive-or-die phase: a coast-to-coast hurly-burly of seven candidates in two parties running in some or all of 23 state primaries and caucuses, with a heavy emphasis on the South. “It’s a ‘Rush to Judgement’,’ says Kerrey.
At this stage, voters seem ready to turn thumbs down on everyone. Bush continues to slide in the polls, but the numbers also show that Democrats remain doubtful that any of their candidates can defeat him. The Super Tuesday free-for-all is unlikely to raise voters’ estimation of the candidates-even as it whittles down the field. “This is a kind of reverse Darwinism,” said Democratic strategist Rick Sloan. “It’s survival of the weakest.”
Still, somebody has to survive. For the two front runners-Bush and Clinton-the fond hope is this: to use their money, their network of establishment endorsements and their Southern base to blow out the opposition. But the bottom line after March 10 could just as easily be more muddle. The rest of the pack must pray for chaos and hang on long enough to become “the last man standing.” Two roads to the nomination:
More than half the delegates to be chosen over the eight-day span are in the South, an increasingly diverse region (page 35) where the politically fickle “Bubba vote” of conservative, white male voters remains crucial. Bush, the adoptive Texan, is politically at home in the South. In 1988 the late Lee Atwater built Bush a Southern “fire wall” in the Republican nomination race. This time around, Bush hopes his family-man image will fend off Buchanan’s attacks on administration funding of “obscene” art. But his wariness toward Buchanan can be illustrated by a seemingly innocuous scheduling change last week. After planning to attend services at the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta-a bastion of “country club” Republicans-Bush decided abruptly to go to the First Baptist Church in Atlanta-a citadel of middle-class born-agains.
Ironically, macho-man Bush is making a special play for middle-class Southern Republican women. Bush aides went “up” at the weekend with their sharpest attack ad yet: a spot telling voters that Buchanan, who did poorly among female voters in New Hampshire, once said women are “less equipped psychologically” to succeed in the workplace than men.
On the Democratic side, Clinton, the five-term governor of Arkansas and Rhodes scholar, is the Beltway’s favorite Bubba. But he’s also a genuine Southern pol. For Clinton, frontrunnerhood has one aim: to stifle the advance of Paul Tsongas, the only foe he takes seriously. Feeling secure about his support in this week’s Georgia primary, where Gov. Zell Miller has been a bulwark, Clinton planned to confront Tsongas in Colorado and sneak up on him in supposedly pro-Tsongas Maryland. Clinton hopes to use the media momentum of an early-evening Georgia victory call (plus a raft of endorsements) to launch his drive in the Super Tuesday Southern states of Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Clinton also hopes to do well with black voters-despite his ballistic reaction, accidentally recorded on videotape, to an erroneous report that Jesse Jackson had endorsed Tom Harkin. (“It’s a dirty, double-crossing, back-stabbing thing to do,” Clinton fumed.) Clinton touts endorsements from black mayors in Baltimore and Atlanta and is stepping up his visits to black-belt churches.
Candidates with less organizational clout must play guerrilla warfare. Their mission is just to live on, picking their spots, until the race turns to the Midwest and industrial East. As he did in New Hampshire, Buchanan focused his campaign on one state, Georgia, where “crossover” voters can take part in either primary. He attacked the president from the right on every hot-button social issue-including “quotas” and abortion. He acidly declined to attack Vice President Dan Quayle, saying he didn’t want to be “accused of child abuse.”
But living on past Super Tuesday will be more difficult, Buchananites concede. He will adopt the classic survivalist strategy, targeting selected congressional districts (CDs), since, in every state, most delegates are chosen in mini-elections in each district. Buchanan courts Cuban-Americans in Miami, accusing Bush of being “soft” on Castro. He will pinpoint especially conservative districts in Louisiana and Mississippi, where he invokes his slave-owning ancestors in a naked bid for what’s left of the old-line “seg” vote. He will also target parts of Texas, where his anti-immigration rhetoric could score points with Anglos worried about the influx of Mexican illegals.
By playing to the worst of the Old South so savagely, Buchanan is eliciting new charges of racism and could finally destroy his ties to a Washington press corps that has sometimes looked the other way at his screeds. Buchanan forces expect to be obliterated in the delegate count because most Republican rules require that primary elections be “winner take all” affairs, statewide and in each district. Buchanan could get 35 to 40 percent of statewide votes but still earn no delegates unless he bests Bush in a particular district. “The rules are horrible for us everywhere,” says Buchanan polltaker Frank Luntz.
For Democrats, the first goal is to weigh down Clinton further with “character” questions. Kerrey, in a dramatic switch of tactics, last week attacked Clinton’s draft story, while Harkin and Tsongas said his comments about Jackson showed a lack of presidential maturity. Meanwhile, the other Democrats focused on specific CDs and on states. Tsongas, for example, targeted Colorado and Maryland this week; next week he will try to “cherry-pick” districts in Florida and Texas. Under Democratic rules, any candidate who gets at least 15 percent of the vote in a CD earns delegates. If the GOP rules help guarantee a blowout, the Democrats’ rules help prevent one.
Every non-front-runner’s goal, says Kerrey campaign director Tad Devine, is to “break threshold” if he can’t win a state outright. “It’s a long campaign,” said Devine. “And we want to be the last man standing.” After next week’s scramble, the nation could be a step closer to knowing that man’s identity-in both parties. But the Super Tuesday season may not have left either one in much shape to begin the sprint toward November.
Photos: Blasting away. Bush campaigning in Texas, Buchanan’s anti-obscenity ad (left) (JOHN FICARS-NEWSWEEK)
Photo: A dramatic switch of tactics: Kerrey battered Clinton on the draft question (CHRIS O’MEARA-AP)
Going for a Super-heated Delegate Harvest
Super Tuesday, March 10, is the great divide in the nomination race. With 11 contests, more delegates are chosen on this day than on any other. Losers in the delegate harvest may drop out soon after. Florida and Texas are the fattest prizes.
Dukakis won Florida in ‘88-fanning Tsongas hopes to snag decent delegate share. Buchanan’s anti-alien stand leaves him sin amigos among Florida Latinos. (PLEDGED DELEGATES 148 DEM. 97 GOP)
Clinton has courted the new generation of Texas Democrats ever since he was George McGovern’s state coordinator in 1972. The draft question may hurt but he looks like a good bet. (PLEDGED DELEGATES 196 DEM. 121 GOP)
Late Chicago mayor Richard Daley arguably got JFK elected. Today son Richie, the current mayor, is the key to Illinois’s March 17 primary. A Cuomo fan, he is uncommitted, but his campaign chief runs Clinton HQ in Arkansas.
Mid-campaign, with many contests and few dollars, polltakers reign. Clinton’s Stan Greenberg and Tsongas’s ‘Tubby’ Harrison help target ad money and “tarmac time.” Greenberg blew one recently, at first telling Clinton he had little chance in winnable Maryland.
