TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/042390/04231010.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 8.3 KB | 168 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 22

Sunbelt Mud Slides


While the Democrats brawl, the G.O.P. is rested, ready and rich

By MARGARET CARLSON -- Reported by Jordan Bonfante/Los Angeles,
James Carney/Miami and Richard Woodbury/Austin


    "She started it," claimed Texas attorney general Jim
Mattox, pictured in political cartoons as the aging "Mutant
Ninja Candidate." "No, he started it," says state treasurer Ann
Richards, the winner of last Tuesday's mud-splattered,
swamp-dwelling Texas Democratic gubernatorial runoff.

    Whoever threw the first punch, the race that just ended may
win the prize as the most negative one ever, even nastier than
anything served up in the 1988 presidential campaign. Mattox,
whose campaign slogan was "Texas Tough," accused Richards, a
silver-haired grandmother and recovering alcoholic, of being a
marijuana-smoking cokehead when she was Travis County
commissioner more than a decade ago. She accused him of
financial shenanigans, including taking a large campaign
contribution from a savings and loan operative. In a television
ad, Richards also brought up Mattox's 1984 indictment on a
bribery charge, without mentioning his acquittal. Former
Democratic Governor Mark White, who finished third in the March
13 primary, jumped into the pecking party, accusing Richards of
using tactics worthy of Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler. Yet
White produced TV spots so bloodcurdlingly pro-death penalty
that they were parodied on Saturday Night Live.

    "It was a family quarrel; the wounds will heal," says
Democratic state chairman Bob Slagle. That comment might have
been on target if the family were named Manson and a miracle
blood-clotting drug were discovered before the November
election. The Texas primary demonstrates once again the
difference between the two parties, as do crucial gubernatorial
races in California and Florida. While the G.O.P. generally
adheres to its eleventh commandment -- Never speak ill of
another Republican -- Democrats eat their own with relish.

    After fractious primaries, Democrats will limp into the
general election having spent most of their money defeating each
other. There they will face tanned, rested and ready Republicans
sitting atop huge, unused campaign treasuries. Ahead in the main
arena for Richards is West Texas oil millionaire Clayton
Williams, who breezed to the Republican nomination in an easy
March primary. In California, G.O.P. candidate (and U.S.
Senator) Pete Wilson is lying in wait, while Democrats Attorney
General John Van de Kamp and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne
Feinstein have at each other. Among Florida's Democrats, former
Senator Lawton Chiles has just heard "voices" that told him to
jump into the primary at the last minute, wrecking the carefully
built two-year campaign of Congressman Bill Nelson to be the
standard-bearer against Republican Governor Bob Martinez.

    Fortunately for Richards, bidding to become the first woman
Governor of Texas since Miriam ("Ma") Ferguson ruled the state
from 1925 to 1927, Republican nominee Williams suffered a
self-inflicted wound that could cripple him. He joked that bad
weather was inevitable, like rape, and the only thing to do was
to "relax and enjoy it." He said later he was kidding, an
apology that may work with the so-called Bubba vote. Women may
not be so forgiving, particularly those who were already leaning
toward Richards as the pro-choice candidate.

    Polls show that Richards is strong among women, in urban
areas and among voters who are new to Texas. Strategists believe
she will make inroads among suburban Republican women under 45.
Williams is popular with men, in rural areas and among those who
long for the "old Texas," an imagined state of being that stands
for an ever stronger Republican appeal. One estimate has 60% of
Texans calling themselves conservatives, and a poll last week
showed that 27% of Democratic votes could go to Williams this
fall, more than enough to elect him.

    Two days after the Texas runoff, any hope that Democrats
would keep their bad habits in check in Florida collapsed with
the announcement by Chiles that he would, after all, enter the
Sept. 4 primary. Until then, Nelson, from the Cape Canaveral
area and known primarily for his 1986 ride in space, was the
leading candidate, ahead of state senator George Stuart. But
many Democrats think the best chance of defeating Martinez is a
dream ticket of Chiles, who as "Walkin' Lawton" traveled the
length of the state on foot in 1970 to win his Senate seat, and
former Congressman Buddy McKay, who lost the closest election in
Florida history to Republican Connie Mack in the 1988 race for
Chiles' vacated seat. Chiles is limiting contributions to $100.

    As ever, though, one Democrat's dream is another's
nightmare. Nelson's campaign manager called Chiles' late entry
"a quirky thing" and huddled in long meetings, trying to figure
out what to do. Meanwhile, fellow Democrats and Republicans were
quick to strike, circulating rumors about Chiles' mental
stability. Chiles admitted that he has been taking the
antidepressant Prozac and that it could become an issue in the
race.

    Martinez's campaign manager reacted to the Chiles news with
the rhetorical question, "Is God a Republican, or what?"
Martinez needs all the Democratic help he can get. He nearly
self-destructed last October, when he tried unsuccessfully to
become the nation's first Governor to take advantage of the
Supreme Court's Webster decision and push restrictive new
abortion laws through the Florida legislature. He lost
resoundingly, and his negatives soared. Afterward, more Florida
voters (24%) said they would vote for "anyone but Martinez" than
said they would vote for him (22%). Still, Florida's G.O.P.
moneymen are sticking with him. "He's the guy who pulled it off
in 1986 when the odds were against us," says Florida G.O.P. aide
Stan Smith. "You dance with the guy who brung ya."

    Democrats, of course, will take anyone onto the floor for a
spin, an open-arms policy that worked better when they were the
majority party. In California registered Democrats still
outnumber Republicans, but last month for the first time since
1934 they dipped below 50% of the electorate, and the party can
ill afford a divisive campaign. In a battle of the network
stars, Feinstein shot ahead of Van de Kamp by 19 points with a
tough pro-death penalty stance and an early television ad
reprising her "I'm-in-charge-here" coolheadedness after the 1978
assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Van de Kamp
responded with an attack ad picturing Feinstein as a
muddleheaded manager and accusing her of creating irresponsible
budget deficits. Feinstein struck back with another commercial
comparing Van de Kamp's tactics with Nixon's against Helen
Gahagan Douglas in 1950.

    Meanwhile, California Republicans are desperate to hold on
to power in Sacramento to stop the Democratic legislature from
redrawing congressional districts entirely to their advantage
after the 1990 census. Even conservative supporters of incumbent
Governor George Deukmejian have been willing to unite behind
Wilson, although it means overlooking his moderate pro-choice,
pro-environment, anti-off-shore-drilling stances. Wilson heads
into California's TV-heavy general election ready to deploy $16
million to $20 million, while Van de Kamp and Feinstein will
already have spent most of what they have raised -- about $4
million apiece.

    Until now Democrats have counterbalanced their inability to
elect a President by winning a majority in the Congress and in
statehouses, but with elections in three Sunbelt states in
jeopardy, they run the risk of losing that fig leaf of
respectability. For sheer survival, Democrats should try to join
the grownups' table and put an end to their days of sibling
rivalry. In Florida some party elders, torn between their early
commitment to Nelson and a desire to get behind Chiles, are
hoping Nelson will drop out in time to run for re-election to
his House seat. The deadline is May 11. In Texas, Mattox has
announced he will support Richards. Still, Democrats like White
insist they will never endorse Richards, never support her and
never vote for her. That is Texas Tough but Democrat Dumb.