Flash, cash, crash
The downfall of a well-heeled Clinton buddy
Flash, cash, crash
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
When I heard last night that Terry McAuliffe - the legendary Democratic money man, former national party chairman, and longtime Clinton buddy - had been decisively trounced in the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary, I couldn't help but remember the story about Terry and the alligator.
True story: Back in the mid-1980s, when young McAuliffe was already cementing his reputation as a fundraising wunderkind with an unparalleled gusto for greenbacks, he met up in Florida with a group of Seminole Indians. They had money, and he was determined to get some of it flowing to the Democratic party. So he made them a deal, one that was more unique than his usual deals for money. He offered to wrestle an alligator. (There was such a creature in the vicinity, and it weighed roughly 260 pounds.) The deal was that if he wrestled it with some modicum of success, the Seminole Indians would have to fork over $15,000. So he did the gig, and they paid up to the Democratic party.
I cite this episode because it gives us a flavor for McAuliffe's outsize personality and dealmaking, his determination to network far and wide at all costs - the same kinds of traits that ultimately helped doom him last night, in his failed bid to enter elective politics and become Virginia's Democratic candidate for governor in 2009.
It's certainly true that Virginia has recently been trending blue - it voted for Barack Obama in 2008, elected Jim Webb to the Senate in 2006, and elected two Democrats in succession for the governor's job - but there's something about McAuliffe that seemed woefully ill-suited for that state. His personality is too flashy, he flashed too much money, and on the trail he flaunted his farflung national political friendships. Even though McAuliffe and his family have lived in Northern Virginia for years, he came off during the primary campaign like a national heavyweight in search of a launching pad. In short, he looked like a carpetbagger who had parachuted into Podunk.
We all generally bemoan the notion that well-financed candidates can virtually buy their way into office. But quite often, the opposite occurs; candidates with lots of money often lose, simply because they seem to be about nothing except their money. (For instance, California is a notorious boneyard. GOP voters have recently rejected three wealthy businessmen who wanted to become governor: Al Checchi in 1998, Bill Simon in 2002, and Steve Westly in 2006.) McAuliffe actually tried to be substantive, at one point offering a detailed plan to pull Virginia out of recession, but there was something about the size of his war chest that turned off the Virginia voters.
Bottom line: He raised roughly $7 million for his primary bid, tapping his network of big-shot national donors, and in the end three-quarters of his money came from out of state. That tab is more than double the amount raised by Creigh Deeds, the rural state senator who wound up winning the primary last night. Deeds raised only $2.83 million - yet he waxed McAuliffe in the vote tally by a margin of roughly two to one.
Money isn't everything, particularly when it winds up looking like a negative character trait. AFSCME, the public employe union, gave McAuliffe $600,000 - which may have been a perceptual asset had McAuliffe been running for office in a northern state (such as his native New York), but Virginia is not exactly union-friendly and many Virginians who vote Democratic tend to be wary of anything that smacks of the traditional liberal label.
Moreover, McAuliffe was essentially trying to sell himself as a highly connected guy. Donald Trump gave him money. Ed Rendell did a video endorsement. Democratic Gov. Brian Sweitzer of Montana flew in, and hit the trail with the candidate. (Were Virginians supposed to know who Sweitzer was, or care?) Bill Clinton hit the trail, too. McAuliffe clearly thought that Bill was an asset, because he kept saying at rallies, "Look, I know Bill Clinton!"
And that was supposed to impress Virginians? Those voters rejected Bill Clinton in the '92 presidential election and again in '96. And since last night's low primary turnout was by definition dominated by those most knowledgeable and motivated about politics, it's a fair bet that many remembered McAuliffe's role as a key player in some of the seamiest '90s money-raising episodes. After all, it was his idea to rent out the Lincoln Bedroom to high rollers, and to sell face time with Clinton. And although he was never charged with any wrongdoing, his name repeatedly surfaced in connection with an illegal money-laundering scheme involving the Teamsters and the Democratic National Committee in 1996.
Indeed, it's significant that McAuliffe began to free fall in the polls when the third candidate in the Democratic field, Brian Moran, began to air ads attacking McAuliffe's long history of corporate dealmaking ("working insider deals for himself"). As often happens in three-way races, the ads hurt the target (McAuliffe) as well as the attacker (Moran), with Creigh Deeds benefiting on the rebound.
All told, McAuliffe seemed too closely linked to the "national" Democratic party (particularly the pre-Obama brand that never played well in Virginia) - whereas Virginians, characteristically, preferred someone a tad more home grown. Hence, Deeds the underdog.
Moreover, Obama's political lieutenants are probably relieved that McAuliffe lost. They realize that, fairly or not, the impending November gubernatorial election will be framed in the national media as some kind of referendum on Obama specifically and Democratic fortunes generally, so they might as well be grateful that the more electable guy got the nomination. For starters, Deeds is perceived as more politically moderate than McAuliffe.
Facing off against Republican Bob McConnell, Deeds will win the heavily Democratic vote in Northern Virginia just as McAuliffe would have - but, as an unflashy rural guy (he hails from the second smallest county in the state), he'll perform far better than McAuliffe in rural western and southwestern Virginia, areas that have recently proved pivotal for successful Democratic candidates such as Webb, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine.
Besides, the Obama people will probably be relieved that they won't have to dispatch Obama across the Potomac to stump for a Clinton buddy who chaired Hillary's primary campaign and spent much of last year on TV assailing Obama. Win or lose in 2009, at least Obama won't have to wrestle that particular alligator.
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In a column five weeks ago, I referred to the GOP as the Older White Guy Party. Well, this is precisely what I was talking about:
For the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, Americans were asked to identify the person who speaks for the Republicans today. The top five "winners" were Rush Limbaugh (cited by 13 percent), Dick Cheney, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush.
Leaving aside the embarrassing fact that 52 percent of Americans couldn't even name anybody, and leaving aside the fact that the plurality winner is a radio demagogue, it's mostly worth noting the key trait shared by those top five finishers.
They're all older white guys.
Which is not an opportune image to have, given the fact that, according to USA Today 's report on the Gallup stats, the GOP is currently suffering "an erosion of support across almost all demographic groups — the steepest decline since
Ed Rollins, the veteran party strategist, put it best when he said that, as Republicans, "we're in the basement of a 100-story building."
Polman fails to mention that the VA governors race is sort of a rematch. Apparently these two ran against each other for VA Attorney General. In that race, the Republican won, by a narrow margin.— tom - wilmington, de- I want to address this stupid daily story about who speaks for the Republican party. Since when has this mattered? Who spoke for the Democratic party after Al Gore was defeated and John Kerry was defeated. In 1984 Walter Mondale lost every state in the nation except one. Who spoke for the Democratic party at that time? In the aftermath of a a lost presidential election there are many voices vying to be the leader of the party out of power. It's called Democracy! This business of deliverying the eulogy of the Republican party on a daily basis is about as phony as it gets. When the party in charge has only that fact that they won the last election to cling to as sucess then you know they won't be in charge for long. Insurmountable debt and rising unemployment has all but sealed the fate of any hope democrats have of being a long term majority. Leadership is not about constantly crowing about winning an election. Leadership is actually sound governance that reduces debt and improves the economy.
- Let's see....the only names the media uses when discussing Republicans are Rush, Cheney, W. and Hannity. How many times do you ever hear them talk about Paul Ryan or Eric Cantor? Meanwhile, it is being reported that the Justice Department is now ordering FBI agents to mirandize any combatants captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan before sending them to Bagram Air Base (Obama's GITMO). If true, that would contradict what Obama said back in March about these guys being undeserving of Miranda rights. I wonder why that is not all over the conservative media, like the new Gallup numbers on Obama and spending/deficit, Jeremiah Wright trashing "them Jews" who will not let Obama talk to him, and Letterman talking about Palin's teenage daughter getting knocked up by A-Rod during the 7th inning of the Yankee game. Where is that conservative media?— tom - wilmington, de
Comment removed.- You never cease to amaze me with your misleading articles Polman. The old white guy forum works for the dems to - Biden, Reid, Frank, and then you thorw in that old white woman Pelosi, and hang your hat on Obama (mixed racial even though you will call him black to make you seem right and show the Dems care about minorities even though Dems would rather they NOT have jobs so they do not wise up to the fact the government rips them off) as the only one not "old". Bush and Limbaugh are not the "old" you were going for anyway you liar. Maybe once you can write somethign that does stink of either lies or misleading information.— reddog44
- chasing history: Corzine not only cut the property tax rebate but he raised the sales tax and was supposed to dedicate half of that money to the rebate (BEFORE the recession started).....I hate to break the news to you but NJ has been in financial straits since Florio. The bottom line is they either need to cut services and/or layoff workers. Even if they do layoff thousands of workers, that really isn't going to change the underlying financial problems in the state.— chasing history
- Nigelthemastiff- The schools are good here in suburban South Jersey but we could have that without paying so much in school taxes. My township is the fastest growing muncipality in the state by percentage. Which isn't saying much since a decade ago we were nothing than peach orchards and tomato fields. But we got discovered and the developement started. Now we have a separate schools( all new) for Kindergarten, 1st& 2nd Grade, 3rd&4th grade, and a school for just 5th graders. Do you see a cost problem? We are hamstrung by the state which mandates a school be built no bigger than a 3 year population projection. On top of that the State goes crazy funding poor school districts with declining enrollent and funds virtually nothing for what is considered rich school districts( we are not rich,we're average). On top of all this we have more municipalities than any state in the nation. I drive through 3 townships on my way to the ACME. And there is the recipe for the highest property taxes in the nation. Did I mention that as a state we are, and have been run top to bottom by Democrats for a very long time.
- Well, jwad, I lived in NJ for 30 years and managed to live an OK lifestyle -- certainly better than I have here, with more services and more resources. Northwest Georgia is breathtakingly beautiful, but it's very classist. There's a huge divide between the haves and have-nots. The same families rule the roost from one generation to the next (maybe that's just small-town, though). I had so many friends in NJ, but here there is a couples-only mentality, so I find myself rather isolated. My experience in coming back here hasn't been very positive overall.— NigeltheMastiff
- Comment removed.
- Where have all the Repubs gone? MSNBC reports: "Homegrown hate groups increase in number. Civil rights group blames recession, election of first black president"— Mandy_C63
- Let's talk about something more upbeat like the General Motors boycott......OK Al Sharpton. Actually, my Accord is getting up there in age and mileage. I looked at the new Chevy Malibu over the w/e. Pretty sweet ride for a 4 door in that price range.— chasing history
- Comment removed.
- mike, your problems have more to do with poor local leadership then anything else. Your mayor is spending millions to build a municipal building you don't need with money he doesn't really have. While some of your argument about the state requirements is valid, it's also not completely right since many of the schools in South Jersey are regional, specifically Kingsway and Clearview, the two closest to where you live. So while there are a lot municipalities, they all don't have the schools that you portray. They all have lower schools but then go to a regional high school which saves the individual municipalities a lot of money. As for your comment about which party has had control of the state for a long period of time, perhaps you should check again. Starting from Tom Kean (keeping it somewhat modern history here) Repubs have been in office as Gov for 16 years (Kean 8 & Whitman 8) while Dems have held the office for 12 years (Florio 4, McGreevey 4 and Corzine 4 - rounding of course). Additionally, both Kean and Whitman served two consecutive terms which gave them more time to implement policies. As for the state House and Senate, Repubs controlled both or split with Dems for the most part from the mid-80's through 2003. After that Dems have had control over both houses in NJ. So, in truth, Repubs have had greater control of the state over the last 20 or so years. As for your little berg, you need to get rid of Chila and the rest of his Dem cronies as quickly as you can. Oh, and see if they'll take their buddy Sweeney with them.— amg
- swedeboromike: go and read "The Soprano State" if you want to get REALLY worked up. It goes into a lot of the corruption from Florio to present, the party bosses, NJ's non-existent ethics laws, pension-padding, patronage, pay-for-play, and all the rest of it. The writing isn't especially good, but the research and reporting is first rate.— still_independent
- AMG- You certainly know your Woolwich Twp politics. Don't get me started the Taj Mahal of Municipal buildings. My plan would be to give all the township employees a pay raise have them work out of their homes. If a meeting needs to occur they certainly could have used one of the 7 schools we have.
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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