A three-stary Army General whose portfolio was intelligence until she retired last year, Kennedy stood out among the parade of military types who typically populate the airwaves. The first woman to achieve such a high rank in the Army, her former office was in the section of the Pentagon destroyed when the plane struck the building. Kennedy recently had begun an exploratory campaign with the goal of challenging Republican Sen. John Warner in Virginia, who is up for a fifth term next year. Taking on the 74-year-old Warner would have been difficult under any circumstances. But Democrats hoped that Kennedy’s military background would help neutralize Warner’s advantage as a former secretary of the Navy and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The media exposure Kennedy received after Sept. 11 initially heartened her supporters, but Kennedy soon realized she didn’t have the stomach (or the funds) in the current political climate to wage a partisan campaign against an icon of the military establishment. She ended her exploratory campaign, one of many aspiring candidates, male and female, to foresee an issue of terrain that heavily favors incumbents and men in general because of national-security concerns and a desire for toughness. “Where we’ll be in 2002, I’m not certain,” says Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “But a lot of candidates make the decision now, and an awful lot of women will decide 2002 is not going to be the year of the woman.”
At the bipartisan Women’s Campaign Fund, they’re scrambling to help women candidates develop a message that can withstand the testosterone they will confront on the campaign trail. “I tell women that as things change, you need to adapt,” says political director Erica Henri. She encourages women candidates to emphasize building coalitions domestically the way President Bush is doing internationally. They need to talk about security and safety and offer concrete proposals on how to build a strong economy. “What’s happening is not beneficial for women candidates,” says Henri. “But there are things we can do to mitigate the effects.”
On Capitol Hill, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi was within striking distance of collecting enough commitments to win the first major elected post in either party in her bid to become the Democratic whip. Then the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and congressional politics came to a standstill. Pelosi’s gender had been her greatest strength. Democrats like to brag they’re the more diverse of the two parties, but they’ve never had a woman in a top leadership spot. Some women members worried that the war fever sweeping the Capitol would somehow stall Pelosi’s chances. The secret vote is scheduled for Oct. 10.
The other contender for the job, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, lagged behind Pelosi in the public-endorsement game leading up to Sept. 11 but is a savvy inside player who could yet emerge victorious. As the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, Hoyer played a leadership role in dealing with members’ complaints about the haphazard evacuation of the Capitol on the day of the attacks. When two days later, members were hustled out of the Capitol only to mill around on the grounds in what turned out to be a false alarm, Hoyer again acted as the members’ chief representative with the various authorities. “He was on the hot seat and displayed his leadership skills, says a Democratic aide. Winningly, Hoyer came up with the idea of rank-and-file members standing behind the leadership in a patriotic show of resolve that led to the singing of “God Bless America.”
Pelosi had some formidable skills of her own that she quickly put on display. Next to their disgruntlement over the sloppy evacuation of the Capitol, members were most upset about the poor quality of the intelligence briefings given to them by members of the administration. They learned nothing more than what was on television, and they were furious at being kept out of the loop. As the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Pelosi began briefing small groups of members and bringing them up to date with what she knew. Word was that if you supported Pelosi, you got her briefing; otherwise you were out in the cold.
So each contender continued politicking in his or her own way proving once again that the art of politics is the art of adjusting to changing circumstances.
Democrats once eager to pin the looming recession on President Bush now fret that “It’s not George Bush’s recession; it’s Osama’s recession.” They worry that the patriotism that has muted partisan disagreements on Capitol Hill could shield Bush from accountability for the expected economic woes, along with a domestic agenda that has been shelved for the foreseeable future.
The Republican National Committee has reportedly cut funding to GOP candidate Bret Schundler in New Jersey, who’s way behind in the polls, and shifted its resources and troops to Virginia, where Democrat Mark Warner leads but the race is a bit tighter.
The gentleman’s agreement between the national parties to cease blatant fund-raising in the wake of the terrorist attacks officially ends on Oct. 1. Any goodwill has vanished, replaced by poisonous personal feelings on the part of Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and his Republican counterpart, RNC Chairman James Gilmore.
The nasty spat arose after McAuliffe, having attended the memorial service at the National Cathedral, wrote an op-ed piece celebrating the American political system. In the spirit of bipartisanship, he faxed a draft copy to Gilmore inviting him to put his name on it and make any changes he saw fit. Three days later, an e-mail from Gilmore said he declined to participate because, “I do not wish to take action to divide the country at this critical moment.” At the same time, Gilmore passed along a copy of the article along with his e-mail to Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which printed the allegedly offending words: “Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, renewal of vigorous political participation would not be disloyal or indecent. It would be a most patriotic step in the national healing response.” An angry McAuliffe called the White House demanding to talk to chief of staff Andy Card and political adviser Karl Rove. “This really stuck in his craw,” says a friend. “He thought it was a really classy thing that they invited him to the memorial service, and he was trying to reciprocate.”
