Nation & World News
Southerners hope
Kerry takes their
votes seriously
borne bouthern Democrats
perceive a lack of interest
on the part of candidates
in winning their support
By Jeff Zeleny and
Kirsten Scharnberg
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Democ
ratic voters of Tennessee have seen
John Kerry again and again in his
television commercials. But he has
paid far less personal attention to a
state even his rivals concede he is
likely to win, logging only two visits
before Tuesday's primary.
Ever since the Massachusetts sena
tor said last month that "everybody
makes the mistake of looking
South," many voters and Democratic
leaders across the region have won
dered whether he was telegraphing
his intention to steer his presidential
campaign away from Southern
states. Those worries intensified
when Kerry declined to appear at a
weekend "Presidential Primary Cele
bration" in Nashville with the other
two leading candidates.
So as Kerry arrived here Monday
evening for a downtown rally on the
eve of the election, loyal Democrats
applauded excitedly when they
caught a glimpse of the front-runner.
They hoped, though, that it would
n't be the last time he turned up be
low the Mason-Dixon line.
"There should be a Southern
strategy in a national campaign for
a Democratic candidate," said Ten
nessee party chairman Randy But
ton, who thought Kerry's decision
to skip the weekend forum was "a
mistake." "If you're looking at No
vember, there are going to be some
Southern battleground states. Ten
nessee is one of them."
After winning 10 states, and with
polls showing him leading in Tues
day's contests here and in Virginia,
Kerry may all but cinch his fight for
the party's nomination. But some De
mocratic strategists say he also may
have passed up a chance to begin pre
senting himself as a candidate who is
worth the voters' investment to chal
lenge President Bush in the fall.
Indeed, when the nominee
emerges to challenge Bush, each
candidate faces a country with a nar
row political divide. While each of
the last three Democratic presidents
have come from the South, the re
gion was far less kind to its own na
tive son, Al Gore, in the last presi
dential race; Some party leaders
believe there may be little reason to
think it will do otherwise, particular
ly if the nominee is a well-heeled
senator from the Northeast.
"There's no question that when cer
tain issues are played up, Republicans
will point to him being a Massachu
setts liberal," said Alexander Lamis,
who studies Southern politics at Case
Western Reserve University in Cleve
land. "But you have to confront those
issues if you are to win elsewhere."
Mathematically speaking, the De
mocratic Party does not need to car
ry Tennessee or other Southern
states to win the White House. But
other Democrats argue that the lin
gering effects of a punishing econo
my accompanied by high job loss
could trump the traditional cultural
divide over abortion rights, gay
rights and civil rights.
Kerry seized upon this earlier
Monday as he delivered a speech
outside a firehouse in Roanoke, Va.,
where he invoked a name that res
onated well with the crowd of sever
al hundred supporters.
"If you like what Bill Clinton gave
you in those eight years," the senator
said, "you're going to love what John
Kerry gives you in the first four years."
As Kerry campaigned leisurely
through Virginia and Tennessee, mak
ing only two public appearances
David P. Gilkey Detroit Free Press
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry reads the back of Sammie Alford's shirt after a rally at Second Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Detroit on Friday. Kerry cruised to victory in Michigan on Saturday. Primaries will be held in Virginia and fennessee today.
during the day, Sen. John Edwards
of North Carolina and retired Gen.
Wesley Clark of Arkansas aggressively
fought for what each campaign be
lieved was second place. Each candi
date is struggling to become the true
alternative to Kerry as the race moves
onto Wisconsin next week.
Though he has built his campaign
around the practice of not attacking
fellow Democrats by name — and
usually not even by suggestion —
Edwards has reminded Tennessee
and Virginia audiences of his lineage
in recent days.
"Folks in the South are tired of the
Republicans taking the South for
granted. They're tired of Democrats
ignoring the South," Edwards said.
"Let me say this in very simple terms:
This is not about political strategy for
me. I will fight for the folks I grew up
with in the South."
Whether the strategy is effective re
mains to be seen. At a stop Monday in
Morrison, Tenn., a hardscrabble town
where the local Carrier air-condition
ing plant recently received word it
would be closing, Edwards commis
erated with the soon-to-be-unem
ployed workers.
"These are good, responsible peo
ple who have worked hard all their
lives," Edwards said of the folks at
Prater's Bar-B-Que. "Many of them
worked at this plant for 20, 25, 30
years. These are the people who
make America great and, by the way,
these are the people that are the rea
son I'm running for president of the
United States."
While the factory workers appreci
ated Edwards' visit, greeting him
warmly and thanking him for caring
about their plight, it didn't mean they
were sold on his candidacy. In fact,
their union was leaning toward en
dorsing Kerry, and several workers
said they planned to vote for the
Massachusetts senator on Tuesday.
"I'm going with Kerry because I
think he has the best chance ofbeating
Bush," said James Mears, 49, who
had worked at Carrier for more than
three decades.
"But I'd like to see Edwards on the
ticket as vice president," Mears added,
unknowingly echoing the label that
increasingly has been placed on Ed
wards, much to the annoyance of the
senator and his staff.
In interviews, though, other Ten
nessee voters were not so forgiving of
what they perceive as Kerry's lack of
interest in their region after he cam
paigned so hard in Iowa, New Hamp
shire and elsewhere.
"I think a lot of Southerners look
on those Northeastemers like Kerry
with a great deal of skepticism," said
Carrie Whaley, an undecided voter in
Jackson, Tenn. "He's not even really
visiting the South."
(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services. Tribune national
correspondent Kirsten Schamberg
reported from Morrison, Tenn.
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Classical scholar and military historian
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California State University at Fresno
WAR AND THE WEST, THEN AND NOW
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
8:00 p.m.
Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall
1468 University Street
This lecture is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception,
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UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
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