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January 22, 2004

Local activists see slim pickings in presidential field

Jeremy Schwab

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry boasts a long list of black and Latino supporters in the Bay State — mainly public officials and clergy.

But political insiders say the support is based as much on political expedience as on Kerry’s track record serving people of color.

“If it’s your senator or governor, you’re usually with him or her, because long after the campaign they are still a force to be reckoned with,” said one black Kerry supporter who asked to remain anonymous. “When he embarked on this venture, we said we are willing to advise you. I don’t think he ever got his arms around the idea that to be president he has to have a big tent philosophy. There was no follow-up on the part of his campaign.”

While Kerry has the advantage of representing Massachusetts in Congress, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has launched an aggressive campaign to challenge Kerry in his home state.

Dean is an unknown quantity for voters of color. As governor of an overwhelmingly white state, Dean has little experience serving non-white constituents.

But when faced with a choice between an unknown and a known quantity, some black elected officials are choosing to back Dean in the March 2 Massachusetts primary.

“In his state, he provided health care to virtually anybody,” said Cambridge City Councilor Ken Reeves, an active Dean supporter. “People of color and all people certainly benefited by that.”

Kerry backers also say their candidate’s policy record shows he serves voters of color and low-income voters.

“When we are having trouble getting a homeless bill through, his support is undaunting,” said Ralph Cooper, executive director of Roxbury-based Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse. “Kerry has been a supporter of veterans.”

One policy decision — voting for the war against Iraq — has hurt Kerry politically. Meanwhile, Dean’s outspoken criticism of the war has won him legions of anti-war voters and catapulted him to an early lead in the polls.

Dean’s anti-war appeal appears to be fading, however, and the momentum may be swinging toward the nomination of an establishment candidate.

Kerry won the Iowa Caucus Monday, with Dean placing a distant third. As far as Dean’s appeal to black voters, it is thus far unclear whether the endorsement of former Illinois Sen. Carol Mosely-Braun will significantly boost his credibility.

But Dean did win the non-binding primary in the District of Columbia, a heavily black area.

Whatever their chances of winning, Dean and other candidates such as the Reverend Al Sharpton have pushed the dialogue of the Democratic debates further to the left.

“Al Sharpton is so staunch and to the left that he forced the field to get off the middle,” said Reeves. “I had hoped Al Sharpton would have been able to mount more of a rainbow campaign that assists his visibility and viability, which I don’t think occurred.”

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