by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Politics is seldom what it seems. In some races, Democrat candidates may help Republicans, and Republican candidates may help Democrats. In other races, candidates of national stature may become involved in local or congressional district races.

There’s usually a reason, or motive, for what seems inexplicable, but it may be hidden. The choices made by political parties or candidates are usually made for what they believe are good reasons, even if at times, the voters become confused.

I learned about such shenanigans many years ago when a county Republican leader asked my brother and I to help a Democrat in his party’s primary. It wasn’t that the GOP leader was disloyal, he explained, only that he was trying to undercut the likely opposition candidate for his party’s candidate.

That and similar stories over the years have tended to make me cynical about politics, even though I find the political game fascinating to watch.

I was thinking about the vagaries of politics, and the strange alliances that can develop, often crossing party lines recently as I began to ponder what promises to be a very hard-fought congressional campaign this off-year.

The national stakes are high in this year’s elections because both major parties seek control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. And each party has some unusual agendas predicated on their hopes for that control. At present, only one seat decides control of the Senate, and less than a dozen for the House.

The Democrats control the committees and the majority in the Senate, the Republicans in the House. With narrow margins deciding their respective majorities both parties want control of both houses of Congress in January 2003. And the parties are also positioning themselves for the 2004 presidential elections.

Party Positioning
That is why the national parties are hip deep in primary elections and local politics months before the real campaign of 2002 takes place, even though that has been an outward tradition of neutrality in local party primaries. Newspapers that lean to the left will focus heavily on what the Republicans are doing. Those few that lean to the right will target the activities of the Democrats.

Thus, The New York Times on Mar. 3 reported that US Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-VA), chairman of the committee responsible for keeping the House under Republican control after the November election, was busily involved in the primaries in several states.

With White House blessing, The Times contended, Davis took sides in selected congressional primaries in Ohio and Kansas, lured a former congressman from Arkansas into trying to win his seat back, and promised a Kentuckian that he would “heavily pressure lobbyists” to contribute less to his Democrat opponent than they intended.

The White House and the national Republican leadership were also involved in shaping the line-up for the California governor’s race. Against the advice of many stalwart and conservative Republican Party members in the Golden State, the national GOP was pushing former Los Angeles mayor and liberal Republican Richard Riordan as the preferred candidate in the Mar. 5 gubernatorial primary. As can be seen from Dave Workman’s story on Page 1 of this issue, the more conservative candidate, Bill Simon Jr., came from 30 points down in preference polls to almost a 20 point lead in the Mar. 5 primary.

Some Republican leaders were convinced that they needed a liberal Republican to have any chance of beating the liberal Democrat, Gov. Gray Davis, in November. Pitting two liberals against each other seemed like a Tweedledee and Tweedledum election to many party stalwarts who felt that the November races should provide clear choice between two vastly different political philosophies.

2004 Elections
In Washington, however, the leaders were more concerned with the 2004 presidential election. Al Gore won California in 2000 and the GOP was positioning itself for the next presidential race. Of course, no matter what the outcome of the November governor’s race in California, there is no certainty that it will make any difference to the 2004 national race. Politics is really an art, not a science, and any preference poll is just a snapshot of popular opinion at the time the questions are answered. Events could change the results before the responses are tallied.

If this seems that I am focusing on the vagaries of GOP politics, let me also mention some of the goings-on among the Democrats.

For example, some national pundits have been talking about only one of two possible Democratic candidates for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. Al Gore is usually the chief one. But there are more than you might imagine.

Four of them have been trying to help Amanda Ragan, the Democrat in the 10th state Senate District race in Iowa, where control of the state Senate would be up for grabs if a few seats change hands. Ragan is believed to have influence not only in her district in Mason City, but across the state.

That is why Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has sent one of his advance men to help Ragan’s campaign. And why Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) is paying for a direct mail campaign for her. And why Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), the current Senate majority leader, has sent her campaign a check. And why Rep. Richard A. Gebhardt (D-MO), House minority leader, has done the same thing.

All of these national figures are getting involved so they can ask Ragan to return the favor when the Iowa presidential caucuses may be crucial to their own individual national ambitions.

California’s was the first state primary this year. Texas and Illinois will also hold primaries in March. But by May when there are 10 state primaries scheduled, the political football game will be in full swing. There are 10 state primaries in May, 18 in June, nine in August and 17 in September. Louisiana’s primary is on Nov. 5.

Gun Week will try to keep you informed, but not just about who is running and what the candidates’ positions are, especially with respect to the right to arms and self-defense. We’ll also try to keep you informed about their allies. For, as Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman point out in their commentary on Page 4, the positions of the Democrats will be especially interesting to watch.

California Primary
Let me close with a few other primary results from California.

Rep. Gary Condit lost the Democratic congressional primary to a former aide in the Mar. 5 primary in the state’s 17th Congressional District, according to Associated Press.

After a campaign overshadowed by the Chandra Levy scandal, Dennis Cardoza handily beat Condit, his mentor and former friend.

With 65% of precincts reporting, Cardoza had 54%, while Condit polled 38%.

Condit campaigned like never before in a reconfigured district in which 40% of the voters had never seen his name on a ballot. He discussed issues at coffee shops, knocked on doors and shook just about any hand that reached out to him.

And labor lawyer Linda Sanchez won the Democratic nomination in her bid to join Rep. Loretta Sanchez as the first sister act in Congress.

The congresswoman played a highly visible role in the primary race. Her sister faced South Gate City Councilman Hector de la Torre, a former Clinton Administration official, and state Assemblywoman Sally Havice.

The sisters’ campaigns were closely aligned. One Spanish-language television commercial featured their mother urging voters to support both daughters.

Linda Sanchez will face GOP businessman Tim Escobar this fall in the heavily Democratic 39th District south and east of Los Angeles.

In other primaries, 28-year-old Devin Nunes won in a seven-candidate GOP primary in the heavily Republican 21st Congressional District, which is in the Fresno area. Nunes could become one of Congress’ youngest members.