Some Democrats Support the Party From a Distance

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-senate30jul30.story
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Some Democrats Support the Party From a Distance
By Janet Hook
Times Staff Writer

July 30, 2004

BOSTON — The Democratic convention may have been a love fest of unity and enthusiasm for John F. Kerry and John Edwards, but many Democratic candidates in conservative parts of the country were keeping a distance from the national ticket, its agenda and the whole spectacle here in the hotbed of liberalism.

Some of the party's most promising U.S. Senate candidates in the South chose to stay home and campaign rather than hang out in Boston with national Democratic leaders. Many have staked out positions on such issues as gay marriage and gun ownership that are to the right of Kerry and Edwards. Their campaigns are emphasizing their independence from the national party.

"Being at the convention in Boston, the symbol of Massachusetts liberalism, might put them on the defensive," said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University who has studied Southern politics. "They have more to lose than to gain by appearing at the convention."

If they attended the convention, candidates would lose valuable time for campaigning — and risk giving Republicans an opportunity to portray them as being under the thumb of liberal party leaders who are viewed with suspicion among many Southern voters.

For example, Rep. Brad Carson, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Oklahoma, this week attended the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Convention in Oklahoma City rather than his party's convention in Boston.<snip>

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. IMHO, they may have lost the opportunity to latch on to John Kerry's...

...cape as he flies past them to the White House.