No, the Democrats aren’t running Pete Seeger for the Senate in Oklahoma – it’s Rep. Dave McCurdy, widely regarded as one of the more responsible and creative moderates in the Congress, at least until Inhofe got hold of him. Now he’s struggling to survive, and the tide seems to be running out: most polls have the race near even, which means Inhofe is probably ahead, given the evangelical fervor (and greater likelihood to vote) on the right this year. Inhofe says the race will determine whether ““Bill Clinton controls the Senate.’’ And it’s true, Oklahoma is one of a handful of close contests where the Senate majority will be decided. But the real drama here has to do with who McCurdy is, and the devastating electoral impact Bill Clinton’s presidency appears to be having on the very group that first sponsored his candidacy.
Dave McCurdy is chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the same position Bill Clinton held when he announced for the presidency in 1992. The DLC was formed in 1984 in an effort to pull the Democrats away from the dovish, special-interest liberalism that had crippled the party since Vietnam. Most of its members came from the South and West, areas where Republicans had been making great progress; and many of them are in deep trouble this year – especially those in the South who have lost black voters to racial gerrymandering and are forced to run in more conservative districts. ““You don’t elect liberals from marginal districts,’’ says Al From, the DLC president. ““Our great hope was that Bill Clinton, governing as a New Democrat, would stop the realignment [toward the GOP]. Unfortunately, the fact that Clinton is perceived as an Old Democrat seems to have accelerated it.''
This is particularly ironic in McCurdy’s case: he has practiced what Bill Clinton preached in 1992, and subsequently abandoned. He has favored a measured government activism, taking the lead on issues like national service and welfare reform – and trying to find a bipartisan path on issues like health care and the Clinton budget. He’s been criticized for excessive vanity and ambition (he entertained and discarded thoughts of running for speaker of the House and president), but he’s also been willing to take chances, casting some courageous votes for an Oklahoman, especially on gun control – supporting the Brady bill and the assault-weapons ban. And he might have gotten away with them, if it weren’t for the other votes that were cast, against McCurdy’s better judgment, to help rescue a floundering presidency.
In fact, McCurdy – who seconded Clinton’s nomination – has been in a bind ever since the administration began and the president tacked left on issues like gays in the military and health care. ““You have to be careful about hooking up your life-support system to the brain-dead congressional leadership,’’ he warned Clinton early on, urging him to build legislative coalitions from the center rather than from the left. Clinton disagreed, arguing that he needed the leadership to rally the troops. Ever since, McCurdy has fretted over the question of loyalty. He voted against the Clinton budget and opposed the Hillary health plan (and also supported the military’s ““Don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy – not the president’s position – on homosexuality, a stand Inhofe is now flagrantly distorting). But, from time to time, McCurdy would give Clinton the benefit of the doubt: the most famous is the vote he cast to move the president’s budget – with the Btu tax – along to the Senate, even though he opposed it. According to Bob Woodward’s book ““The Agenda,’’ McCurdy did this only after the president promised him the tax would be killed in the Senate. ““Dave, we’ve got to have this vote,’’ Mack McClarty told him. ““This will kill the president.''
Clinton survived; McCurdy may not. He is clearly on the defensive, and not very comfortable on the stump. He seems younger than 44, a bit too boyish to be a senator, too handsome to be serious. ““No question, he’s the pretty face,’’ says Inhofe, who exudes a feral confidence as he dashes about, espousing an ideology untroubled by any sort of nuance. ““He’s a thing of beauty, a prima donna, the toast of Washington, D.C.’’ Inhofe never fails to mention the Democrat in south-eastern Oklahoma who said McCurdy would lose because of the ““three G’s: God, gays and guns.''
Ugly stuff. But not atypical this year. The Republicans are overplaying a strong hand. The Congress has been controlled by Democrats for too long; they have been arrogant and remote; they have spent unwisely and too well. But rather than make this argument on the merits, the Republicans have resorted to demagoguery and transparent bribes (like lower taxes). The legislature they promise seems a blustery, selfish, self-righteous desert. There are those who hope that a more conservative Congress may force the president back to the center – but, with moderate Democrats like Dave McCurdy in trouble (and a great many moderate Republicans retiring), Bill Clinton may find he’s arrived too late. In 1995, the sane center of American politics may be a very lonely place.
