McCain Saved - By Democrats!
Reaching across party lines, two Democrats on New York's four-member state Board of Elections have thwarted a GOP-led attempt to keep Arizona Republican John McCain off the ballot in eight state districts.
"It's an irony that it takes Democrats to make it possible for John McCain to be on the ballot," Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, who is managing McCain's New York campaign, told CBSNews.com Wednesday. "Clearly, John McCain is a credible candidate right now. He's running ahead in the polls in New Hampshire and he's generally regarded as the main challenger to Bush."
The move raised tensions between the parties, and it may also heighten the stakes in New York's March 7 primary, which was moved up to increase its impact on the 2000 elections.
In a state whose political rules of engagement are widely thought to be byzantine, it's clear this week that McCain's cause has benefitted from an unlikely source.
State GOP General Counsel Jeff Buley, who is not impressed with McCain's campaign, has a theory as to why: "The New York Democratic Party is closely aligned with the Gore campaign. I think that's a big factor here." He said that Democrats on the Board of Elections believe anything that weakens Bush is good for Al Gore's White House bid.
New York State Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor, a Brooklyn Democrat, disagreed. "If Bush beats McCain in New York, he'll be that much stronger," Connor told CBSNews.com.
Connor, who specializes in election law, added that "I believe - for both parties - that candidates who qualify for federal matching funds should be on the ballot for every state."
A three-vote majority was needed to uphold the anti-McCain challenge, but with both Democrats abstaining it failed. Two Republicans voted to reject McCain's ballot presence.
The vote will leave McCain's name on the primary ballot in eight disputed districts, mostly upstate, provided upcoming court challenges are resolved in McCain's favor.
McCain's campaign says the ballot challenges are rooted in technicalities, and are motivated by fears within the New York GOP that George Bush would be vulnerable to a McCain challenge here.
"I frankly disagree with them. These are the laws of New York. These are the laws of access for the primary ballot. If they want to campaign in New York, they have to meet these requirements," said Buley. "Everything is very basic. You need to get the requisite number of signatures. And it shouldn't be that hard to do for a viable national candidate. I think one of the things that's being missed here is that McCain is not running a very good campaign in New York."
McCain has called on front-runner Bush to se his influence to resolve the issue.
"I know that George W. Bush is committed to having all Republican candidates on the ballot, and that he does not support efforts by his campaign or supporters to short-circuit the democratic process," McCain said in a release on Jan. 13. "I hope he will speak out against attempts by his supporters to knock me off the New York primary ballot."
Bush demurs on the matter, saying it's for New Yorkers to decide.
But Molinari, who campaigned for Bush's father in 1988 and 1992, says the Texas governor's failure to actively support McCain's presence on the ballot will hurt him, especially among New York veterans, who are steamed that McCain, a war hero, is receiving what they perceive to be shoddy treatment.
"Bush's answer is 'I defer to state leadership,'" Molinari said Wednesday. "It is the stupidest thing that I've ever seen in the world of politics. Ballot access in New York state has become a national issue. This is going to hurt George W. Bush."
The argument that technicalities are being used against McCain is supported by developments this week. Acting on a challenge from the state GOP, the New York City Board of Elections disqualified McCain from the ballot in the 12th congressional district in Brooklyn, negating just enough signatures to put him one signature below the number needed.
Buley, however, said that some people who signed McCain's petitions were not Republicans or didn't live in the districts in which they signed, and therefore could not be included in the tally. In New York, GOP candidates must get a requisite number of signatures from party members in each of 31 congressional districts to qualify for separate convention delegate slates. In effect, there are 31 separate primaries.
"It's deliberately skewed to keep control in the party apparatus," Molinari said Wednesday.
Ultimately, it appears that judges - and not the state Board of Elections - will be the arbiters of an issue that has been thrust into the national spotlight.