Remember The Alamo

In her latest Political Points commentary, CBS News Senior Political Editor Dotty Lynch serves up a few well-placed observations for Democrats with one or both eyes trained firmly on Campaign 2004.

Senator Chris Dodd, who claims merely to be "thinking" about running for President, made it into the inner circle of '04 wannabes just by showing up in Florida last weekend. He was scheduled to discuss "Hispanic outreach" but mostly told funny stories and spoke about his seven-month-old daughter. According to his hometown paper, the Hartford Courant, he was popular with the delegates although some thought he talked too long. But, he uttered a phrase that will endear him forever to hardcore Democrats. "In Texas they say, 'Remember the Alamo.' Across America, we say, 'Remember Florida in 2000.' "

It was Al Gore who took center stage at this meeting and he was the man who most of the attendees (delegates, press and other candidates) wanted to assess. And Gore, freshly shaven, a few pounds heavier and sweating like a real Alpha male, did more than enough in his feisty speech to keep his options wide open.

The crowd loved it and CBS Early Show Contributor Craig Crawford says the press reviews - "Rip Roaring" (USA Today), "Electrifying" (Orlando Sentinel), "Thrill" (Chicago Tribune) - "sounded like blurbs in movie ads."

Gore tore into the Bush administration’s domestic policies, in particular the economy and the environment. He used the rhetoric of class warfare, accusing the Bush administration of "irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy" and "loosening environmental safeguards to satisfy polluters." "Special interests are calling the shots," he said, bringing Democrats to their feet. And he invoked the "C" word. "When Bill Clinton and I left office, America was looking at trillions of dollars of projected surpluses." True, he mentioned Clinton only once, but it was a sign that he’s "over it."

But Gore pulled his punches on foreign policy mentioning terrorism only once and ignoring the Middle East altogether. All of the other national speakers, especially Gore’s 2000 running mate Senator Joe Lieberman, addressed the issue that is in the forefront of American debate right now. Lieberman - who knows clearly what his position is (and knows it is popular with the delegates) - was the most forthright in defense of Israel. But, Edwards, Kerry and Dodd all acknowledged the crisis. Gore’s explanation is that he gave a big foreign policy speech on February 12 and that he’s said things in private about the Middle East that have gotten leaked.

Gore’s silence on this one illustrates why so many Democrats have been frustrated with him in the past two years. On Saturday, he came out swinging on Kyoto, ANWR and nuclear waste, but he’s been largely silent as the Bush administration has put forth these positions and the Congress has debated them. Occasionally, he’ll issue a press release but he’s refused to give interviews and has rarely reacted to any major issue in a timely fashion.

His friends say he's still trying to decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life and his strategists say he’s smart to bide his time. Most politicians these days are risk averse but as Democrats decide whether to give Gore another shot or to look seriously at someone else, the rap on Gore continues to be that he is all calculus and no instinct.

Last week, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne went to New Hampshire to ask Democratic activists up there what they think about 2004 and the candidates who have started to move around up there. These activists barely mentioned Al Gore until they were pressed. "Remembering Florida" for them is exhausting and they don’t know whether to blame George Bush or Al Gore. What they did mention was a yearning for a Democratic John McCain - specifically someone who is outspoken and bold.

The New Hampshire folks told Dionne that they like the two Democratic congressional leaders who skipped Florida but who have cast an eye on 2004 - Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt - but they are frustrated that neither has really "taken charge." Last week Gephardt and Daschle blamed the media - or rather the lack of it - for the prevailing notion that they aren’t doing anything.

In a letter to the heads of the three cable news networks, they protested one-sided news coverage, pointing to a study done by the Democratic National Committee of events carried live by CNN between January 1 and March 21, 2002. Of the 157 live events, Republicans (President Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Ari Fleischer, etc) were in 96% and Democrats in 4%. Much of that has to do with the nature of the big news story since September 11, but couldn’t some of that have to do with the cautious (read: un-newsworthy) responses of the Democrats?

Now that the gloves have come off a bit in front of a very friendly group of Florida Democrats, perhaps Al Gore and his colleagues will get the courage to be little more vocal. President Bush, in case they haven’t noticed, has been campaigning like crazy since January and Monday turned out for his 16th Republican fundraiser, in Iowa. Last weekend, Democrats were very bold about the concept of debate and dissent. Maybe, sometime soon, they’ll show that they mean it. If they don't, "Remembering Florida" might be more like remembering Custer’s Last Stand.

By Dotty Lynch