Some Democrats Support the Party From a Distance

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.

“Brad Carson is interested in running his own race,” said Kristofer Eisenla, Carson’s spokesman. “He’s fighting for Oklahoma first.”

It is not uncommon for Democrats from conservative states to keep their distance from national party leaders, who tend to be more liberal.

But the political imperative to do so is especially intense this year because much is at stake in the Democrats’ ability to win in the South. Senate contests there will make or break the party’s drive to win back control of that narrowly divided chamber.

To be sure, many Senate candidates have eagerly embraced the Kerry-Edwards ticket. And many attended the convention to reap the political benefits of hobnobbing with party leaders, raising campaign cash and, in some cases, getting a prized speaking slot on the program.

The convention’s keynote speech was delivered by Barack Obama, who is heavily favored to win Illinois’ open Senate seat in the fall. Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel, who is running for the Senate in Pennsylvania, also addressed the convention and proudly featured it on his campaign website.

But candidates in the so-called red states -- those carried by President Bush in 2000 -- were more likely to stay home or make only quick, quiet trips to Boston. Of the Democratic candidates in the nine most competitive Senate races, three declined to attend the convention and three others left early.

“These candidates are running to be an independent voice,” said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“They want to maintain that message of independence.”

Inez Tenenbaum, the Democrat running for Senate in South Carolina, which is solid Bush country, visited Boston for a single day, leaving before the convention officially began. “Time spent there is not as useful as the time we can spend here talking to swing voters. There aren’t too many of them in Boston,” said Adam Kovacevich, Tenenbaum’s spokesman.

Republicans tweaked Tenenbaum for her dash in and out of Boston, noting that she left the convention just as anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore arrived. “It’s almost as if Mrs. Tenenbaum is ashamed to be around Michael Moore,” said Katon Dawson, South Carolina’s GOP chairman. “But how can that be? They’re both such strong Kerry supporters.”

Tenenbaum also has distanced herself from Kerry on key issues. Unlike the nominee, she supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, broad application of the death penalty and a ban on the procedure that critics call “partial-birth” abortion. Bush signed a law banning the procedure in November.

Still, Tenenbaum’s Republican opponent, Rep. James DeMint, has tried to portray her as too close to liberal party leaders. “She can run but she can’t hide,” said Glen Bolger, DeMint’s pollster, who noted that she was the state’s co-chairwoman for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota left the convention Wednesday to attend campaign events in his home state. Republicans accused him of ducking out to avoid appearing onstage with Kerry. The campaign of his GOP rival, Rep. John Thune, sent Daschle a travel bag that included a Groucho Marx disguise to hide behind at the convention.

Rep. Christopher John, who is running for Senate in Louisiana, spent a few days in Boston because, as a House member, he is automatically a convention delegate. But voters would never guess that from his campaign website, which has no mention of the convention and instead headlines his work on behalf of Louisiana farmers.

Skipping the convention entirely was Erskine Bowles, who served as White House chief of staff under President Clinton and is now the Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina. He barnstormed the state on a 10-day, 40-stop bus tour instead.

Republicans still found cause to criticize Bowles: They called his absence a slap at Edwards because Bowles did not even make time to see a fellow North Carolinian be nominated for vice president.

Some candidates who avoided the convention have significant policy disputes with Kerry. In Oklahoma, Carson is so far from Kerry’s support for gun control that he has been endorsed by the National Rifle Assn.

And another no-show, former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, supports expanded oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which Kerry opposes. Knowles stayed home to continue his bid for the Senate, a campaign that focuses on portraying him as an independent politician.

Woodhouse, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman, acknowledged that it was awkward to have candidates distancing themselves from the party’s national leaders. But he argued that some candidates needed to inoculate themselves from what some say are the liabilities of the party establishment.

And Woodhouse saw a second benefit. “They are also providing contrast with Republicans who were rubber stamps for George Bush,” he said.