Editor's Notes: Gore’s defeat offers insight for McCain

During the 2000 election, I visited my home state of Tennessee frequently on vacation and looked for signs of excitement over the possibility of Vice President Al Gore Jr. becoming president of the United States.

I could not believe my eyes and ears. The collective yawn, even in Gore’s home town of Carthage, a little country place about 40 miles east of Nashville, was stunningly palpable.

Here was Tennessee’s chance to be the power center of the world, with all the benefits of having a native son as president, and it treated Gore like an outsider.

The vice president under President Bill Clinton was a Harvard graduate who spent more time in Washington, D.C., than on the farm in Carthage, but at least he understood Tennesseans. He and his father, the late Sen. Al Gore Sr., helped the state overcome a racist mentality and hillbilly reputation that plagued Southerners most of my life.

Gore wound up losing Tennessee, 51 percent to 47 percent, and its 11 electoral votes in 2000. He lost to President George W. Bush by only five electoral votes, 271-266, meaning he would have been president if his home state had embraced him.

To this day, Tennessee voters believe they did the right thing. They sent a message to Gore and other candidates that if you take support for granted, it will evaporate. Despite everything Gore and his father did for them in the Senate, they turned their backs and voted for Bush.

The memory of Gore’s campaign rushes to mind as I contemplate the lack of passion for Sen. John McCain’s candidacy in Arizona. The senator should win Arizona’s 10 electoral votes against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., but if he keeps taking the voters for granted, it might come back to bite him.

As I survey the landscape, I see a lack of fire for McCain in the eyes of Republican voters. They hear McCain talk about global warming and wonder if they were listening to Gore, a leading proponent of the notion, not a Republican. They see McCain discuss border reform and wonder why he’s mimicking Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the most liberal lion on Capitol Hill.

McCain has tried to make peace with libertarian supporters of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and conservatives, including critics in Arizona. But it’s so bad, he did not even attend the Republican convention in Arizona last week to pick delegates for the September GOP national convention in Minneapolis. McCain did not want local infighting to be an issue in the campaign.

The delegates going to the convention understand the stakes. The average voter probably does not.

“It’s a moment in history when an Arizonan is going to be nominated for the presidency,” one delegate, Marcella Peters, told the Arizona Republic.

With less than six months before Election Day, McCain faces a plague that led to Gore’s demise in 2000. McCain must tap dance around the unpopularity of Bush, just as Gore had to distance himself from the dalliances of Clinton.

McCain cannot afford to run as a traditional Republican. The next president will inherit an economy at its worst since 1976 and the Gerald R. Ford administration. Bush’s popularity ratings are nearly as low as Richard Nixon’s before Nixon’s resignation over Watergate. More than 80 percent in a Washington Post-ABC News poll last week said the country is on the wrong track.

The mood adds up to trouble for McCain, but not if the maverick remembers what made him popular: Point to successes as a senator for Arizona. Remind voters how he stood up against the tobacco companies and for campaign finance reform. Talk about how he’ll finish the job in Iraq and bring troops home as soon as possible without committing forces for the next 100 years.

The Republican electorate is not as conservative as you would think. The number of moderates and liberals outnumber the right-wingers, in my opinion. But the conservatives will stay home, and refuse to support McCain, unless he can sketch a clear road map they’re willing to navigate.

A McCain setback would end his lifelong dream of being president. It likely would end his career in Arizona, too. Many speculate he will not run for re-election in 2010 if he loses the presidency. He has voted infrequently in the Senate since early 2007. He was forced to campaign nonstop for the GOP nomination, giving many Arizonans the feeling he no longer represents their interests in Washington.

Gore’s obsession with the presidency caused him to forget about his home state. It cost him the election. McCain should learn from Gore’s mistakes.

Contact Editor James Bennett at 547-9770 or jbennett@gvnews.com. Watch him comment on politics at 6:30 p.m. Friday on KUAT-TV, Channel 6’s “Arizona Illustrated.” Respond to this column with a Letter to the Editor by e-mailing letters@gvnews.com. Comment online at www.gvnews.com.