Los Angeles
ON THE FINAL DAY of last week’s convention, Democrats honored the late Bob Casey, the two-term governor of Pennsylvania and the party’s leading opponent of abortion. But don’t get the wrong idea. During his life-time, Casey was treated as a pariah by the national Democratic party — especially at the 1992 convention in New York that nominated Bill Clinton for president. And being a pro-life Democrat is still one of the toughest and loneliest jobs in American politics.
Congressman Ron Klink is running in the Casey tradition as the Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, challenging Republican incumbent Rick Santorum. It should be a competitive race since Santorum is more conservative than anyone elected statewide in Pennsylvania in decades. And there are 500,000 more registered Democrats in the state than Republicans. Yet Santorum has held a 20 percentage point lead over Klink for months.
Why? One reason is that Santorum is a smart politician who’s cleverly drifted toward the political center as his reelection bid approached. But another reason, perhaps more important, is money. Santorum is outraising and outspending Klink by roughly seven to one. Klink’s problem: Liberal Democratic donors just won’t pony up for an anti-abortion candidate. Asked if his pro-life views impede fund-raising, Klink says, “I won’t kid you. Yes.” An embarrassing fact about Klink’s fund-raising woe is that Melissa Hart, the GOP candidate for the House seat he’s vacating, has raised more money than he has for his statewide race.
And Klink was hardly a popular figure at the convention. Democratic senator Barbara Boxer of California took him to a gathering of Hollywood liberals where he passed the tin cup without much success. A pro-lifer among that crowd is the equivalent of Billy Graham at the Playboy Mansion — not exactly welcome.
Here’s how Jon Delano, the political commentator for KDKA television in Pittsburgh, explained Klink’s difficulty in Pennsylvania: “Most of the Democratic money comes from Philadelphia. Most of that money is liberal Democratic money. Certainly Ron Klink’s position as pro-life and pro-gun has hurt him.” Even Democratic senators who want him to win so they can take control of the Senate (now 54-46 Republican) aren’t enthusiastic about Klink. “He doesn’t excite me,” says Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, “but he’s better than Santorum.”
Klink insists he has some advantages in the race. “We start with a tremendous infrastructure,” he says. “The Democratic machine has come together.” He has “the best and most excited labor support since 1991, when Harris Wofford ran [for the Senate] against Dick Thornburgh.” Wofford won that special election, only to lose the seat to Santorum in the Republican landslide in 1994. Another advantage, he says, is that Santorum is not just a little, but a lot, more conservative than the state. Klink believes he can use Social Security, Medicare, and a patients’ bill of rights as issues against Santorum.
“The electoral profile of Ron Klink is someone who can win,” he says. “The electoral profile of someone who can raise money in Philadelphia is somebody else.” Yet he claims it’s not impossible for him to solicit money from Philadelphia liberals. “It just takes more time and effort. You get in the door when you say you’re running against Rick Santorum.” Still, he’s got to meet one-on-one with pro-choice Democrats for them to open their pocketbooks. He points out he’s not a pro-life absolutist like Santorum, who led the Senate fight to ban partial-birth abortion. “It does not become a litmus test issue [for me],” Klink says. He’s voted to fund family planning organizations, some of which perform abortions. And he’s for exceptions to an abortion ban — life of the mother, rape, incest.
Klink now spends 90 percent of his time campaigning and fund-raising in eastern Pennsylvania, where he’s not well known. He won the Democratic primary almost entirely on the strength of votes from western Pennsylvania. His district is just outside Pittsburgh. Now, he desperately needs the money for TV spots to boost his name ID across the state. To run a competitive race, Klink says he needs $ 6 million to $ 7 million. “Can you do it for less? Yes, you can.” He’ll probably have to. As of June 30, Santorum had $ 4.3 million on hand — while Klink had only $ 564,520. That figure doesn’t include the take at a Philadelphia fund-raiser for Klink attended by President Clinton last month. He expects another big haul when some or all of the six female Democratic senators speak at a rally for him.
At the convention, the Casey tribute represented only a fleeting break with the Democratic party’s rigid adherence to abortion on demand. Gore was unequivocally pro-abortion in his acceptance speech. “The last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade,” he declared. Unlike the speech Tuesday night by Kate Michelman of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the Casey tribute didn’t occur in prime time. Two of Casey’s sons — Pennsylvania state auditor Bob Casey Jr. and congressional candidate Pat Casey — spoke to a sparsely filled hall and a three-minute video was shown.
Some Democrats, notably A1 Gore, regret the way Bob Casey Sr. was treated at the 1992 convention. Of course they did nothing at the time to protect Casey from being muzzled. His delegation was stashed in a far corner of Madison Square Garden, and he was denied a chance to address the gathering simply because he intended to air his opposition to abortion. Meanwhile, his pro-choice Republican opponent for governor two years earlier, Barbara Hafer, was allowed to address the Democratic convention.
Bob Casey Jr. says the idea for the tribute came from Gore and his political strategist Bob Shrum. Gore, of course, is eager to appeal to conservative, pro-life Catholics who are an important swing vote in the presidential election. Casey Jr. isn’t ready to proclaim an era of tolerance of pro-lifers inside the Democratic party. “Nationally I don’t know,” he says. “It’s a lot easier as a state politician to be pro-life than it would be as a national politician.” Gore, an ally of pro-lifers when he was still in Congress, can attest to that.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
