In this era of Ned Lamont, when the Democratic Party is moving unapologetically to the left, one White House hopeful clings defiantly to the unfashionable centrism of Joe Lieberman.
Meet Mark Warner, the pro-gun, pro-business, pro-death penalty, pro-nuclear power Democrat who wants to be president. The former Virginia governor also happens to share President Bush’s opposition to a specific timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
“Warner may be too moderate for a liberal party,” warns Larry Sabato, political professor at University of Richmond.
But Warner is convinced that his party needs to get past its endless Bush bashing and come up with a plan to lead the nation.
“I’m concerned that the Democratic Party is simply angry,” he says in an interview with The Examiner. “We’ve also got to lay out a solution.”
Such rhetoric places Warner in stark contrast to Lamont, an anti-war liberal who captured the imagination and support of the
Democratic Party last month by vanquishing Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. Lieberman, a moderate who supports the war, is now running as an independent against Lamont in the general election.
Still, Warner and Lamont have one thing in common: They both come from business backgrounds.
Warner co-founded a cell phone company that became Nextel, amassing an estimated $200 million fortune and a set of business principles that he now applies to politics.
“I could not imagine going back to your shareholders and saying, ‘OK, we really didn’t do anything this year, but we made our competitor look bad,’ ” he says before facetiously adding the shareholders’ likely response. ” ‘Oh, great, we’re going to give you a raise.’
“I know people who spend their whole career in politics and never have anypositive accomplishments to point to. But they can point to the fact that they made the other guys look bad. Both sides do it and it’s just fundamentally baffling to me,” Warner said.
Warner is one of several Democrats who have been called “anti-Hillary” or “fallback” candidates because they might win the presidential nomination in the event of a stumble or pullout by the early front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“Mark Warner’s been the flavor of the month for the last six months among the insider Washington types,” says Charlie Cook, publisher of Cook Political Report. “Virginia’s becoming more competitive to Democrats — at some point in the future, it will no longer be a Southern state, politically — and he could certainly accelerate that trend if he were the nominee.”
Though Virginia is still considered conservative — it went for Bush in 2000 and 2004 — Warner managed to get himself elected governor there in 2001. Term-limited to four years in office, he left in January with a 75 percent approval rating — one of the highest in Virginia history.
This has not gone unnoticed by Democrats, who have been frustrated by their failure to carry Southern states in recent presidential elections. The party would have won the White House if former Vice President Al Gore had carried Virginia in 2000 or if Sen. John Kerry had won it in 2004.
“All Democrats have to do is just replicate the states that Gore got or the states that Kerry got and then just add one,” Cook says. “I mean, just one!”
But that’s precisely the kind of talk that troubles Warner, who said he believes Democrats should launch a broader, nationwide election strategy.
“I believe we do our party — and more importantly, our country — a disservice if we put up national candidates and a national platform that can only be competitive in 16 states and then if everything breaks right and you win Ohio or you win Florida, you get to 17 states,” Warner told an audience of Democrats in New Hampshire last November.
“Even if we elect a president under that scenario, what this country needs is not only a winner, but we need to govern,” he added.
Warner tells The Examiner that Democrats in various states felt abandoned by Gore and Kerry, who spent almost all of their time campaigning in fewer than 20 battleground states. As a result, “you in effect default from being a competitive party,” he says.
“There are places where Democrats are doing well, and there was
a real sense amongst a lot of people around the country that the campaigns kind of wrote them off,” Warner recalls. “The problem is that it’s not just about presidential politics. It’s about the national body politic.”
White House political strategist Karl Rove says Democrats such as Warner and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are not serious about winning the Democratic nomination because they know it will almost certainly go to Clinton.
“Anybody who thinks that she’s not going to be the candidate is kidding themselves,” Rove says. “I mean, all this stuff about, you know, Warner or Richardson — all these guys are preening for the vice presidential slot.”
Warner maintains he has no interest in running for vice president.
“Consider the source,” he says. “There are few people who are more just plain divisive in American politics than Mr. Rove.”
When asked about Clinton, Warner is careful to praise her as “a strong national leader.” But in the next breath, he warns against polarizing figures — without mentioning Clinton by name.
“The country’s polarized, and we can’t stand further polarization,” Warner says. “Whoever gets this job, the kind of changes that are going to be required are going to be more than incremental. And they’re going to require a consensus in this country.”
That’s Warner’s polite way of suggesting he is more electable than Hillary Clinton. If anything, he is following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, another Southern, centrist governor who turned out to be electable.
Warner projects a sunny optimism on the stump that even Rove concedes is a crucial characteristic of successful presidential candidates — Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush. By contrast, for all of Hillary Clinton’s considerable political assets, sunny optimism is not considered her strong suit.
While marching in a Labor Day parade in this southern Virginia hamlet, Warner zig-zags to alternate sides of the street in order to shake as many hands as possible. He even plunges into groups of Republicans who clutch re-election placards for Virginia Sen. George Allen, who is riding a horse just behind Warner.
“The next president of the United States,” enthuses Democrat Joe Wheeler, of Buena Vista, as he shakes Warner’s hand.
“It could be, Lord knows,” Warner replies with a toothy smile.
He sprints across the street in a light drizzle to press the flesh of yet another group of Virginians, pausing to patiently pose for pictures.
“He can relate to rural people,” says columnist David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register. “He did it in his campaign in Virginia, and I’ve seen it here in Iowa. He knows how to connect with real people, so that’s a real asset.”
Unlike Bush, who has a pet peeve about cell phones going off in his presence, Warner considers it music to his ears.
“I was the co-founder of Nextel, so when you hear an obnoxious sound, I hear cha-ching, cha-ching,” he told the New Hampshire audience. “So leave your cell phones on. Turn ‘em on. Matter of fact, when you’re done, go out and start calling people. I’d be grateful.”
The joke drew appreciative laughter and applause.
“It’s a good line,” Yepsen says. “It’s also an effective way to remind an audience: Hey, I’m rich and I know what I’m doing.”
Yet some consider Warner less than impressive when it comes to demonstrating a command of foreign policy and all its complexities. At several points during his Examiner interview, he paused to find the right words to express his thoughts.
On the other hand, Warner has demonstrated a capacity to learn from his mistakes. Before striking it rich with Nextel, he presided over two business ventures that failed. He says this taught him valuable lessons, as did his unsuccessful bid to unseat Republican Sen. John Warner (no relation) in 1996.
“Mark Warner versus John Warner confused the heck out of everyone,” he recalls with a chuckle. “We had a bumper strip — it simply said on it ‘Mark Not John.’
“And honest to goodness in Danville, Virginia — a little town in Southern Virginia — one day we were driving in the campaign and somebody rolled down the window and they looked at the bumper strip and looked at me and said: ‘Excuse me, sir, is that a biblical reference?’ ”
Mark Robert Warner
1954 » Born in Indianapolis, son of an insurance claims adjuster
1973 » Graduates from Rockville High School, Connecticut
1977 » Graduates from The George Washington University, Washington
1980 » Graduates from Harvard Law, takes job as fundraiser for Democratic National Committee
1982 » Attempts several business ventures that ultimately fail
1987 » Co-founds cell phone firm that becomes Nextel, begins to build a fortune that is now estimated at $200 million
1989 » Marries Lisa Collins. The couple will have three daughters.
1989 » Manages Doug Wilder’s successful gubernatorial campaign in Virginia
1989 » Co-founds Columbia Capital, a successful venture capital firm
1993 » Chairman, Virginia Democratic Party
1996 » Loses bid to unseat Sen. John Warner of Virginia
2001 » Elected governor of Virginia
2004 » Chairman, National Governors Association
2005 » Decides not to challenge Sen. George Allen of Virginia
2006 » Leaves office due to term limit
Warner’s positions on the issues
Abortion
Believes women have a right to abortion. Wants to uphold Roe v. Wade.
Capital punishment
Supports it.
Iraq
Says withdrawing troops on specific timetable “could make it worse.” Disputes “the notion that we can just pick up and leave tomorrow without looking at the consequences.”
Nuclear power
Supports it as a way of weaning U.S. from fossil fuels.
Taxes
Wants to roll back some of President Bush’s tax cuts.
Trade
Supports North American Free Trade Act.
What observers are saying
David Yepsen
Political columnist
Des Moines Register
PRO » “He impresses Democratic audiences. He’s articulate. He’s done something with his life, other than politics. And he could fund himself, if he had to.”
CON » “His downside is, what the hell does he know about foreign policy and terrorism and the war?”
Charlie Cook
Editor
Cook Political Report
PRO » “He’s a former governor, as opposed to a member of Congress, so historically that’s a plus.”
CON » “To me, the question is, does he develop the candidate skills, the skill set? That’s the only sure negative.”
Larry Sabato
Political scientist, University of Virginia
PRO » “Many Democrats believe they need a Southerner, remembering their only other two recent White House victors, Carter and Clinton.”
CON » “His one term as governor may be too little experience — both in length and lack of foreign policy credentials — after Sept. 11.”
After studying the polls, consulting the handicappers and interviewing the candidates themselves, The Examiner has winnowed a list of some 30 potential presidential contenders down to 10. The result is Meet the Next President, a two-week series of in-depth profiles of the 10 people most likely to become the next leader of the free world. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, front-runners and dark horses in the 2008 presidential sweepstakes – even before the 2006 midterms have been decided. With presidential campaigns starting earlier each election cycle, why wait?
