DATE=11-05-03
TYPE=INTERVIEW
NUMBER=3-819
TITLE=US-ELECTIONS
BYLINE=DAVID BORGIDA
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
INTRODUCTION
Ron Faucheux, a political analyst and expert on political campaigning,
will discuss results of Tuesday's elections .
Mr. Faucheux is currently contributor-at-large for "Campaigns and
Elections" magazine, a publication he previously published and edited.
MR. BORGIDA<br>
And now joining us, political analyst Ron Faucheux.
Ron, thanks for being with us today to talk a little bit about these races.
MR. FAUCHEUX<br>
My pleasure.
MR. BORGIDA<br>
This is an off-year election, and so even for Americans they're not hugely interesting but, if you will, any trends that might bear upon the bigger picture, the national picture?
MR. FAUCHEUX<br>
Well, of course both of these governors elections we had yesterday went from Democratic control to Republican control, so that's always good news for the party that wins. And it's good news for the Republicans, it's good news for President Bush. And of course that coming on the heels of the California recall election that went from a Democratic controlled governorship to a Republican governorship in the biggest State in the country was good news for Republicans.
But in terms of looking at the national implications, I think you have to put it in perspective. State governments in the United States over the last couple of years have had terrible fiscal problems and budget problems and tax problems and economic problems, and governors all over the country, Republican and Democratic, have been very unpopular. So voters have been looking for opportunities to replace incumbent governors, regardless of what party they are, with new governors. So this falls into that trend as well.
So in terms of partisan politics, sure, it's good news for President Bush, but it doesn't really say that much about his next election.
MR. BORGIDA<br>
And certainly big picture issues, the state of the economy, everybody's wallets, and events in Iraq, will play to the national picture. Talk a little bit about the national picture, and begin with the Democrats for a moment if you don't mind, because they have been debating. There was another debate between the Democrats last night. And the frontrunner, I guess you could say, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, seems to be the person they're all loving to hate at the moment, and for good reason. They attacked him over a comment he made about the Confederate flag, which many view as insensitive from a racial standpoint. He has now since apologized. What's the state of play on that, and what's going on?
MR. FAUCHEUX<br>
Well, it's an interesting race because it's really wide open, even though Howard Dean has clearly run the best campaign. And his position against the war in Iraq from the beginning helped mobilize for him a small base of support within the Democratic Party -- that's very helpful in a nine-candidate race -- but it's still a wide open race, anything can happen. And of course it's just typical that people will gang up on the candidate who is perceived to be the frontrunner or becoming the frontrunner.
In the case of the Confederate flag comment, that wasn't a mistake or a gaff. That was something he had been saying consistently. Basically what he said was that Democrats need to appeal to white males in the South who have Confederate flags and gun racks on their trucks, as a way to make an economic point. It has now been twisted around, and his opponents hit him brutally in the debate last night.
MR. BORGIDA<br>
Well, maybe "apology" is a strong word. It was a soft apology for the comments today.
How do you view the President of the United States at the moment, Mr. Faucheux? The polls have sort of been going his way a little bit, particularly with the news of the gross domestic product improving in recent weeks. How do you see him?
MR. FAUCHEUX<br>
Well, I think politically what happened, throughout the summer we saw the President's poll numbers and his popularity decline over time, and going into August and September the decline was significant. I think that has really pretty much leveled off now. The American people still think that President Bush is a strong, sincere leader who has clear beliefs and he does what he thinks is right. I think they believe he was dealt a tough hand with September 11th, and he's still working out of that war on terrorism.
But on the negative side, I think they think that the President doesn't have a domestic plan and doesn't have an international plan to get us from where we are to where we need to be. And that's something that he needs to work on and address. But he's still clearly the frontrunner for reelection, if for no other reason than the Democratic alternatives have tremendous weaknesses of their own.
MR. BORGIDA<br>
We will keep an eye on this story, the elections, of course. Ron Faucheux, political analyst.
NEB/PT