Karen Floyd's "Play of the Week"
Those of ya'll who know me know that I've never been a fan of the Karen Floyd campaign.I supported Bob Staton in the primary, in part because I felt Floyd's support base was too far right, and her emphasis on issues, such as school choice (which I support), was directed at that base. Focusing so much on that narrow a base of support, while valuable in a GOP primary, could scare moderate voters (just ask David Beasley) and be a fatal weakness in a fall campaign.
I expected the Floyd campaign to hunker down and ride the usual GOP advantage to victory, with a minimum of effective effort to reach the political center or into key Democratic constituencies. In a state where the GOP has won a staggering majority of races for constitutional offices since the early 90s, it's certainly a smart way to play it.
Yesterday, I got to eat some of my words for lunch, and I’m big enough to admit it.
Monday, Floyd stood up with a number of black community leaders and public figures from around the state who announced their support for her. Bold move.
Critics could try to dismiss the support of McCall, a state GOP party officer, and Hairston, a GOP county council member from Hilton Head as a political front. If such people were the bulk of the people at her press conference yesterday, they might be right.
However, this group of endorsers included a Democratic legislator, and a former Democratic candidate for Superintendent of Education - the kind of people who would usually back their party’s nominee, or quietly sit the race out so as not ruffle feathers with their fellow Democrats.
However, this group of endorsers included a Democratic legislator, and a former Democratic candidate for Superintendent of Education - the kind of people who would usually back their party’s nominee, or quietly sit the race out so as not ruffle feathers with their fellow Democrats.
Statements by two Democrats at this event were particularly bold:
"I have been a lifelong Democrat but in this election I am supporting Karen Floyd because our young black men are not getting the education they deserve in the current system. The Education Department has been reporting how much our test scores are improving, but what they never acknowledge is that the achievement gap between black children and white children continues to grow. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing our young black men graduate high school without knowing how to read and write."-African American Hall of Fame inductee Dewey Tullis
"Members of the South Carolina Legislature have approved education funding increases in several consecutive sessions. We voted for the increases with the assurance the system needed more money to turn our current situation around. But the spending increases have done little, if anything, to affect change in the African American children’s test scores, ability to read and write and drop out rate."-State Representative Harold Mitchell (D – Spartanburg)
For a candidate who has been perceived to be on her party’s right flank, this IS news. Good for her, bad for her opponent, whose campaign called the press conference:
“an ‘act of desperation,’ spurred by slipping support in her own party and driven by outside money coming into the state supporting tax credits that would harm rural and economically disadvantaged areas, and blacks in particular.”
- The State, 8/29/06
I disagree with their attempt to characterize the press conference as a sign of weakness. If anything, this press conference suggests that Floyd's campaign may finally be getting its act together. Further, the two I quoted would normally be associated with the state's most loyal Democratic political constituency, not to mention the others in attendence without a history in the GOP. Their messages of concern should give notice that Jim Rex may be the candidate whose political support is weak.
This effort to reach out to traditional Democratic constituencies was a surprising turn of direction by the Floyd campaign and certainly qualifies as my political “Play of the Week”.
While it remains to be seen if this is the beginning of a bold effort by her campaign to reach voters in the political center, or just an isolated bright idea, it certainly makes this race one to watch.
This effort to reach out to traditional Democratic constituencies was a surprising turn of direction by the Floyd campaign and certainly qualifies as my political “Play of the Week”.
While it remains to be seen if this is the beginning of a bold effort by her campaign to reach voters in the political center, or just an isolated bright idea, it certainly makes this race one to watch.
