It should be held at a neutral place, halfway between the camps of Democratic leaders Richard M. Daley and Michael J. Madigan. The two men should come alone, leave their drivers outside, and not leave the room until the hard-but-necessary decision is made.
Because it all comes down to this: If the Illinois Democratic Party is to avert political disaster in November’s general election, one of these two men’s preferred candidate for governor must drop out of the primary.
If both John Schmidt (Mayor Daley’s guy) and Jim Burns (House Speaker Madigan’s guy) stay in this race, their vote-getting ability, plus that of Downstate hopeful Glenn Poshard, all but assures that the fourth candidate, perennial office-seeker Roland Burris, will be the Democratic nominee for governor.
Burris, in case you don’t follow these things, happens to be an African-American. He is also, in my view, the least capable of the four candidates. And yet, in the racial snake pit that is Illinois politics, candidate Burris can pretty much count on the support of roughly one-third of Democratic voters. His vote-getting ability in black precincts was proven in his unsuccessful 1984 challenge for the U.S. Senate, his unsuccessful 1994 run for governor and his unsuccessful 1995 bid for mayor of Chicago. (And yes, his four successful bids for middle-of-the-ticket state offices.)
The early straw polls show Burris once again has his 30-something percent. Only this time, in an evenly matched four-way race against three other candidates, one third would be enough to win.
Which brings us to November, when the Democratic side of the ballot would read as follows: For U.S. Senate: Carol Moseley-Braun. For governor: Roland Burris. For president of the Cook County Board: John Stroger.
Mind you, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the Democrats going to war in November behind three African-American leaders. I plan to vote for two of them myself, because, by my lights, Moseley-Braun and Stroger are better prospects than the Republicans they’ll run against.
Trouble is, I doubt either will have a prayer with Roland Burris alongside them at the top of the ticket. Nor will that ticket be strengthened if Patrick Quinn, a white perennial gadfly, gets himself nominated for lieutenant governor; or if Jesse White, the popular African-American Cook County officeholder, wins his primary bid for secretary of state, further un-balancing the ticket.
Politics is not my specialty, but to my eyes the stage is being set for the biggest debacle to hit Illinois Democrats since 1860, when half the national party walked out with the southern slavers.
All this when 1998 could have been a banner year for Democrats here. With the national economy humming and the popular Republican Jim Edgar deciding against seeking a third term as governor, it looked like a quality Democrat would have a better-than-even chance against grumpy, frumpy George (“It’s his turn”) Ryan. But with the Democratic machine a thing of the past and nobody directing traffic, the primary has turned into a factional cavalry charge with Burris leading the largest faction.
Race shouldn’t be the deciding factor in anyone’s vote, of course. But it’s undeniable that race does matter in Illinois politics, to whites and to blacks. Five years ago, Carol Moseley-Braun slipped into the U.S. Senate because two white candidates canceled each other out in the primary and because the Republicans, not foreseeing their chance, put up a no-name candidate. This time she’ll have no such fortune. In November Moseley-Braun will face either Loleta Didrickson or Peter Fitzgerald, both formidable and both unbeatable if white Democrats feel left out when they look at the top of their ballots.
As for John Stroger, he may be the unfairest victim of the impending Burris fiasco. Stroger has performed well in a tough job, straightening out the budgetary mess left by his predecessor as Cook County Board president. He would have been a shoo-in for re-election, but suddenly Aurelia Pucinski, the popular county court clerk and lifelong Democrat, has decided to run against Stroger as a Republican. Did Pucinski see the Burris squeeze coming and decide the time was right? Is her father Polish?
One thing opportunists like Burris and Pucinski have going for them is that the political press gets tongue-tied when it comes to the dynamic of race. And who can blame them? It’s hard to string two sentences together on the topic without some editor, reader or candidate finding “racist” overtones. So the pundits observe that Moseley-Braun is “vulnerable” because she once visited an African dictatorship and that John Stoger is “vulnerable” because he once tried to raise the county’s property transfer tax.
Nonsense. They are vulnerable because they are black. They are vulnerable because, in a majority-white state and county, their success depends on their ability to position themselves within a racially balanced slate of candidates.
If Roland Burris, the black perennial, maintains his lead and wins the primary for governor, there will be no balance at the top of the 1998 Democratic ticket.
Daley and Madigan cannot allow this to happen. Either Schmidt or Burns has to drop out.
Somebody needs to call a meeting.
