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the still-developing California governor's race, Richard Riordan
is still way out in front in the race for the Republican nomination.
(The primary is scheduled for March 5, the winner to face Democrat
governor Gray Davis.) Riordan's two opponents are (moderate conservative)
secretary of state Bill Jones and (more conservative) businessman
Bill Simon. Some will remember that right after New Hampshire, Jones
defected from George W. Bush's campaign in order to endorse John
McCain. Nor has the White House warmed up to the candidacy of newcomer
Simon, the issues-and-ideas candidate who is waging an unexpectedly
low-key campaign.
Yet, an extraordinary
front-page story in Sunday's Los Angeles Times has serious
implications for the suddenly awakening primary that national political
analyst Charles Cook had called "an entertaining intra-party
soap opera." With five weeks to go, it's hard to see how Riordan
can lose. But the consequences of primary misconduct are generally
ominous for November. And if Riordan — as seems likely —
becomes the party's nominee, he could find that forces he set in
motion for March will return to haunt him in November.
"Washington
Put Riordan Out Front on Health Issue" is the headline on the
front page of Sunday's Times. The story is that when the
Bush administration decided to grant Gov. Gray Davis's request to
expand health-insurance benefits to the poor, it tipped off Riordan's
campaign first. If true, the news of this conspicuous violation
of protocol could potentially embarrass the Bush administration.
Background:
In December 2000, Davis asked the federal government for a waiver
to allow expansion of the Healthy Families program to cover adults,
not just children. This week, Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson granted the waiver. But the Times article
reports that Christopher McCabe, Thompson's state government liaison
for HHS, alerted the Riordan campaign first, before notifying
Davis. According to a Riordan adviser, McCabe suggested to the Riordan
campaign: "If we felt we wanted to rip off a letter indicating
that we wanted to encourage the government to cause the waiver to
occur, that would be fine."
On January
18, Riordan wrote Thompson that the waiver was "particularly
important to California as the state currently faces a serious and
troublesome budget deficit. I look forward to what I hope will be
your prompt and favorable response to our appeal." The Riordan
campaign then e-mailed the letter to reporters. Davis learned of
Thompson's decision days later from a reporter, to whom Riordan
had wondered whether Thompson had given him credit for the waiver.
Meanwhile, Thompson staffer McCabe, when asked why the Bush administration
gave advance notice to the Riordan campaign, responded, "I'm
not at liberty to say." Thompson, who held a friendly news
conference with Davis, said he was unaware of McCabe's call and
told reporters, "If he did, he did it on his own."
Thus, a clever
political ploy backfires. Gray Davis, not Dick Riordan, is helped,
and George W. looks bad. Is this any way to run a campaign?
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