1/22/01 5:35 p.m.
Upward Failure
Bill Bradley backs a loser to help him win later.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

aynard Jackson doesn't stand a chance of becoming the next head of the Democratic National Committee. So why has Bill Bradley endorsed the former mayor of Atlanta? Because he's trying to become the Left's next candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Fundraising whiz Terry McAuliffe is the heavy favorite to run the DNC. He's the choice of ex-president Clinton. (Doesn't that sound nice? Let's say it again: Ex-president Clinton.) He's also favored by Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, and legions of lesser Democrats.

There's only one problem with him: He's white. As Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Maxine Waters have made fairly clear, they think the next head of the DNC ought to have a darker skin tone.

Bradley's support of Jackson — the surefire loser — is an early signal that he's courting the black political elite. In the Post, he calls Jackson "the pick of the Washington leaders." There's a presumption among many black Democrats that these same Washington leaders abandoned them in Florida by not pressing claims of black disenfranchisement. Bradley wants them to know he's on their side. He's getting ready to run again, and this time he may do it more explicitly from the Left.

That Was Quick
So our vacation from Jesse Jackson Sr. didn't last long. But wasn't it pleasant?

More on Ashcroft
Tevi Troy, who used to work for Ashcroft, has a nice article about the ecumenism of his office in The New Republic…. The Weekly Standard makes the point, perfectly obvious to anyone who's actually read the Southern Partisan interview in question, that Ashcroft was defending the American Founders rather than the Confederacy — and may well have been suggesting that slavery was a "perverted institution"…. and Ann Coulter longs for "just one Cabinet nominee willing to sacrifice his appointment for the opportunity to yell back at that adulterous drunk, Sen. Teddy Kennedy…".