11/30/00 5:10 p.m.
Racicot vs. Keating
Liberal Republicans against Frank Keating.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

iberal Republicans are quietly campaigning against the selection of Frank Keating, governor of Oklahoma and a former G-man, for attorney general. He's too conservative for their taste. They're pushing for Montana governor Marc Racicot instead. Racicot's stock in the party has risen in recent weeks because of his tough attacks on the Democrats' maneuvers in Florida. Most conservatives around the country have never heard of him until now, and must have a good impression of him. But Racicot used to be one of the national media's favorite Republicans (Richard Berke of the New York Times was especially positive), and there's a reason for that.

As governor, Racicot vetoed a "paycheck protection" bill (banning unions from spending collective-bargaining dues on politics); George W. Bush used his strong support of paycheck protection against John McCain in the primaries. Racicot is also a tax-and-spender. When he became governor, he tried and failed to win a tax hike. Later, he called a special session of the legislation to pass an "economic development" bill, and threatened a veto when legislators tried to add a tax cut to it. He threatened to veto school choice. Asked whether conservatives wanted Racicot for AG, one Washington activist responded, "We don't want Racicot within the boundaries of the United States. Make him ambassador to some country with low lifespans."

Some Missing Context
The coverage of the Republican protests in Florida has been reminiscent of the coverage nine years ago of pro-life demonstrations in Wichita, Kansas. The anchors kept talking about "a tense situation here tonight in Wichita," but anyone who looked around could see a scene about as tense as a church picnic — perhaps because most of the protestors were the sort of people who go to church picnics.

In USA Today a few days ago, Marilyn Adams offered a sterling example of the genre headlined "Voices, vitriol rise as dispute becomes 'war.'" A few of the adjectives deployed: "nasty," "disturbing," "ugly," "alarming." Tempers were thin, zeal was competitive, cliches were strewn about like chads after a Democratic handcount. She asks Abe Bonowitz, an "anti-death-penalty activist" and Gore supporter, if he feels "nervous about being outnumbered." (By the way, to say that Bonowitz is an activist is a bit of an understatement — unlike most of the Republicans there, he has a sizable arrest record).

Michael Krempasky, one of the Republicans who went to Florida to help the Bush campaign, says he was standing by Adams and Bonowitz during their interview. Krempasky says that he was feeding and playing with Bonowitz's dog at the time. "Literally, while she's trying to get a quote about him being afraid, I have his pitbull on its back, wagging its tail," Krempasky says. "By the way, this was in front of a family that went out, bought a new gas grill, and was giving away burgers and hot dogs to everyone — Democrats, Republicans, even reporters. It was right before I broke out a frisbee and a Nerf football." Pretty fearsome.

Link-O-Rama
Arnold Steinberg on the race to lead what's left of the Republican party in California…John J. Miller on a bogus study about butterfly ballots…Ramesh Ponnuru on judicial activism — in Florida, and beyond…. And big news from Jonah Goldberg (whom the bulletin hereby congratulates).