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Lazio Stumbles — And Soars

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In Defense of Sleaze

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Living La Vida Lazio

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A Rudy Awakening

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A Hard Day's Knight

5.15.00
Reflections of A Non-Marching Mom

6/05/00 5:10 p.m.
Lazio Stumbles — And Soars
Hillary's still divisive.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

veryone loves a parade. Well, if you live in New York, you’d better love a parade, because you have to get used to them. They are omnipresent, the most famous, of course, being the St. Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving Day events.

Fittingly, parades were the perfect bookends for the latest bizarre Kabuki dance which is the New York Senate race. Memorial Day was Rep. Rick Lazio’s golden opportunity to introduce himself fully to the New York public. Alas, his debut fell flat — literally. While running to catch up with a parade, he stumbled and busted up his kisser. He required nine stitches on his lip.

Following Lazio's face-dive, one person, noting that Juanita Broaddrick was back in the news with the IRS auditing her, wondered if there was any possibility that Hillary might call Lazio up and suggest to him, “You better put some ice on that...” Most likely not. However, it did seem, in a small way another example of that gosh-darn Clinton luck. Bad enough that that old political voodoo blessed Bill Clinton, but Hillary too? Yikes.

It wasn’t just that a public physical stumble was embarrassing (though as Gerald Ford can attest, another one could be problematic). Worse, it came the day before he was to accept the official endorsement as the United States Senate Candidate of the New York State Republican Party. And so, viewers got a little something different than just the image of the handsome, very photogenic candidate addressing the GOP state convention. Because of the stitches, Lazio was not able to enunciate as clearly as he might otherwise have wished.

It mattered little to the assembled crowed in Buffalo (Lazio laughed it off, by saying that he was so happy to be the Senate candidate from New York that he kissed the ground — “I didn’t expect it to kiss back.”). Still it was certainly not exactly the introduction to his party that Lazio wanted. Substantively, though, he gave a fine speech. Of course he criticized his opponent, but he was a bit more focused on showing what he — the real New Yorker wanted to do for the people of the Empire State.

What’s interesting about the Lazio effort is that he seems to be merging elements of both the McCain and Bush campaigns. The former (the “Mainstream Express” is now officially up and running) was to be expected, what with McCain strategist Mike Murphy running the show. But listen to these words from Lazio’s acceptance speech: “I’ve got a record of delivering; you can look it up.” Hmm...wonder who that sounds like?

While Lazio took an aggressive, yet balanced tone, the major league Hillary-bashing was left to everybody else. Three-dollar bills with HRC’s face on them were a particular hit. Lazio surrogates though have to be very careful here. It goes without saying that there is a great antipathy toward the First Lady. I’ve spoken to several dyed-in-the-wool Democrats who say they won’t vote for her because of her sense of entitlement and belief she can just move in and become a senator. However, if Republicans overplay their hand and try to demonize Hillary Clinton (as they came dangerously close to at the state convention), the strategy will blow up in their faces. The ground will “kiss back” — with a vengeance. This is still a Democrat-heavy state and Al Gore leads George W. Bush by double digits. Oh, and Mike Murphy had better not go overboard on the Mainstream Express either.

In 1992, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and their wives embarked on a bus tour through the Midwest. They were greeted by enthusiastic crowds (of course, the path was cleverly sent through parts of the country that voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988.) When they tried to copy this in 1994 to drum up support for Hillary Clinton’s health care plan, the tour failed spectacularly. You can only go to the well so many times. The primary magic of the Straight Talk Express was from McCain’s personality and individual story. Telegenic Lazio may be, he is not John McCain.

This week, we had the Salute to Israel Parade. It provided an opportunity for the two candidates to meet for the first time. They were, of course, cordial with one another. However, this parade once again was a stark reminder that, though barely leading in the polls (a Daily News/New York 1 poll had Clinton up 46-42 over Lazio), Hillary is a virulently divisive figure. She got many boos as she walked by (surrounded by Secret Service agents), was pelted with “carpetbagger” catcalls and greeted with several posters reminding her of her sitting quietly by in Israel when Yasser Arafat’s wife accused the Israeli government of gassing Palestinian children. While it is rather common for politicians to be booed during parades, the intensity is still quite remarkable — and similar to the reaction she received during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. That this was coming from a heavily Democratic Jewish constituency (she even marched with Sen. Chuck Schumer) demonstrates how tough this race will continue to be.

Don’t bother putting large amounts of money on how this one will eventually play out.

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