A Capital Issue

JUST a few months ago, it was possible to think that capital punishment was—pardon the pun—a dead issue in American politics. So completely had the pro-execution side triumphed, so undebated was the subject in mainstream politics, that when George W. Bush and other Republicans referred to “the death penalty,” they were usually talking about the estate tax. (That’s a “death penalty” Republicans oppose.) But all of a sudden, the politics of the issue appear to have changed—and not in Bush’s favor.

There are two major reasons the death penalty has resurfaced as an issue after a decade of dormancy. The first is that the Democratic party is increasingly reliant on black voters. In 1998, Democrats ran an often-demagogic campaign to persuade blacks that Republicans posed a threat to their civil rights; high turnout among black voters in key races fueled the Democrats’ surprisingly strong showing in the elections that fall. (One of the architects of that campaign, Donna Brazile, was picked to manage Al Gore’s presidential campaign on the strength of its success.) Making an issue of alleged racial biases in the application of the death penalty could help Democrats stage a reprise.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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JUST a few months ago, it was possible to think that capital punishment was—pardon the pun—a dead issue in American politics. So completely had the pro-execution side triumphed, so undebated was the subject in mainstream politics, that when George W. Bush and other Republicans referred to “the death penalty,” they were usually talking about the estate tax. (That’s a “death penalty” Republicans oppose.) But all of a sudden, the politics of the issue appear to have changed—and not in Bush’s favor.

There are two major reasons the death penalty has resurfaced as an issue after a decade of dormancy. The first is that the Democratic party is increasingly reliant on black voters. In 1998, Democrats ran an often-demagogic campaign to persuade blacks that Republicans posed a threat to their civil rights; high turnout among black voters in key races fueled the Democrats’ surprisingly strong showing in the elections that fall. (One of the architects of that campaign, Donna Brazile, was picked to manage Al Gore’s presidential campaign on the strength of its success.) Making an issue of alleged racial biases in the application of the death penalty could help Democrats stage a reprise.