Hindsight from The New Gun Week January 20, 1999
Smith, Others Enter 2000 Presidential Race
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
The holiday season was filled with political news that had little or nothing to do with the impending Clinton impeachment trial in the Senate.
Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) made it clear that he was considering a run for his party's nomination for president in 2000, and Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) also moved closer to a challenge to Vice President Al Gore's maybe not so sure lock on the nomination.
Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO) took himself out of a possible race after being mentioned frequently as a leading GOP contender. According to some reports, Ashcroft's decision may have been influenced by several key supporters, particularly Missouri financial supporters, who are said to be urging Ashcroft to concentrate on retaining his Senate seat in 2000. Popular Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan has decided to challenge Ashcroft.
Running for the presidency and re-election to the Senate would be tricky for Ashcroft: He has been courting social conservative leaders in his White House bid, a move that backers say could put him at odds with mainstream voters in his home state.
Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE), a decorated Vietnam War hero who is popular with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, also announced during the holiday season that he would not be a contender.
But right after New Year's Day, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) reported that he expected to be the first candidate to file with the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 4 when he officially announced his intention to campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 2000.
Smith has had a strong pro-gun position throughout his three terms in the House of Representatives and his years in the Senate. He was first elected a senator in 1990 and re-elected in 1996.
Last summer, he introduced an amendment to a federal budget bill which would prevent the FBI for charging fees for the instant background checks for buyers of long guns and handguns that were to be required after Nov. 30. His measure would also require the FBI to destroy immediately records of background checks and gun buyers, and would have allowed people to sue the FBI if the agency violated provisions of the Brady Act and his fee and recordkeeping amendment.
Although the Smith amendment passed 69-31 in the Senate in July, it was watered down by Republican and Democrat congressional conferees when the final appropriations bill was negotiated with the White House. Smith fought the changes but was successful only in eliminating the "gun tax."
'Long Shot'
Pollsters consider Smith's candidacy a long shot, saying that he is barely visible in early polling for the 2000 election. However, Smith, who has visited 20 states in the past year and a half, discounts the polls and says the reception he has received during his travels suggest that a grassroots campaign can be successful. He plans to focus his campaign in Iowa, which has the earliest party caucuses, and New Hampshire, which has the earliest presidential primaries.
Reports received by Gun Week of the reception Smith has had in distant states, such as the October gun-rights rally in Houston, TX, tend to confirm Smith's popularity, at least with gun activists. In 1996, people from all over the US who attended the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Arlington, VA, were enthusiastic about his plain language support for the Second Amendment.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), another Vietnam War hero and former POW, is another Republican who is eying a run for his party's nomination. Because of his push for a campaign reform bill, McCain may not be popular with all of his elected Republican colleagues. He and Wellstone have been prime sponsors of a campaign reform proposal which has been opposed not only by fellow officeholders, but by many national grassroots organizations that see the measure as stiffling political First Amendment rights.
She hasn't made it official as this column is being written, but Elizabeth Dole is reported to be planning a serious bid for the GOP presidential nomination. She, like many other Republicans, are apparently reading a 2000 victory prospect into some of the political preference polls.
Whether or not she will be a presidential candidate may still be uncertain. However, on Jan. 4 Dole announced that she was stepping aside as president of the American Red Cross. Some of her political supporters hope that resignation will lead to her running for president, according to a Newsweek magazine report.
Waiting on Dole
Newsweek reported in its Jan. 11 edition that one of Mrs. Dole's close advisers described her decision as a "first step" toward a possible campaign for the Republican nomination, but also called it a "nonpolitical event."
Dole's husband, former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, was the GOP presidential nominee in 1996 and she has consistently scored high in public opinion polls as a potential candidate.
Earl Cox, national campaign manager of Draft Elizabeth 2000, declined to give Newsweek any advance insights, but said he planned to spend a week in early January in Vermont and New Hampshire to campaign for the Dole draft movement.
Supporters of Mrs. Dole have said she is considering whether to seek the presidency, but likely would not decide until later this year. She is considered a strong prospect for a vice presidential nomination regardless of whether she seeks the GOP nomination for president, Republicans activists say.
They add that her departure from the Red Cross has been expected for several months.
Elizabeth Dole was a Cabinet member in two Republican administrations, serving as President Reagan's Secretary of Transportation and President Bush's Secretary of Labor. Earlier, she held staff positions in the White House and was a member of the Federal Trade Commission.
Ventura Inaugural
But while many political pundits spent the holiday period trying to provide advance looks at the 2000 presidential race, other journalists seemed to focus on the inauguration of Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura as governor of Minnesota.
The former pro wrestler's four-year term as governor began on Jan. 4 when he took the oath of office. His election on Nov. 3 as a third-party candidate rocked national politics, and may have restored faith in the system among voters everywhere.
Ventura, a former Navy SEAL whose political experience includes a term as Brooklyn Park mayor from 1991-95, succeeds GOP Gov. Arne Carlson as the state's 37th governor.
When he entered the race less than a year ago, the pro-gun, pro-hunting former talk radio host and sometime actor, said he was motivated by a quest.
"I want to find out if the American dream is dead," Ventura said. "I want to find out if you have to be a career politician to lead and govern the state."
He also said, "Let's put Minnesotans first. There's more of us than Democrats or Republicans."
Minnesotans heeded his words on election day and gave him 37% of the votes in his stunning defeat of two well-known long time professional politicians, Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Hubert Humphrey III, both of whom skirted the self-defense issue during the campaign, while Ventura made it clear that he supported right-to-carry laws.
Ventura and his wife of 23 years, Terry, decided to forgo a black-tie ball in favor of a "people's celebration" bash at the Target Center on Jan. 16 with live music.
The 47-year-old south Minneapolis native's trip to the governor's office has been less than typical.
Born James George Janos, he graduated from Roosevelt High School and joined the elite Navy SEALs underwater demolition team. He briefly attended North Hennepin Community College before embarking on his professional wrestling career and taking the name Jesse "The Body" Ventura. People who have been watching his many appearances on TV shows since his election upset seem to agree with his preferred new label, Jesse "The Mind" Ventura.
During the campaign in which he energized young voters across the state, Ventura often complained that he had been out of work since late July 1998 when his manager at KFAN-AM forced him to quit out of fairness during the campaign.
Now Ventura will start drawing his $120,303 governor's salary.
The New Gun Week is published three times a month by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) on the 1st, 10th, and 20th. Hindsight is a commentary written by SAF President and Gun Week Executive Editor Joseph P. Tartaro. This commentary may be reprinted so long as credit is given to the author and the publication. For more information or to subscribe, write Gun Week, PO Box 488, Buffalo, NY 14209, or call 716-885-6408 Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, or inquire on Compuserve to John Krull, Production manager-JohnSAF@Compuserve.com or gunweeksaf@broadviewnet.net
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