Having focused on our bitterly fought presidential campaign, I feel somewhat guilty and remiss that I have not paid adequate attention to my own state and local political campaigns—to “grass roots” issues and campaigns.
Fortunately, and albeit by chance and in a different state, I had the privilege of witnessing firsthand some truly grass roots campaigning one morning a couple of months ago in Claremore, Oklahoma.
After getting an early start, my wife and I had been driving for about an hour on the Will Rogers Turnpike on our way to St. Louis, Missouri, when we decided to look for a place to have breakfast and just happened to spot a sign promoting Claremore, Population 15,873, “Will Rogers’ Hometown.“
Being a sucker for “quaint, small, old towns” and for quaint, little restaurants in such towns, I naturally exited the turnpike and drove into Claremore’s lovely main street, named “Will Rogers”—what else. Tucked in among quaint antiques and gift shops was Dot’s Café, Claremore’s oldest restaurant—“since at least 1925.” What more could we ask for?
Dot’s Café was everything I had dreamed of: small, quaint, filled with the aroma of bacon, hashed brown potatoes and freshly brewed coffee, and buzzing with he morning chit-chat of about a dozen friendly locals.
We ordered coffee, pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, hashed brown—the works—from a friendly waitress and were enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and savors, when a neatly dressed, friendly young man walked into Dot’s and started shaking hands and animatedly talking to locals and “foreigners” (ourselves), alike.
The young man—he couldn‘t have been more than 35—turned out to be Oklahoma Democratic State Senator Andrew Rice, campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat presently held by the powerful Republican James Inhofe.
Rice talked to every person in the café, explained his positions and his plans and ideas if elected, and, of course, asked for their votes.
Young Rice, who is married to a pathologist, Dr. Apple Newman Rice, and is the father of two young boys, has his work cut out.
While the Oklahoma Executive Branch is predominantly Democratic, conservative Republicans are the rising force in Oklahoma‘s legislature. In addition, when it comes to national politics, and to the Senate seat for which Rice is vying, it is Republican almost all the way. Both of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senators (Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn) are Republican. Four of the five Oklahoma U.S. Representatives are also Republicans.
As far as the man Rice is trying to unseat, Senator Inhofe, he is one of the most conservative members of either house of Congress and has been a powerful member of the U.S. Senate for 14 years. He is a member of several important committees and subcommittees, and is Ranking Minority Member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Yet, here was young Andrew Rice (if elected, Andrew Rice would become the youngest Senator in the country by nearly 10 years) on an early morning in July, in a small café, in a small town, in rural Oklahoma campaigning in earnest for one of the highest offices in the land, against a man twice his age, and with quite a bit more political and financial clout and machinery.
David vs. Goliath?
Perhaps. But Andrew Rice is no neophyte, either.
In the Oklahoma Senate, Rice is co-chair of the Health and Human Resources Committee and serves on the Business and Labor, the Criminal Jurisprudence and the Public Safety and Homeland Security committees. He has pursued a variety of bipartisan solutions for health care, energy conservation, hunger, and has worked effectively with Republicans and Democrats in both the Oklahoma House and the evenly divided Oklahoma Senate.
But back to reality.
One of the earliest surveys, when Rice first threw down the gauntlet almost a year ago, showed him trailing behind Inhofe 60-19.
A couple of weeks after we saw him in Claremore, a poll showed Inhofe leading by 52-30—quite an improvement for Rice.
On August 18, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quoted a poll showing that Andrew Rice had narrowed Jim Inhofe’s lead from twenty points two months before to nine points, with Inhofe leading Rice 50-41. (The poll of 600 likely voters was taken August 12 to 14 by the Benenson Strategy Group and has a 4% margin of error.)
However, subsequent polls have generally been showing a lead for Inhofe over Rice of between 16 and 22 points.
A running (graph) poll by Pollster Com, shows Inhofe leading Rice early this month 54.5 to 38.4, or by 16.1 points.
Not bad for a candidate who less than a year ago was trailing Inhofe by 41 points.
On August 10, 2008, our own Patrick Edaburn predicted that Inhofe “should have little trouble with State Senator Andrew Rice. Polls show Inhofe well ahead and it has been nearly 20 years since the state elected a Democrat to the Senate.”
Certainly, Rice faces an uphill battle, but he has faced challenges before.
In 2005, he launched his bid for the Oklahoma State Senate, defeated two Democratic opponents in the primary, and won the general election with 70 percent of the vote “after personally walking the entire district and meeting or contacting every voter.”
He has also faced personal tragedy. On Sept. 11, 2001, his older brother, David, was killed in the terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center. Because of that tragic loss, Andrew re-dedicated his life to individual rights advocacy and common-sense public policy. He has joined other families who lost loved ones on 9/11 to oppose the War in Iraq, instead encouraging America’s leaders to re-focus on the terrorist network that perpetrated the heinous attack
I have no dog in the Oklahoma fight, but I wish Andrew Rice luck on this latest challenge.
Regardless of the outcome, we are thankful to him for giving us the opportunity to observe true grassroots campaigning at its best in the heartland of America.
Seeing a young Oklahoma State Senator, who took on a giant in American politics and who took the time and effort to come to a small café, in a small town to shake hands and talk to a dozen voters, Republicans and Democrats, trying to collect–if lucky–a handful of votes, is certainly seeing “grass roots campaigning.”
UPDATE:
TvPoll.com conducted a scientific study using an IVR technique of 801 likely voters in Oklahoma October 4-5, 2008. The study has a margin of error of ± 3.46% and was weighted by sex, age, congressional district and political party.
According to that study, Jim Inhofe (R) leads the race for US Senate by 13 points, with 40% of Oklahoma voters backing opponent Andrew Rice (D).
According to TvPoll:
Oklahoma voters most likely to support Inhofe from week to week are conservative in their political beliefs, older and married; the most coveted demographics of the electorate.
Those most likely to support Rice are liberal in their political beliefs, retired and not likely to attend church often.
Inhofe is consistently receiving double-digit support over Rice in every Congressional District but Rice has gained in Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District represented by Dan Boren (D) despite being his weak area in the primary.
More and more likely voters have begun to make up their mind in this race as the group of undecided has dropped considerably from 10% three weeks ago to 5% in Week 5.
While Inhofe has remained at a re-election number since polling began September 8th, Rice has tapered the distance, gaining 10 points over these five weeks. However, fewer and fewer voters remain available for Rice to completely close this gap.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.