This weekend at Cobo Hall, there will be political frenzy, jubilation about the future prospects of the state under a Democratic administration when members of the Michigan Democratic Party, and other political observers, gather in downtown Detroit for the annual Jefferson-Jack Dinner, the premier fundraising gathering of the year for party activists, donors and backers.
The headline speaker for the evening of charged rhetoric, espousing the Democratic vision and their winning strategy as well as castigating the Republican Party, is former president Bill Clinton, a political leader who has proven to be a thorn in the flesh of the GOP, and an effective campaigner, given how he brilliantly deconstructed the Obama campaign message at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Last year, Vice President Joe Biden, another effective campaigner, spoke at the 2013 Jefferson-Jack Dinner and underscored why the Obama administration rescued the American auto industry, while reminding party loyalists of what former Republican governor Mitt Romney’s Wall Street Journal editorial, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” would have meant for families depending on the industry.
So for all intents and purposes, the Jeff-Jack affair is one that is crucial for Democrats, and more so at a time when their candidate for governor, Mark Schauer, seems to be gaining traction, especially in the wake of incessant Republican-sponsored television attack ads telling voters “the shower is over,” a tagline aimed at mocking the gubernatorial contender.
Clearly, if Schauer is not a threat to the GOP maintaining the governorship this year as some Republican activists have concluded, why shower him with that many critical and negative ads earlier on in the campaign?
When I spoke with Gov. Rick Snyder in my office a couple of weeks ago he didn’t seem concerned or bothered by the charges that Schauer is making.
By taking on Schauer this early in the campaign, the GOP campaign apparatus is really helping to make the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor a known entity in the state without him having to spend his own campaign cash.
But beyond Jefferson-Jack, the Schauer campaign and President Clinton’s speech, which is expected to fire up the base as usual, lies an issue that will define the path to victory for Democrats.
The issue of meaningful diversity for the party ticket means creating a winnable diverse ticket, not handing down political patronage just to satisfy Black voters because conventional wisdom erroneously has it that all Black voters want to see is someone who looks like them, even if they are not qualified.
To believe that is ridiculous because when President Obama was first running for president, some of us in the media made the case that the president ought to be judged on the basis of his qualifications, competence, vision for America and the ability to pick up the 3 a.m. phone call, not just because he was on the verge of becoming the nation’s first Black president.
It was four years ago that I wrote a column titled “Give Us a Diverse Ticket” during the gubernatorial campaign, indicating that there should be no hesitation about choosing a candidate of color. That there are African Americans thoroughly qualified to be on any ticket that year, as well as Hispanics, Arab Americans and others.
Several weeks after I wrote that column, the Democratic gubernatorial flag bearer, Virg Bernero, announced he was choosing Brenda Lawrence, the mayor of Southfield, as his running mate. Lawrence became the first African-American lieutenant governor candidate on a major party ticket in Michigan.
But announcing diversity at the top of the ticket did not save the party from losing the race because it had at the time deep structural and identity issues, including the absence of a qualified and competent waiting pool from which to draw candidates from to run for office.
The result that season was seeing the entire Democratic ticket go down in flames, including candidates for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Supreme Court, etc. The reasons for the colossal failure under then party chair Mark Brewer could be an entire book.
Now, the party is in a different dispensation under a new leader, Lon Johnson, but still struggling with the same issues that held the party hostage in the last election cycle.
When Johnson came in for an interview the week before he dethroned Brewer and became the new face of the Michigan Democratic Party, he outlined an ambitious plan of what he wanted to do. Among other things he indicated the party’s plan to transfer its head office to Detroit.
Already the party has secured office space in the historic Madison Building on Washington Boulevard downtown, owned by Detroit businesswoman Sharon Madison Polk.
To be fair to Lon Johnson, one year or two may not be sufficient to change the structure or culture that has existed within the leadership of the party for decades. It will take time to reorganize what was simply one way of doing things or the “Brewer way” as critics of the former party leader say.
At the same time we don’t need three or five years to figure out how to recruit competent, qualified and passionate African-American candidates who can win an election. It is not so much about who should be selected for a post, rather it is a question of who has the right credentials specifically tied to that position who can win, and how the party intends to put muscle behind that candidate so he or she can win an election.
In the last couple of weeks several names have been floating around as candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State. Some of the candidates have called my office asking for a meeting to discuss their candidacy because they have been approached to run for some of the top posts on the Democratic Party ticket.
As soon as I hung up the phone with some of them, I chuckled because the conversation seemed like a joke because to mount a massive and successful campaign for Secretary of State or Attorney General requires the same political fortitude and preparation, including fundraising prowess, that one would apply when running for governor.
One particular candidate called me excited and anxious about what he will do as Attorney General, knowing full well he doesn’t have an iota of the political machine needed to launch an aggressive statewide campaign.
If the excuse of not being able to find any competent Black candidate who is electable means choosing anybody Black, then the Democratic Party is not doing any good to its core constituency. To proceed down that route knowing full well that a particular Black candidate would implode on Election Day because they have zero preparation for what the campaign requires is really an insult to Black voters.
The role of elected office is serious anywhere, no matter how small or big the office is. Therefore, any effort to put someone who is Black in a major position like AG or SOS, must be a meaningful one, not just a handout gesture. Don’t give us unprepared candidates just because they are Black.
Democrats want to win Attorney General and Secretary of State. That should be the goal. And if that is the case then they should meticulously select a candidate who has the capacity, resources and message to win.
Unless the party is ready to lose in 2014, then it must like a job offer — offer all kinds of incentives to pull in the candidates with the best qualities to run. It happens in politics all the time. You are recruited because you are good and there is a campaign staff already waiting for you, because the party believes you epitomize their vision and their reality.
Why not do the same for an African-American candidate you believe can win?
Some of the party leaders like Debbie Dingell have long agonized about the need for diversity, moving the party of the “big tent” closer to reaching the goals of a rainbow nation. She has been championing diversity from inside the party leadership.
Dingell, speaking from the podium at last year’s Jefferson-Jack Dinner, waxed on diversity, challenging the party to reach out to women and other minorities, making inclusion a central tenet of its vision.
And diversity will only work when there is preparation for it. It will only have meaning if there is a pool of diverse candidates amply qualified to run for various offices. If there is no pool, it is time to create one. The excuses of the past can no longer serve the interests of the base.
While it will take a long time for the Republican Party to be embraced by Blacks and other people of color — if it ever does — there has been an aggressive effort lately by the party now in reaching out to Black voters.
From the creation of an online newspaper to the establishment of an Africa-American Michigan engagement director in the person of Wayne Bradley, they are all small but still significant steps the GOP believes will at least open a dialogue with majority Black voters.
In 2014, the push for real diversity instead of political patronage will determine the winning strategy of the Democratic Party in Michigan.
Lon Johnson, the party leader, stands to make a difference but only with a pool of qualified, diverse candidates. It is a do or die scenario. Democrats can write themselves into history as a winning party in Michigan or a losing party heading to the river of Waterloo.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and author of a forthcoming book on Detroit. His most recent book, “Obama and Christian Loyalty,” deals with the politics of the religious right, Black theology and the president’s faith posture across a myriad of issues with an epilogue written by former White House spokesman Robert S. Weiner. He is a senior political analyst at WDET-101.9FM (Detroit-NPR affiliate) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” Sunday roundtable on WBLS-1190AM New York. Email bthompson@michronicle.com or visit https://www.bankolethompson.com.
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