Democrat Not Flaunting Party Clothes

NEW BERN, N.C. —  When he stopped by Craven Community College to campaign for votes last week, Erskine Bowles, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, was deep in Jesse Helms country.

The 18- to 20-year-olds in his audience had grown up flanked by tobacco farms and military installations. The college has a vibrant Bible Club, but when a teacher tried to form a group to oppose the war in Iraq, he couldn’t round up enough students to qualify as a club under school rules.

Faced with these students, Bowles gave a speech that was notable for what he did not mention: He did not say the names of the Democratic president for whom he served as chief of staff, the Democrat seeking the presidency or the Republican who is currently president. In fact, Bowles did not mention the words “Democrat” or “Republican” except in a description of his healthcare and jobs plans, which he likes to say are “not Democratic ideas, not Republican ideas, just good ideas.”

The race for Sen. John Edwards’ seat is crucial to the Democrats, who need to retain one or two Democrat-held seats in the South if they are to stand a chance of regaining control of the Senate. Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, decided not seek a second term.

After leading in the polls for much of the campaign, Bowles is now in a tight race with his opponent, Rep. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.), and he faces a delicate balancing act. In a state where President Bush has a substantial advantage, Bowles must present himself as independent from the Democratic Party to appeal to the conservative “Jessecrats” who could swing the election in his favor.

But he must also rally the state’s Democratic base, a group enflamed by opposition to Bush and the Iraq war. Bowles can’t afford to ignore the themes that energize party loyalists, warned one Democratic colleague.

“I think you do have to, at some point, to use an old Southern phrase, ‘fess up’ to what you are,” said Dan Blue, a prominent African American and former state representative from Raleigh. “I do think there’s a need to go ahead and send the call out -- sort of, ‘Calling all Democrats.’ ”

A tall, courtly Southerner with policy-wonk spectacles, Bowles was chief of staff, golf partner and late-night Boggle opponent to President Clinton, who relied on him to reach across party lines to hammer out the Balanced Budget Act in 1997.

This is Bowles’ second try for the Senate. When he ran against Elizabeth Dole two years ago -- a race he lost by 9 percentage points -- many found him a stiff, formal campaigner. But Bowles, who is conservative on most social issues, retained the goodwill of voters after that defeat.

This year, he is relaxed and almost bouncy as he hammers away at pocket-book issues like jobs, prescription drugs and healthcare for uninsured children. Before launching into specific plans, he charms one group after the next with a self-effacing joke about a voter he met at Burger King.

“This guys looks at me, and looks again, and he said, ‘I know who you are.’ I said, ‘OK, who am I?’ ” Bowles said. “He said, ‘You’re the weatherman’ ”

His opponent, Burr, served five terms in Congress representing a strongly Republican district. In the House, Burr has championed conservative and pro-business initiatives, including protecting gun and tobacco manufacturers from lawsuits and streamlining the Food and Drug Administration approval process, a boon for the pharmaceutical industry.

North Carolina’s economy has been buffeted from all sides in recent years: textile plants have been padlocked one after another; outsourcing has bit into the technology sector and the tobacco industry is in a long decline. Although the state has added jobs for six consecutive quarters, it still has 2% fewer jobs than it did at the beginning of the recession in spring 2001. Many workers are no longer reflected on unemployment rolls because they have dropped out of the job market.

Bowles’ job proposal would roll back tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas, reduce unnecessary regulation and invest in small businesses; Burr recommends making Bush’s tax cuts permanent, simplifying the tax code and fighting frivolous lawsuits to reduce healthcare costs.

Their most passionate clashes have come on trade. At different points in their careers, both Burr and Bowles have supported free trade agreements, now deeply unpopular in the state. Now both candidates support a crackdown on foreign imports, disagreeing mainly on “who got there first,” said Jennifer Duffy, Senate editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Likewise, both are strong supporters of the proposed $10.1-billion buyout of North Carolina tobacco quotas, which passed in a House vote Thursday night. Burr has cast himself as a prime mover in the buyout’s passage; Bowles canceled campaign events Wednesday and traveled to Washington, where he lobbied 24 Democratic senators on the bill’s behalf.

If Bowles is careful to distance himself from national politics, Burr has seized every opportunity to trumpet his relationship with President Bush; in one 20-minute speech, a local reporter noted, he used the president’s name 17 times. His campaign has issued a drumbeat of ads linking Bowles to Clinton, Kerry and the national Democratic Party.

“It really goes to reflect Erskine Bowles’ character,” said Douglas Heye, a spokesman for Burr. “Here is somebody who has not sat on the sidelines of Democratic Party politics. He was a major part of the Clinton administration. Erskine Bowles doesn’t want people to know that. He runs around campaigning as an independent.”

The tactic seemed to work, bringing Burr even with Bowles after trailing by as many as 10 percentage points for much of the summer. In the eastern part of the state, people are still fuming about Monica Lewinsky, one resident said.

“They’re going to blame the Civil War on Clinton sooner or later,” said Rob Mathias, 60, a substitute teacher. Republicans “drag him up anytime they want to invigorate the base. Just mention his name and they start frothing at the mouth and shuddering all over.”

Bowles’ supporters hope, though, that his bipartisan message will tap into the strain of independence that characterizes the state’s politics. Democrat James B. Hunt Jr., a popular two-term governor, said Bowles had positioned himself wisely in what was shaping up to be a tight race: as a bipartisan dealmaker who would not be awed by Washington or beholden to either of the national parties headquartered there.

“North Carolina has not ever had much help out of Washington,” Hunt said. “Erskine Bowles knows where every dollar is in Washington and the people in this state want their fair share.”

Faced with students in flip-flops and T-shirts at Craven, Bowles pledged to support re-importing prescription drugs from Canada and expanding healthcare coverage to uninsured children. He distributed an outline of his plans. When he opened the floor to questions, though, the students asked about more divisive topics, like the Iraq war and the Patriot Act.

Kurt Eslick, a 46-year-old art instructor, wandered from the atrium after Bowles had finished. He was impressed with the candidate’s unflappability and grasp of the issues but a little bit hungry for the grand themes he has followed in the past campaigns of Bobby Kennedy, George McGovern and Jimmy Carter.

“There weren’t a lot of ‘Amens,’ ” Eslick said.

At an appearance earlier in the day before a largely African American group in Jacksonville, the crowd murmured, nodded and sometimes shouted as Bowles described his healthcare and job plans. Members of one local Baptist Church have registered more than 300 new voters, its pastor said.

A retired schoolteacher, Roberta Spicer, 67, gave a twinkly smile when asked if she wanted Bowles to identify himself more powerfully as a Democrat.

She said, “He knows we know.”