The Fall Campaign

Issues and Public Opinion

With a strong economy, quality-of-life issues emerged as the top concerns of voters inthe 1998 elections. The Voter News Service (VNS) survey of voters on election day found that 20 percent named education the most- importantissue, followed by ethical standards (19 percent), the economy (14 percent), Social Security (12 percent), taxes (12 percent), health care (7 percent) and the Clinton/Lewinsky matter (5 percent). The results indicate that voters were concerned with issues that affected their localities (such as education) or reflected their own personal views (ethical standards). Most important, was that the survey showed there was not one dominating national issue that affected voter decision making. The fact that the Clinton/Lewinsky matter finished last among the most important issues signaled that most voters wanted the issue put to rest. With relative public satisfaction with the Congress, the President and the economy, neither party advanced an agenda that would attempt to transform the electoral dynamic because the risk seemed too great.[10]

The quality of public education has been a concern of voters for many years in light of declining test scores and the ability for individuals to get ahead in their lives. Republican members of Congress have urged that more money be block granted to the states, that vouchers be given to parents to choose a school for their children and that the federal government should play a hands-off role in education. Democrats have argued for more money for school construction, more teachers and lower teacher-to-student ratios in the classrooms. Both parties have supported more rigorous testing of public school teachers to ensure they are of the highest quality. The spending bill signed by the President in October of 1998 gave Democrats a victory in hiring a proposed 100,000 new teachers but did not provide significant new increases in school construction. The voucher issue died in the final version of the bill.

Voters were not only troubled by the President's morality but their own. The Clinton/Lewinsky matter may not have impacted decision making directly but it did heighten the sense of moral and ethical standards.  A CBS News poll in April of 1998 seemed to capture much of this sentiment when respondents were questioned. When asked whether they would lie about their child's age to get a cheaper movie ticket: 28 percent would he, while they believed that 60 percent of others would do the same thing. Thirteen percent- said that they would take "free" money from an ATM machine while they believed 55 percent of others would follow suit. Furthermore, there was a clear generational difference--Gen- X respondents had less ethical qualms compared to those over the age of 64 who had the most ethical reservations. In a sense, the Clinton/Lewinsky matter was a symptom of a much greater concern about the future of our society regarding how Americans viewed themselves.[11]

Gambling was an issue with moral overtones that played an important role in Southern gubernatorial elections this year. Democratic candidates for governor in South Carolina and Alabama proposed legalized gambling to raise revenues for their states. Both candidates, Jim Hodges of South Carolina and Don Siegelman of Alabama advocated raising revenues through non-tax measures to raise money for education. A similar initiative had been used successfully by the Democratic governor of Georgia, Zell Miller, to fund among other things, college scholarships. Hodges and Siegelman's opponents, incumbents, David Beasley of South Carolina and Fob James of Alabama, both deeply religious conservatives, opposed gambling initiatives because they felt it was repugnant to their personal religious beliefs. The two incumbents lost in, perhaps, the most religiously observant region of the country.

Campaign Strategy and Tactics

The 1998 election campaign was marked by the resurgence of the national parties in local races. The two national parties raise what is known as "hard money" which are contributions to advocate the election of candidates; and, "soft money" which are contributions spent independently of campaigns to advocate issues, register voters and get-out-the-vote activities. Both parties raised and spent approximately $300 million by mid-October in "hard" money. Democrats had also raised $78 million in "soft money," while Republicans had raised $94 million. Much of the "hard" and "soft" money from both parties went into issue advertising for candidates in states such as Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New York, North Carolina and Nevada, where there were very tight Senate races.[12]

The endgame strategies of the Republicans and Democrats differed. Republicans had more money to spend at the end of the election season and initiated the aforementioned $10 million media campaign attacking President Clinton's moral credibility to see how a national issue would play out in "Bible Belt" congressional districts. Democrats, along with labor union allies, aggressively launched and spent most of their remaining money on get-out- the-vote operations to get Affican-Americans and union members to the polls. In the 1996, labor unions concentrated more of their resources on media advertising which was relatively unsuccessful. By contrast, in 1998 labor unions utilized the bulk of their resources on get-out-the-vote operations which have traditionally benefited Democrats more than the GOP. The reason is that Hispanics, African-Americans and women who make up a large part of the base of the Democratic party have lower participation rates than non-minorities and men which make up a large part of the base of the Republican party. An energized voting base in the 1998 elections helped Democrats to do better than pundits expected, in large part, due to the coordinated efforts of the national Democratic party, labor unions and state Democratic parties.

President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore campaigned extensively for Democratic candidates. Mrs. Clinton was the most sought after campaigner appearing in states such as California, Illinois and New York where there were competitive senatorial and gubernatorial elections. Her efforts were concentrated on trying to energize women to vote for Democrats. President Clinton spent most of his time raising money for Democratic candidates in the fall campaign. During the year, he appeared at over 100 fund raising events. Finally, Vice-President Gore campaigned more extensively than either the President or First Lady trying to elect or reelect Democrats across the country, as a prelude to his run for the Presidency in the year 2000.

Media Advertising

Campaign advertising in the 1998 midterm elections echoed the tenor of campaigns of 19th century campaigns--often personal and belligerent. Why? Because negative advertising works more effectively by raising the negative attributes of opponents and, usually, drives voters away from polling booths. No aspect of someone's personal or public life was immune from attack. However, it should be noted that the lack of decorum that appeared in 1998 was tame compared to the presidential campaign of 1884 when Republicans accused the Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland of fathering a child illegitimately. Cleveland admitted he was the father. The Republicans campaign slogan that year was, "Ma, Ma where's my pa? Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!." The Democrats labeled the Republican nominee, James Blaine, "The Continental liar from the State of Maine." Cleveland defeated Blaine that year in one of the meanest campaigns in history. [13]

The brutality of media advertising grew as the 1998 election reached its last desperate stages. Democratic Representative Charles Schumer traded barbs with incumbent Republican Senator Al D'Amato of New York over who was more dishonest. In Kentucky, Republican Congressman Jim Bunning running for an open Senate seat ran what became known as the "Ride of the Valkyries" ad against his opponent, Congressman Scotty Baesler, a Democrat. The ad showed Baesler at a campaign rally thrusting his arm forward while music from the German composer Richard Wagner (from which the ad gets its name) was playing in the background. The ad hoped to evoke inferences of a Nazi salute and that Baesler might have fascist tendencies. The ads backfired and turned a five-to-six point Bunning lead into a dead heat. Bunning eventually prevailed in a race that should not have been quite so close.[14]

In Maryland, incumbent Governor Parris Glendenning (D) ran ads accusing his opponent former state representative Eleanor Sauerbray (R) of being a tool of the gun lobby and if elected would overturn state laws on protecting abortion rights for women. Sauerbray stated throughout the campaign stated she would not overturn any state law on gun control and would uphold any state law protecting a woman's right-to-choose. [15]

Critics accused candidates of appealing to the lowest common denominator and possibly driving voters away from the polls. Candidates, for the most part, as noted earlier, are first interest I ed in getting elected and many do not care about the niceties of governing until after the campaign is over. However, as we see today, so much damage is done during the campaign that it is not always reparable once the governing process begins. This is one of the reasons civility does not reign supreme in Washington today.  One new media technology being exploited in 1998 was the use of the Internet, Most candidates for national public office had Web sites.