Do the Delaware Republicans have the
fire in their bellies to win statewide offices?
Dr. Sherman N. Miller
If Barack Obama and Joseph Biden are elected President
and Vice President of the United States of America, I wonder if their
success started with a Delaware Republican Party mindset that failed to
develop tomorrow’s new leaders because today’s politicians are legends
in their own time.
In 1972, a young outspoken Democrat Joe Biden beat the
legendary J. Caleb Boggs by 3162 votes. The real issue in the race may
have been, “Did Boggs still have the fire in his belly for another
campaign or was he an old man that needed to step aside?” This race was
suggestive that the Delaware Republican Party had not developed new
young high caliber candidates for tomorrow’s leadership roles.
This same ill-fated Republican non-leadership
preparation scenario was revisited when now US Senator Thomas Carper (D)
defeated the legendary William Roth in 2001. Roth was visually drained
and perhaps terminally ill. I remember seeing Senator Roth campaigning
in Wilmington where I was hoping that he did not pass out because the
news media was waiting for a Roth collapse to have a front page story.
When the Republicans prepared to pass the leadership
reigns to new blood, they were very effective. Governor Pierre (Pete) S.
DuPont was a legend because his governorship was excellent. He also
paved the way for Michael Castle to move up from Lt. Governor to
Governor. Castle had a very successful Governorship. Once he was term
limited for governor, Castle moved on to become Delaware’s lone US
Representative. Today Michael Castle is a legend, but he is no spring
chicken making the fantasy of Republican Party non-development of a
cadre of tomorrow’s leaders now showing its ugly head once again. Today,
Democrats control the Governor’s office and my guess is Jack Markell (D)
will win the November 2008 General Election.
However, there are a couple of young Republican
candidates that I think offer hope in changing this de facto mindset of
trying to run tired horses in Kentucky Derby caliber races. Over the
years, I have lobbied Charles (Charlie) L. Copeland to run for statewide
office. Copeland is out of the leadership mold of Pete Du Pont. I was at
the 2008 August Quarterly in Wilmington that is the oldest black
festival in the nation’s history and I ran across Copeland, in a sea of
Democratic candidates, seeking black votes. I was not surprised that
unlike some Republicans Copeland has not written off the black community
to the Democrats. Hence, I
endorse Charlie Copeland to be the next Lt. Governor of the State of
Delaware.
The second young chap is John D. Clatworthy. I
remember encouraging him to run when his father was facing Senator Joe
Biden. Clatworthy soundly defeated his Republican rival in the September
9, 2008 Delaware primary. I hope U.S. Representative Michael Castle (R)
will develop Clatworthy to be his replacement.
Let me make my case a bit stronger on the ill-fated
mindset of the Republican leadership in the state of Delaware in
abdicating their zeal to offer the people good leadership choices and
not allow the Democrats to overwhelm Delaware’s political leadership. In
the state senate, there are 10 seats up for votes in the 2008 election.
The Democrats get 4 out of 10 seats without a single vote from the
people because they are uncontested districts. The Republicans have no
uncontested seats. Hence, the Republicans have conceded 40 percent of
the available seats to the Democrats.
When we turn our attention to the Delaware House of
Representatives things are some better. Democrats got 13 of 41 seats
(~32 percent) uncontested meaning that the primary election is the
General Election. On the
other hand, the Republicans got 6 of 41 seats (~15 percent) uncontested.
Clearly the Republicans are redlining more districts than the Democrats
that suggest that Delaware is moving toward a total Democratic Party
takeover in the foreseeable future.
Will the Republican Party start to develop a cadre of
young energetic candidates or are they willing to concede Delaware to
the Democratic Party? If the Delaware Republicans are interested in
demonstrating that they are coming back, Charlie Copeland’s win will
echo in a new era of young Republican statewide candidates who have the
necessary fire in their bellies to retake Delaware as was the case in
yesteryear.
