FOX HUNTING IN PHILLY
Carlson, Tucker
FOX HUNTING IN PHILLY by Tucker Carlson Center Square, Pennsylvania JOE HOEFFEL ADMITS he was "concerned" when the Monica Lewinsky mess first erupted in January. As a Democrat running for...
...Even without their faxes from Washington, Hoeffel and Fox would probably sound alike, since they seem to believe pretty much the same things...
...Mediocre though Fox may be, it's never easy to beat an incumbent, particularly one who comes through with the occasional cancer cure...
...If so, they're being quiet about it...
...Approximately the same age, from the same town, and with similar professional backgrounds, the candidates have even run against each other for the same seat before...
...Is it the fact he [received a sex act] from his intern...
...As a Democrat running for Congress in a historically Republican district north of Philadelphia, Hoeffel feared the president's troubles might affect his own chances of being elected...
...When Fox was finally declared the winner, it was by a margin of only 84 votes...
...Except, of course, Monica Lewinsky...
...He can't get his message out," says a Fox aide who has watched Hoeffel's Lewinsky-caused contortions with deep and growing pleasure...
...On the other hand, he pays attention to his district...
...It was around lunch time, and the vast majority of shoppers who walked by were relatively affluent suburban women, the group supposedly most incensed by the partisan conduct of the Republican Congress...
...Don't you ever get out of Washington...
...That's the theory, anyway, and there's no better place to test it than Montgomery County, Pa., where Jon Fox and Joe Hoeffel are nearing the end of perhaps the closest race in the country...
...Hoeffel tried to settle the matter by taking a firm position on the Starr report...
...Tucker Carlson is a staff writer for THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THE STARR REpORT, sHE AskED, WHAT DO YOU FIND MOST DESPICABLE ABOUT THE PRESIDENT'S BEHAVIOR...
...he asked petulantly this fall when questions about Lewinsky overwhelmed his attempts to talk about the Information Superhighway...
...By almost every measure, the two men are evenly matched...
...Not that Hoeffel's message is much different from Fox's...
...From the beginning, Hoeffel, the Democrat, has seemed irritated and confused by the encroachment of the scandal on his campaign...
...That's what I hear...
...The fax machines work well...
...Where's the backlash...
...Are voters mad enough at Congress to throw Fox out...
...Fox flip-flops on every issue," complained Philadelphia magazine earlier this year...
...They should string that little girl up," the woman growled...
...In the absence of compelling local controversies—whether to continue a certain kind of crop subsidy, whether to build a new overpass—the race has taken on a certain predictability, with each candidate reading from roughly the same list of this season's market-tested issues supplied by his national party: saving Social Security, reforming HMOs, and, of course, "education...
...It's hard to run in contrast to an opponent you resemble, and Hoeffel has been reduced to attacking Fox on technical violations...
...I haven't seen polls...
...If Hoeffel's theory sounds familiar, it may be because it's on the lips of virtually every Democratic candidate and consultant in the country...
...In 1996, Fox beat Hoeffel in a race so close it took nine days to call...
...These newly energized voters—reliable Democrats and Republican crossovers alike—will use the November elections to send a message, not to the president, but to a Congress Gone Mad...
...The usually articulate Hoeffel was unable to answer...
...Now that you've read the Starr report, Gibbons asked, what do you find most despicable about President Clinton's behavior...
...Does anyone care about my Internet views...
...A legendary provider of constituent services, Fox works 20-hour days, signs all his mail himself, returns frequently to his district, and makes certain to call voters on their 100th birthdays...
...Catch him at a pro-life potluck, and he's Mr...
...Of the perhaps 100 people Hoeffel greeted, only one, a 60ish woman pushing a shopping cart full of what appeared to be cat food, said a word about Monica Lewinsky...
...In other words, says Jeff Stein, Hoeffel's campaign manager, "the same issues as anywhere else...
...Both in fact are uncomfortable talking about Monica Lewinsky...
...Fox says he isn't sure whether Clinton should resign...
...After "skimming" it, Hoeffel came to the unsurprising conclusion that Clinton shouldn't be impeached...
...The Republicans really overplayed their hand," Hoeffel says confidently...
...Now, it is his opponent, incumbent Republican Jon Fox, who is being damaged by the Lewinsky affair...
...The woman later admitted that she had never planned to vote for Jon Fox anyway...
...By October, he was denouncing Fox, a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood, as a "right-wing extremist" for his opposition to Clinton's partial-birth-abortion veto...
...Huh...
...Or is it the fact he [received it] in the Oval Office...
...According to the Backlash Scenario, voters, many of whom stopped paying attention to politics after the Lewinsky scandal, have been outraged by the reckless partisanship of Republicans on Capitol Hill, and particularly by the unfair release of Clinton's videotaped deposition...
...see him trolling for the women's vote (which is substantial in his district), and he'll be calling you 'sister' and talking about a 'woman's right to choose.'" Fox's desire not to offend ( "pandering to voters," as Hoeffel puts it) often results in almost comically bland legislation...
...Earlier this year, he arranged for one of his constituents to receive a bone-marrow transplant...
...Where are the polls that show a wave of voters planning to vote against—not just grouse about—the Republican inquisition...
...In September, Hoeffel issued a press release slamming the incumbent for failing to "reinstate the venipuncture benefit to Medicare...
...When that didn't work, Hoeffel simply recited Democratic talking points ("Starr spent four years and $40 million investigating and came up with nothing but Monica Lewinsky," etc...
...replies Hoeffel, incredulous that anyone would ask such a stupid question...
...Both are deeply troubled by teen smoking...
...The high point of Fox's two terms on the Hill, in fact, may be the "Princess Diana Humanitarian Leadership Resolution" he sponsored, which expressed "the condolences of the House of Representatives on the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales," as well as thanks for her "grace and good humor...
...Voters tend to be forgiving of such minor deviations, though Fox's reputation as a legislative lightweight with no core beliefs probably still hurts him...
...Both are solidly pro-choice, pro-Israel, environmentally aware, and attentive to the concerns of senior citizens...
...Sanctity of Human Life...
...Fox will never be a statesman...
...A LOCAL REPORTER GOT RIGHT TO THE POINT...
...That was two years ago, and since then little has changed in Pennsylvania's Thirteenth...
...in the past month, Hoeffel says, the scandal has ricocheted...
...Both consider Social Security sacrosanct...
...There's a big backlash...
...I think she's a slut...
...One afternoon last week, Hoeffel and an aide stood outside a supermarket in the town of Center Square to greet voters and pass out campaign literature...
...Still, the Monica questions kept coming...
...At a press conference in September, a local reporter named Peggy Gibbons got right to the point...
...Not anymore...
Vol. 4 • October 1998 • No. 7
