The Loneliness of the Pro-Life Democrat
BARNES, FRED
The Loneliness of the Pro-Life Democrat Pennsylvania’s Senate candidate Ron Klink gets the cold shoulder from his party. BY FRED BARNES Los Angeles ON THE FINAL DAY of last week’s convention,...
...Yet Santorum has held a 20 percentage point lead over Klink for months...
...It just takes more time and effort...
...Klink insists he has some advantages in the race...
...Even Democratic senators who want him to win so they can take control of the Senate Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Gore, an ally of pro-lifers when he was still in Congress, can attest to that...
...Two of Casey’s sons—Pennsylvania state auditor Bob Casey Jr...
...But another reason, perhaps more important, is money...
...was treated at the 1992 convention...
...Klink’s problem: Liberal Democratic donors just won’t pony up for an anti-abortion candidate...
...He’s voted to fund family planning organizations, some of which perform abortions...
...And Klink was hardly a popular figure at the convention...
...And there are 500,000 more registered Democrats in the state than Republicans...
...Here’s how Jon Delano, the political commentator for KDKA television in Pittsburgh, explained Klink’s difficulty in Pennsylvania: “Most of the Democratic money comes from Philadelphia...
...Now, he desperately needs the money for TV spots to boost his name ID across the state...
...and congressional candidate Pat Casey—spoke to a sparsely filled hall and a threeminute video was shown...
...isn’t ready to proclaim an era of tolerance of pro-lifers inside the Democratic party...
...Santorum is outraising and outspending Klink by roughly seven to one...
...As of June 30, Santorum had $4.3 million on hand— while Klink had only $564,520...
...It does not become a litmus test issue [for me],” Klink says...
...Of course they did nothing at the time to protect Casey from being muzzled...
...The last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade,” he declared...
...Yes, you can...
...But don’t get the wrong idea...
...He doesn’t excite me,” says Sen...
...He expects another big haul when some or all of the six female Democratic senators speak at a rally for him...
...One reason is that Santorum is a smart politician who’s cleverly drifted toward the political center as his reelection bid approached...
...Still, he’s got to meet one-on-one with prochoice Democrats for them to open their pocketbooks...
...BY FRED BARNES Los Angeles ON THE FINAL DAY of last week’s convention, Democrats honored the late Bob Casey, the two-term governor of Pennsylvania and the party’s leading opponent of abortion...
...That figure doesn’t include the take at a Philadelphia fund-raiser for Klink attended by President Clinton last month...
...Why...
...We start with a tremendous infrastructure,” he says...
...It’s a lot easier as a state politician to be pro-life than it would be as a national politician...
...The electoral profile of someone who can raise money in Philadelphia is somebody else...
...During his lifetime, Casey was treated as a pariah by the national Democratic party— especially at the 1992 convention in New York that nominated Bill Clinton for president...
...Nationally I don’t know,” he says...
...now 54-46 Republican) aren’t enthusiastic about Klink...
...An embarrassing fact about Klink’s fund-raising woe is that Melissa Hart, the GOP candidate for the House seat he’s vacating, has raised more money than he has for his statewide race...
...Democratic senator Barbara Boxer of California took him to a gathering of Hollywood liberals where he passed the tin cup without much success...
...He points out he’s not a pro-life absolutist like Santorum, who led the Senate fight to ban partial-birth abortion...
...Bob Casey Jr...
...says the idea for the tribute came from Gore and his political strategist Bob Shrum...
...He has “the best and most excited labor support since 1991, when Harris Wofford ran [for the Senate] against Dick Thornburgh...
...It should be a competitive race since Santorum is more conservative than anyone elected statewide in Pennsylvania in decades...
...The electoral profile of Ron Klink is someone who can win,” he says...
...His district is just outside Pittsburgh...
...Certainly Ron Klink’s position as pro-life and pro-gun has hurt him...
...Wofford won that special election, only to lose the seat to Santorum in the Republican landslide in 1994...
...To run a competitive race, Klink says he needs $6 million to $7 million...
...His delegation was stashed in a far corner of Madison Square Garden, and he was denied a chance to address the gathering simply because he intended to air his opposition to abortion...
...And he’s for exceptions to an abortion ban— life of the mother, rape, incest...
...Can you do it for less...
...At the convention, the Casey tribute represented only a fleeting break with the Democratic party’s rigid adherence to abortion on demand...
...Some Democrats, notably Al Gore, regret the way Bob Casey Sr...
...Klink believes he can use Social Security, Medicare, and a patients’ bill of rights as issues against Santorum...
...Congressman Ron Klink is running in the Casey tradition as the Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, challenging Republican incumbent Rick Santorum...
...Klink now spends 90 percent of his time campaigning and fund-raising in eastern Pennsylvania, where he’s not well known...
...Gore, of course, is eager to appeal to conservative, pro-life Catholics who are an important swing vote in the presidential election...
...Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, “but he’s better than Santorum...
...Gore was unequivocally pro-abortion in his acceptance speech...
...A prolifer among that crowd is the equivalent of Billy Graham at the Playboy Mansion—not exactly welcome...
...Casey Jr...
...Yet he claims it’s not impossible for him to solicit money from Philadelphia liberals...
...You get in the door when you say you’re running against Rick Santorum...
...He won the Democratic primary almost entirely on the strength of votes from western Pennsylvania...
...Meanwhile, his pro-choice Republican opponent for governor two years earlier, Barbara Hafer, was allowed to address the Democratic convention...
...Most of that money is liberal Democratic money...
...Unlike the speech Tuesday night by Kate Michelman of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the Casey tribute didn’t occur in prime time...
...The Democratic machine has come together...
...Another advantage, he says, is that Santorum is not just a little, but a lot, more conservative than the state...
...And being a pro-life Democrat is still one of the toughest and loneliest jobs in American politics...
...Asked if his prolife views impede fundraising, Klink says, “I won’t kid you...
...He’ll probably have to...
Vol. 5 • August 2000 • No. 47
