Nunn's conclave looks to get politics back on track

Nunn's conclave looks
to get politics back on track
By JIM GALLOWAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/06/08

Norman, Okla. — The meeting taking place here Monday already has been defined as a gathering of out-of-touch geezers. Or an assembly of the nation's deposed center, looking for a way back into power.

Or a possible, but improbable, launching pad for a third-party presidential candidacy by Michael Bloomberg, the ever-coy billionaire mayor of New York.

But the conclave of 16 centrist Republicans and Democrats — some active but most retired — also is intended to remind a public just tuning into the 2008 race for the White House that something was lost when political debate veered from the centerline of the American highway.

"Most people are in the middle of the road — though they may stay in the left lane or the right lane," argues former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, a Democrat and one of the organizers of the session. "The very extreme activists are in the ditch on both sides, and that's where the money is."

Sandwiched between last week's caucuses in Iowa and Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire, the meeting on the campus of the University of Oklahoma — its president, former Democratic Sen. David Boren is also a sponsor — is intended to pressure Republican and Democratic candidates for president to outline a middle path on tough issues like terrorism, the federal debt, and health care.

The "or else what" part remains purposely vague.

According to the invitation, more empty debate "will produce neither a national consensus for governing nor a president who can successfully tackle these threats to our nation's future."

Other attendees include Republicans Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska senator; Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor; and John Danforth, the former Missouri senator. The Democrats include former Sens. Nunn, Boren, Bob Graham of Florida and Chuck Robb of Virginia.

And then there's Bloomberg, who was elected mayor of New York as a Republican, left the GOP in June and has been toying with the idea of a self-funded independent campaign for the presidency since then.

"It's the Has-Beens and the Billionaire!" smirked Newsday on Sunday.

Despite such dismissals, the Monday agenda of the bipartisan forum has been expanded, and its location changed to a bigger venue at the university, to accommodate the attention generated. The meeting was to begin Sunday with a private dinner.

Despite a presidential campaign now in full swing with a broad array of candidates on both sides, the Oklahoma effort has struck a chord among many voters.

"This is where we need to be as a country. I hope this thing grows legs," said Steve Upshaw of west Cobb County, a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran who deals in medical equipment.

Upshaw, a Journal-Constitution reader who contacted the newspaper to express his support for the meeting, describes himself as a "a staunch independent moderate."

On the Democratic side, he likes the change that Barack Obama represents, but can't stand Hillary Clinton. On the Republican side, he likes U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, but doesn't like the domination of the GOP by religious conservatives.

"I consider myself very devout," Upshaw said. "But I don't want political decisions based on what someone in office assumes God is telling him what to do. That bothers me. And Bush has worn a cross around his neck as big as an anvil sometimes."

Upshaw has yet to hear any of the presidential candidates address his concerns — "the collapsing dollar and the things we face with China, and how they finance our security."

He is thrilled, though, by the prospect of an independent Bloomberg candidacy.

The question is whether there are enough Steve Upshaws to make a difference.

While self-described moderates make up roughly half of the American electorate, two-thirds of them are committed Republicans and Democrats, said Merle Black, the Emory University political scientist. True middle-of-the-road independents make up only 10 to 15 percent of all voters.

"It's a huge challenge, to put together an independent party or a third party campaign without a well-known candidate and without a clear and compelling, substantive message," Black said.

Yet Black agrees with Nunn — there's no question that both Republicans and Democrats have cleansed their parties of centrists over the last two decades and replaced them with uncompromising ideologues like Howard Dean and Karl Rove. The result has left the American middle exasperated.

"A Sam Nunn wouldn't have very much influence in today's Democratic party, and a Christine Whitman wouldn't have any in the Republican party," Black said.

His take on Nunn's effort?

"It's almost like the politics of nostalgia," Black said.

Ironically, one of those who encouraged Nunn and others to convene the Oklahoma meeting admits he helped create the current situation.

Tom Johnson, the former president of CNN, said the news media — with its emphasis on explosive sound bites — shares a hefty slice of the blame for the polarization of politics. Under Johnson's watch, CNN created "Crossfire," one of the first TV programs that drew ratings by creating sharp, on-air political confrontations between Democrats and Republicans.

Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea, he admits.

Johnson now gives speeches to civic groups decrying the loss of bipartisan cooperation, particularly when it comes to U.S. foreign policy.

Before Vietnam, before Watergate, there was a time when "politics stopped at the water's edge," Johnson said.

He admits that many think it impossible to turn back the clock.

"I've had many people who've said, 'Tom, this isn't going to happen. You're just whistling "Dixie."' But I think we've got to try," Johnson said.