Memories Of Jack Kemp

I was always of two minds when it came to Jack Kemp. He was personable and unfailingly optimistic. And he was convinced that his philosophy of supply-side economics was the right way to go, both for the party and, more important, the country.

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1:42 PM ET | 05-04-2009 | permalink

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Jack Kemp, Ex-Congressman & Dole '96 Running Mate, Dies At 73

Jack Kemp, the former conservative representative from western New York who hoped to succeed his hero, Ronald Reagan, as president in 1988, and who reappeared as a candidate as the Republican vice presidential running mate in 1996, has died. He was 73 and had been suffering from cancer.

Kemp was an NFL quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and later the Buffalo Bills. When he retired, he decided to run for the congressional seat in Buffalo vacated in 1970 by Richard "Max" McCarthy, who was seeking the Democratic Senate nomination. Kemp won the seat and held it until 1988, when he made a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He ran as the "heir" to the Reagan Revolution, but as a candidate he failed to make a difference. He was out of the race by March, shortly after Super Tuesday. He could have gone back to New York and defended his House seat but decided instead to retire.

Meanwhile, the presidential nomination, and the election, was won by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, who later named Kemp to the Cabinet as his secretary of housing and urban development.

In 1996, Bob Dole selected him as his running mate. The Dole-Kemp ticket lost to Democratic incumbents Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

In January of this year, Kemp disclosed he had cancer.

11:26 PM ET | 05-02-2009 | permalink

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John Marchi, Who Upset Mayor Lindsay In '69 NYC Primary, Dies

It's a name that may not be immediately familiar to a national audience. But for one brief moment, in 1969, John Marchi was a hero to conservatives everywhere, especially those living in New York City. He accomplished what was thought to be impossible: He defeated John Lindsay, the liberal Republican mayor, in the GOP primary.

Marchi served 50 years as a state senator from Staten Island, the least populous borough of the city of New York, until he retired in 2006. He was immensely popular in his district, especially because of his long-standing efforts to win Staten Island's independence from the city. Last week, the 87-year-old Republican died of pneumonia.

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2:41 PM ET | 04-30-2009 | permalink

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Jerry Waldie Dies; Served On Judiciary Cmte During Watergate

Jerome Waldie, a liberal Democrat from California who served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings in 1974, died earlier this month at 84.

Waldie, who represented the San Francisco Bay area, was the first member of the committee to call for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. His resolution came just days after the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, in October 1973, when Nixon had Archibald Cox, the Watergate special prosecutor, fired.

Waldie, the state Assembly majority leader, was elected to Congress in a special 1966 election following the death of incumbent Republican John Baldwin. He had no trouble in four re-election contests, usually winning more than 70 percent of the vote. He was a strong critic of both Nixon and the Vietnam War.

Waldie gave up his seat to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 1974. But the impeachment hearings were taking place during the primary campaign, and while he attracted some attention for his decision to walk the length of the state to meet voters, he never was a factor. He finished a weak fifth in the primary that was won by California Secretary of State Jerry Brown.

10:33 AM ET | 04-13-2009 | permalink

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Once, Tom Braden Was The Political Story Of The Week

Tom Braden died last week.

According to all the obituaries, the 92-year-old Braden was once the co-host of CNN's Crossfire. He was a CIA official in the 1950s. He owned a newspaper in California. And his 1975 memoir about being the father of eight children was turned into the ABC comedy-drama Eight is Enough.

But he also once ran for office: lieutenant governor of California, to be precise. In 1966. And for a while there, his race was seen as a surrogate battle between the forces led by President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey and forces led by New York Sen. Robert Kennedy.

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3:56 PM ET | 04-07-2009 | permalink

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Farewell To Button ... And Hello To Buttons!

We usually don't endorse candidates here at Political Junkie -- strike that, we never endorse candidates.

But if there was ever one we would have considered backing, it was -- for obvious reasons -- Daniel Button. The deliciously named Button was an editor for the Albany Times-Union who challenged the long-impenetrable Democratic machine in Albany led by Mayor Erastus Corning and party boss Dan O'Connell. In 1966, when Democratic Rep. Leo O'Brien was retiring, Button jumped into the race, as a Republican, and won. He was re-elected in 1968.

But in 1970, Albany mapmakers redrew congressional districts, merging his with that of conservative Democrat Sam Stratton. With the demographics clearly favoring the Democrat, Stratton won a landslide victory.

Button was a liberal Republican, when they used to have such things, and strongly opposed the war in Vietnam.

Dan Button died earlier this month at the age of 91. Click here for a nice obit by David Filkins in the Times-Union.

I always liked the idea of a congressman named Button. And, speaking of buttons ...

If you want to see how warped Ken Rudin and other collectors of political memorabilia are, in person no less, then you'll come out tomorrow, Saturday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., to the 10th annual meeting of (gulp) the National Capital Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC). The show will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Tysons Corner in McLean, Va.
Address: 1960 Chain Bridge Road
Hotel phone number: (703) 893-2100

Admission is $4; $1 off with student or congressional ID.

This year there will be a special display: "The Road to 2008 -- Racial Politics in America," featuring a display of items from 1776 to today, with themes of slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, civil rights, and the Freedom Train, up to Barack Obama's victory in 2008, and everything in between.

Hope to see you there.

Note: NPR and its member stations are not legally responsible or for anything I might say or do at APIC meetings.

3:06 PM ET | 03-20-2009 | permalink

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Everything You Wanted To Know About Socks But Were Afraid To Ask

Socks is dead.

The death of Socks, the White House first feline during the Clinton administration, was announced Friday night by Betty Currie, who was secretary to the 42nd president and who had kept the cat since the Clintons departed 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in 2001. He was thought to be around 18.

Last year Currie said that Socks had cancer. The cat had a famous dust-up with Buddy, the Clintons' dog, on the South Lawn in 1998. The two pets were the subject of Hillary Clinton's book of children's letters to the pair, titled Dear Socks, Dear Buddy.

Socks' death followed that of India, the White House cat during the Bush administration. India died on Jan. 4, also at 18.

In memory of the two cats, let us now paws and reflect.

12:24 PM ET | 02-23-2009 | permalink

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Thank You, And Farewell, To My Friend Ben Blank

Back in 2006, in one of my more self-indulgent Political Junkie columns, I wrote about how I came to political journalism. It's 1982, I'm walking out of my apartment building in Fort Lee, N.J., I run into CBS' Charles Osgood (who is waiting for a cab), I tell him it's my dream to cover campaigns for CBS, he gives me a phone number of someone to call.

That someone was Warren Mitofsky, then the head of the CBS polling unit. He died in September of 2006, which prompted the trip down memory lane in my column.

Warren became a friend, and a big fan of Political Junkie, but he never hired me to work at CBS.

Not long after my interview with him, I was driving to a -- God, I hope you've filled up on caffeine before reading this entry -- political memorabilia show in Bordentown, N.J., with Ben Blank. Ben was a longtime collector friend of mine from Teaneck, N.J., who was graphics director for ABC News, and we often drove to those shows together. Ben said he had a lot of people I could talk to at ABC, and I followed up on those leads.

The leads proved fruitful. I was hired as a political researcher for ABC News in New York in 1983 and was transferred to Washington in 1986 as the deputy political director. In 1991 I was hired by National Public Radio -- not only a premier news organization but, I should add, the answer to last week's ScuttleButton puzzle -- as its first political editor. I left in 1994 to run the Hotline and then returned to NPR in '98. And now you know everything about me.

But it began, in all seriousness, with that conversation on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1982 with my friend Ben Blank.

Ben died earlier this month at 87. Another collector friend sent me the obituary written by Jay Levin in the Bergen Record. I saw the headline, stopped in my tracks, and sat as my mind wandered back to all those times I visited him in his amazing office at ABC in New York, and how he, more than anyone else, was initially responsible for my entrance into political journalism. His life, as recounted by Jay Levin and later by Steven Heller in the New York Times, talked about his long career in television news graphics, first at CBS (1953-62), then at ABC from 1962 until his retirement 30 years later. Heller's obit ends with a fun story about Ben being asked about tabloid claims that the space program was all a hoax filmed on a movie lot. Ben's response: "You know, we could have done it all with graphics. All they had to do was ask."

The two obituaries had it all, except for how he facilitated my start in journalism.

A good guy with a wonderful sense of humor, Ben Blank will be missed. He will always have my gratitude for his help and his friendship.

4:05 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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Former Sen. Jim Pearson Dies; Kansas Republican Was 88

James Pearson, a moderate-to-liberal Republican senator who represented Kansas for nearly 17 years, died on Jan. 13.

Pearson was the Kansas Republican state chairman in 1962 when Sen. Andrew Schoeppel (R) died in office. Gov. John Anderson (R), on whose campaign Pearson worked, appointed Pearson to fill the vacancy.

He won three Senate elections: 56 percent in a special election over Paul Aylward in 1962, 52 percent against Rep. J. Floyd Breeding in 1966, and 71 percent against Arch Tetzlaff in 1972. He retired in 1978 and was succeeded by Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R).

Pearson was instrumental in changing Senate rules that reduced the number of votes required to end a filibuster from 67 to 60. He also broke with President Nixon on the Vietnam War, urging a faster end to the conflict.

Note: Our comprehensive list of those politicians who died in 2008 was not as comprehensive as we thought. John Hiestand of Hillsboro, Ohio, had three we missed:

Glenn Andrews, an Alabama Republican who was elected to the House in 1964 on Barry Goldwater's coattails when he unseated Rep. Kenneth Roberts (D). He was defeated two years later by Bill Nichols (D), who was elected in part on gubernatorial candidate Lurleen Wallace's (D) coattails. Andrews, 99, died on Sept. 25.

Lyle Williams, an Ohio Republican who served three terms in the House from 1979-84. Williams narrowly defeated Rep. Charles Carney (D) in 1978 and won re-election twice. In 1984, he was defeated by Democrat James Traficant. Williams, 66, died on Nov. 7.

Paul Todd, a Michigan Democrat who served one term in the House in the 1960s. In 1962, Todd challenged Rep. August Johansen (R) and lost overwhelmingly. But in a 1964 rematch, Todd had the benefit of President Lyndon Johnson's coattails, and he ousted Johansen by 53-47 percent. Two years later he himself was defeated, by Republican Garry Brown. Todd, 87, died on Nov. 18.

And Tracy Fine of the United States Former Members of Congress adds three more:

John Mackie, who like Paul Todd (above) was a one-term Michigan Democratic congressman first elected in 1964. In 1966, Mackie was unseated by Republican Donald Riegle. Mackie, 88, died on March 5.

Dan Kuykendall, a Tennessee Republican from Memphis who served in the House from 1966, when he ousted Rep. George Grider (D), until his defeat in 1974 by just 574 votes to Democrat Harold Ford Sr. Two years before he was first elected to the House, he was the GOP Senate nominee against Democratic incumbent Albert Gore Sr., receiving 46 percent of the vote. Kuykendall, 83, died on June 12.

Tim Lee Hall, an Illinois Democrat who served one term in the House. In 1972, he unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Les Arends, the GOP minority whip. Two years later, when Arends retired and with Watergate as the backdrop, Hall won an upset victory. But in 1976, in his first bid for re-election, he was defeated by Republican Tom Corcoran. In '78, Hall tried again, and lost to Corcoran in a landslide. Hall, 83, died on Nov. 12.

1:30 PM ET | 01-22-2009 | permalink

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Former Ala. First Lady Cornelia Wallace, Christian Intellectual Richard John Neuhaus

Cornelia Wallace, the second wife of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who was with him in Laurel, Md., in 1972 during an assassination attempt -- when she threw herself on top of him after he was shot -- died yesterday. She was 69 years old and had cancer.

George Wallace's first wife, Lurleen, ran for governor in 1966 because he was constitutionally barred from succeeding himself; she won in a landslide. She died of cancer in 1968, as he was seeking the presidency on a third-party ticket. He married Cornelia, the niece of former Gov. Jim Folsom, in 1971.

During a campaign swing in Maryland in 1972 -- while he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination -- Wallace was shot four times at a campaign rally at a Laurel shopping center by Arthur Bremer. The image of Cornelia throwing herself on top of her husband as he lay there bleeding has long been etched in the memory of those who were alive back then.

The couple divorced in 1978. That same year, she ran in the Democratic primary for governor but finished last in a field of 13 candidates.

In a 1997 TV movie about George Wallace, the part of Cornelia was played by Angelina Jolie.

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, once a liberal, anti-Vietnam War Lutheran minister who later became a Catholic priest and intellectual leader among religious conservatives, also died Thursday. He was 72.

Neuhaus had been one of the more prominent anti-war religious figures of the 1960s, working with the Rev. Daniel Berrigan on behalf of civil rights and against the war. As pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Brooklyn, he was arrested at a protest demonstration demanding integration of public schools. In 1968 he was a Eugene McCarthy delegate at the Democratic National Convention, where he was also arrested for disorderly conduct. In 1970 he lost a primary for Congress in Brooklyn to pro-war Democratic incumbent John Rooney.

He broke with the left in the 1970s, partly over the Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion. He later converted to Catholicism and became one of the most influential thinkers in the Catholic movement. His 1984 book, The Naked Public Square, is one of the most important books on the issue of church and state.

4:43 PM ET | 01-09-2009 | permalink

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Remembering Those Who Left Us In 2008

It was a year of political firsts and of financial lasts, one that many people are glad to see end. With just two more weeks or so before the inauguration, Barack Obama's to-do list is enormous.

But before we look ahead to what's in store for 2009, a look back at 2008, remembering those voices in the world of politics we lost. Among the departed are two Democratic members of the House: Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black congresswoman from Ohio, and Tom Lantos of California, the first Holocaust survivor elected to Congress. Hamilton Jordan helped elect a president, while Mark Felt helped take one down. The conservative movement lost an early voice (William F. Buckley), a no-nonsense senator (Jesse Helms), and one who left journalism for government (Tony Snow). Charlton Heston defended the gun lobby while Howard Metzenbaum fought it. Three members of Richard Nixon's "Enemies List" -- Paul Newman, Stewart Mott and Ed Guthman -- left us as well. As did President Truman's daughter and Obama's grandmother.

Presented here is a chronological list of those who died last year. It doesn't claim to be complete, but it includes many of those who made our lives more interesting and the world a better place.

Continue reading "Remembering Those Who Left Us In 2008" »

3:03 PM ET | 01-05-2009 | permalink

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Mark Felt Dies; 'Deep Throat' In Watergate Investigation Was 95

For more than 30 years, it was the best-kept secret in journalism: Who was "Deep Throat," that mysterious informer who gave Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward the details behind the Watergate scandal that would bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon?

The break-in at the Democratic National Committee occurred in June of 1972. Nixon resigned two years later. But it wasn't until 2005, when Vanity Fair magazine published an article by John O'Connor, that the source -- with his assent -- was revealed to be W. Mark Felt. Felt was the No. 2 guy at the FBI at the time.

Felt died yesterday at the age of 95. He had been suffering from congestive heart failure.

Here's what I wrote in my Political Junkie column at the time:

Who was Deep Throat?

How many times have I asked, or been asked, that question over the past three decades? Granted, it may not have been the sort of question that kept me up late at night. But as one who breathlessly watched the entire unraveling of the Nixon presidency, from break-in and Sirica to Ervin and Rodino, it would be fair to say that guessing the identity of the most famous anonymous source in the history of political journalism was something I dabbled in now and then. And so, when the news hit late Tuesday morning, that the identity of "Deep Throat" was finally revealed, the resulting feeling was a confluence of emotions.

It was a time like no other. A president who, within just months of a smashing 49-state election landslide, found his administration falling apart, one indictment and one resignation at a time. Bumper stickers everywhere that read, "Honk If You Think He's Guilty." Or sentiments from the Nixon defenders: "Nobody Drowned in Watergate." Ultimately, after disclosures about cover-ups and secret tape recordings and damaging testimony, it seemed clear that it was time for him to go. No one talked about "Deep Throat" -- at least in political terms -- back then. In fact, no one knew of him until Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein wrote All the President's Men in 1974, though it wasn't until the release of the movie in 1976 whereby he grew to mythical proportions.

And then came his unmasking this week, after nearly 33 years. Along with it came a feeling of disbelief. Not because no one suspected it could be Mark Felt; truth be told, he was a prime suspect on nearly everyone's list of potential Throats. I guess it was just hard to fathom that after all this time, the answer to the question was at hand. It seemed like it would be the kind of question that would remain unanswered forever.

If it was disbelief for some of us, it was no doubt a relief for others... especially those who, like Felt, were long suspected to be the Woodward/Bernstein source: Fred Fielding, L. Patrick Gray, Al Haig, Leonard Garment, Henry Peterson, David Gergen -- the list is endless. (Full disclosure: For the longest time, until his death in 1987, I thought Mr. Throat was Bryce Harlow, the former Eisenhower and Nixon aide who I suspected did not look kindly at the Watergate shenanigans.)

It was remarkable that a secret could be held for so long in Washington, where secrets are routinely spilled, and ironic that The Washington Post, which protected the secret, was scooped on the story. And I guess it should be expected that the new parlor game in town is deciding Mark Felt's motives. Revenge for being passed over when J. Edgar Hoover died? Was it anger over the Nixon administration's attempts to keep the FBI in the dark about its illegal activities? I'll let others decide that. And I'll pass, for now, on whether Felt's actions -- feeding information to Woodward and Bernstein on what the FBI knew about the Watergate break-in and cover-up -- make him a hero or a villain.

See also my cast of characters in the Watergate scandal.

10:20 AM ET | 12-19-2008 | permalink

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Paul Weyrich Dies; Conservative Icon Was 66

Paul Weyrich, the influential conservative whose leadership with social conservative groups and causes helped lead the way to Ronald Reagan's election as president in 1980, died early this morning. He was 66 years old.

Weyrich's last column, on the Minnesota Senate race, was published this morning on the CNS News site.

House Republican Leader John Boehner said in a statement, "Paul was one of the giants of the conservative movement — a man committed to family, faith, and preserving and expanding freedom both here in America and around the world. His passing is a great loss for conservatism, and for our country."

Details to come.

9:53 AM ET | 12-18-2008 | permalink

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Robin Toner Dies; N.Y. Times Political Reporter Was 54

Robin Toner, the first woman to become the national political correspondent for The New York Times, died early today following a battle with colon cancer. She was 54.

For nearly a quarter-century at the Times, Robin was best-known for her coverage of politics and elections. She was the lead reporter for the paper on the Bill Clinton campaign in 1992 and also covered congressional and gubernatorial campaigns. Robin was a familiar face at countless campaign events in Washington and around the country. In the 1990s, after marriage and the birth of twins, she held the title of senior writer, covering many social and political issues.

In addition to her twins, who are now 11, she is survived by her husband, Peter Gosselin, the chief economic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

2:19 PM ET | 12-12-2008 | permalink

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Former Rep. Ray Lederer, Ex-GOP Boss Joe Margiotta

Two notable political figures died this week: former Congressman Raymond Lederer (D-PA) and Joseph Margiotta, who led the Nassau County, N.Y., Republican Party organization for years.

Lederer is perhaps best known for his involvement in the Abscam scandal, where he was videotaped accepting a $50,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent disguised as an Arab businessman in 1979. Lederer — along with Reps. Mike "Ozzie" Myers (D-PA), John Murphy (D-NY), Frank Thompson (D-NJ), John Jenrette (D-SC) and Richard Kelly (R-FL), as well as Sen. Harrison Williams (D-NJ), all of whom took bribes from agents disguised as Arab sheiks or their representatives — were all convicted and sent to prison.

Lederer was first elected to Congress in 1976, winning the Philadelphia-area seat vacated by Democratic Senate candidate Bill Green. He easily won re-election two years later. Even in 1980, while under indictment, he won a third term, although by a reduced margin. Two months later he was convicted for his role in Abscam. He resigned his seat in April, a day after the House Ethics Committee voted to expel him. He later served 10 months in prison.

Lederer, who died on Monday, was 70.

Joe Margiotta was the longtime — 1967-83 — head of the Republican Party in Nassau County (Long Island), N.Y., an organization that produced Al D'Amato, later a U.S. senator, and Dean Skelos, currently the majority leader of the state Senate. Even before Margiotta but certainly while he was there, Nassau County was one of the most reliable GOP bastions in the state. But his influence came to an end, starting on Dec. 9, 1981, when he was convicted of federal mail fraud and conspiracy charges in a kickback scheme. He went to prison and served 14 months.

Margiotta died last Friday. He was 81 years old.

NOTE: Later this month, in a longer Political Junkie post, I will reprise my list of political figures who died during the year.

You can also read the list of those who passed on in 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004.

4:15 PM ET | 12-05-2008 | permalink

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