SWANN GOES ON OFFENSE

It’s great to hear that Lynn Swann is taking the offensive in his campaign against ‘Fast Eddie’ Rendell.

In recent weeks, his campaign has shown signs of life. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was in suburban Philadelphia on Wednesday to stump for Swann. Swann also spent a week recently touring the state in a 39-foot converted motor coach with a giant headshot of himself and the slogan “Common Sense for the Commonwealth” on an electric-blue background.
He visited 19 counties, but made his most concentrated push in black neighborhoods in heavily Democratic Philadelphia. His campaign strategists say making even small inroads among blacks, and winning back Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs who helped elect Rendell in 2002, are key to a Swann victory in the Nov. 7 election.

When I read that ‘America’s Mayor’ would be campaigning for Swann this week, I was elated. As I said here, Rudy’s a GOP fundraising and campaigning superstar. Rudy’s got a tough law-enforcement, gets-things-done type of mentality. He’s that rare politician who’s got tremendous support in the various minority communities and great support with whites.

What Giuliani’s visit does for the Swann campaign, besides giving him all the headlines Thursday, is a legitimacy that a superstar like Giuliani brings to the table. This gives Swann a great opportunity to reach into voting blocks that most Republicans don’t get.

An early convert was Frederick Cooper, who owns a short-order restaurant with an outdoor eating area on a street corner in West Philadelphia. There, Swann and his wife, Charena, helped scoop sweetly flavored water ice into tiny cups for a line of sweltering customers.
Cooper, 36, who is black, said he voted for Rendell in 2002 but backs Swann because he believes government grows stale quickly and that Swann would provide a fresh perspective in Harrisburg. “Right now, I would go with anybody that would come in with new ideas…new changes,” Cooper said.

This is a huge key. If Rendell thinks that Swann will take significant amounts of black votes away from Rendell, that means Rendell will pay more attention to those areas. Furthermore, that extra attention isn’t a guarantee that he’ll stop Swann from getting significant support from the black community. It also means that Rendell won’t be able to camp out in Republican strongholds like he did in 2002 against Mike Fisher.

Awhile back, I talked with a reporter friend in Pennsylvania about Swann’s candidacy. My friend said the campaign was lagging but that there was still plenty of time to rectify that. I told my friend that I’d have Lynn Swann, Kenneth Blackwell and Michael Steele meeting with every minority small business group in their states. My logic is that minority business owners don’t like overtaxation or overregulation any more than any other business owner. My friend totally agreed with that. It sounds like my advice has gotten to the Swann campaign, though it’s egotistical to think that it was my advice that got to the Swann campaign.

If Mr. Cooper is a harbinger of things to come, this race will tighten up in a heartbeat. Rendell’s millions don’t make up for a lack of message. I’d also suggest that there is a true ‘throw the bums out’ mentality in Pennsylvania this year, especially after they tired sneaking a congressional pay raise through in the middle of the night.

Rendell says that he’s got a “good message to tell.” That’s a bunch of BS and he knows it. Here’s how my friend Alex McClure puts it:

Can someone tell me which of his great promises in 2002 he has fulfilled? To change the culture in Harrisburg? To deliver property tax relief?

Rendell’s statements sound like so much hot air from a career politician. That won’t win the day in a state that’s looking to throw the bums out.