GOP eyeing Spratt seat

Knocking off incumbent might soften problems elsewhere

By WAYNE WASHINGTON

wwashington@thestate.com

LANCASTER — Ralph Norman moved through the crowd at 521 Grill with a seasoned politician’s grace. He slapped backs, shook hands and gave a few polite kisses on the cheek. Smiles all around.

Norman, a Republican state legislator from York County, is running for the 5th District’s congressional seat. He had just sat through an hour-long breakfast meeting of local business and community leaders. Many seemed eager to bend his ear or pump his hand.

If things go this smoothly all the way to Nov. 7, Election Day, Norman would have a chance to do what few Republican challengers have come close to doing since 1983 — defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt.

Norman, a religious and fiscal conservative in a district that values those traits, would seem to be a fit. But national and international factors have combined to create a political tornado that threatens to sweep many Republican incumbents out of office and keep GOP challengers like Norman from getting there.

Storm clouds hover over the Republicans’ precarious majorities in the U.S. House and Senate. That threat elevates the importance of a Norman victory for the GOP — where picking up a Democratic seat would offset expected Republican setbacks elsewhere — from a goal to a priority.

GOP leaders are watching the race closely, eager to help with advice and money — as long as the race is seen as competitive.

The Norman campaign has received support from national GOP figures like President Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove.

Illustrating GOP hunger for the seat, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, a Springdale Republican, has gone beyond the bland, detached statement of support typically offered when a congressional colleague faces a challenge.

Instead, Wilson has offered a full-throated endorsement of Norman’s candidacy.

He recently released a statement saying he was “personally ashamed” Spratt didn’t criticize members of his party for refusing to condemn Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel. Those are strong words to use against a man you serve with.

Spratt said he voted for a pro-Israel House resolution condemning Hezbollah.

“I can’t figure out why Joe is on this vendetta,” Spratt said. “Certainly, his feelings aren’t shared by other members of the delegation. I don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

Even with staunch party support, the hurdle Norman faces is high. Spratt was re-elected with 63 percent of the vote in 2004 and 86 percent in 2002. His last close race was in 1994, when he won with 52 percent of the vote.

Voters were angry in 1994, just as they are now.

Federal budget deficits, on their way down, still are massive. Gas prices seem propelled skyward by rocket booster. And Iraq and the Middle East remain scenes of violence complete with massacres, car bombs, helicopter gunship attacks and a grotesquely ballooning body count.

Polls show voters are disgusted with Congress, but Norman’s party holds majorities in the House and in the Senate.

Spratt’s task is to stay clear of anti-incumbent anger, a job made simpler by the fact that his party is not in power.

SHARING CONCERNS

Norman’s strategy has been to play up his business experience as a successful real estate developer and to tie Spratt to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The liberal San Franciscan is in line to be speaker if Democrats regain control of the House.

Spratt “is going to vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker,” Norman told the business leaders Thursday morning. “This is a lady who is against homeland security and for abortion. She’s for everything I’m against.”

Karen Kedrowski, chairwoman of Winthrop University’s political science department, said Norman’s strategy is risky.

“This is really an obscure, unusual strategy,” she said. “It requires a lot of voter education. Voters have to know who Nancy Pelosi is, and then they have to know what her positions are.”

So far, many voters in the 5th District — which stretches from York County, just south of Charlotte, to Sumter County and east to Dillon County — barely know Norman.

“When you asked about him, I had to go on his Web site to read about him,” said Ralph Strickland, a health insurance analyst and self-described political conservative from Kershaw County. “I don’t know him.”

Fellow Kershaw County conservative Thurston Hill, co-pastor of a church in Great Falls, also does not know Norman. But he does know Spratt and he likes him.

“I’m really pleased with him,” Hill said, adding that the York County Democrat does the best he can knowing he can’t please everybody.

For voters like Strickland and Hill, Iraq and the Middle East violence are concerns, but they have domestic worries, too — education, jobs and gas prices.

After the breakfast meeting Thursday, Norman said he shares voters’ worries. Solutions to the problem of high gas prices, he said, include the development of alternative fuel sources and more oil exploration, including exploration off the East Coast.

That’s a position environmentalists in South Carolina have opposed and say is a potential threat to the state’s tourism industry.

Norman, however, says the country must do more to increase its own fuel supplies. East Coast exploration, he said, is worth considering.

“We’ve got to do that,” Norman said, adding he has confidence improved technology would limit any potential environmental dangers.

On Iraq, Norman said he would let military factors, not political ones, determine when troops should be brought home. And Norman pledged to be a better steward of the people’s money than he says Spratt has been.

DOLLARS AND CENTS

Spratt, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said he has been a careful guardian of the public purse and carries a reputation as a moderate member of his party.

He pointed to work passing legislation in 1997 that contributed to the large budget surpluses of the Clinton administration.

Spratt argues increased spending — some for domestic items, some for homeland security and the military — are significant contributors to the budget deficit. And then there is the war.

“The war has been extremely costly — in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Spratt, estimating the combined cost of those conflicts to be about $10 billion a month.

Spratt voted to give President Bush the authority to use force in Iraq. Like Norman, he opposes a swift troop withdrawal from Iraq.

“We should be telling the Iraqis that we aren’t going to pull out immediately and leave them in the lurch,” Spratt said. “But neither are we going to stay the course indefinitely. It’s important that we tell them there’s an end point to this.”

At the business meeting, Norman told the audience that Spratt is “a good man. I just disagree with his votes.”

IN THE RUNNING

Whether Norman will replace Spratt in Washington is one of the most closely watched aspects of this year’s election season in South Carolina.

Norman said his campaign has paid for polling, but he would not disclose the results. Spratt said his campaign polled voters in late February or early March and found that he had “a substantial lead,” one he discounted at the time because voters had not heard much about Norman.

Spratt said his campaign took another poll in late July. He maintained a large lead, he said, though Norman had picked up some support.

“I never thought this would be a 61-20 or 61-18 race by any means,” the congressman said. “I’m taking this very seriously.”

Spratt’s fundraising underscores that. The most recent campaign finance report showed Spratt had about $1.5 million in cash on hand at the end of June. Norman had about $734,000.

Political observers said Norman must keep the race competitive if he hopes to continue to tap into key fundraising sources. If fall comes and GOP organizers come to believe Norman’s chances are not good, they will direct contributions elsewhere.

“There is that tipping point where Norman has to be seen as closing the gap,” Kedrowski said. “When exactly that is, is hard to say.”

Reach Washington at (803) 771-8385.