Clyburn endorses Gephardt

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The South Carolina congressman's backing came a day after 2000 standard bearer Al Gore shook up the Democratic Party's nine-person field with an unexpected endorsement of front-running populist Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont.

Comparing Gephardt to another Missourian, President Harry S. Truman, Clyburn said his long-time friendship and Gephardt's "passion" for working people, fair trade and health care were deciding factors. Those issues are "not idle talk" to Gephardt, he said.

Gephardt, the former Democratic House leader whose father was a milk truck driver in St. Louis, "was born into ordinary means and has risen to extraordinary heights," Clyburn said.

"I can't think of anybody I'd rather have for me in a race of this kind," Gephardt said of the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. "He is going to be a tremendous help for my candidacy, not only in South Carolina, which is obvious, but all across the country."

The opposing campaigns reacted cautiously to the endorsement, avoiding any hint of criticism.

Where Gore's endorsement of Dean was heralded as legitimizing it among the party's rank and file, Clyburn's nod to Gephardt could give him a leg up for the support of South Carolina's black voters, who are likely to account for 40 to 50 percent of South Carolina's crucial Feb. 3 primary turnout.

Polls have shown Gephardt mired in single digits in the middle of the field in South Carolina. Those same polls have had a changing cast of front-runners, too.

"It will have some impact," said the Rev. John Corbitt, pastor of Greenville's historically black Springfield Baptist Church, which has hosted two of the candidates, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

David Bositis of the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said Clyburn will definitely boost Gephardt's competitiveness, but "whether he's going to surge into the lead, I would tend to doubt it."

Corbitt also cautioned that "it's a fair assessment to say that each candidate has his or her own crowd."

Crucial primary

Because of its high percentage of black voters, South Carolina's primary has been widely regarded as the third most important after the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 27.

The Rev. Caesar Richburg, pastor of Allen Temple AME Zion Church in Greenville, where Gephardt drew a crowd of 500 on July 24, said "the end result could be to very well sway a number of African-American voters who at this point could be undecided." Richburg said he is supporting Gephardt.

Earl Black, an author and expert on Southern politics at Rice University, said Clyburn has made South Carolina "even more important, because Gephardt is now going to be desperate for a victory and he'll really need Clyburn's assistance in consolidating black support."

That will have to be done in the face of Dean's emerging outreach to black voters and what is seen as growing support for civil rights activist Al Sharpton, Black said.

Polls have shown Dean and Gephardt almost even in Iowa, where Gephardt once held a commanding lead. In New Hampshire, Dean holds a huge lead over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, and Gephardt is well down in the pack.

Never in doubt?

Although the other candidates sought Clyburn's favor and he said he spoke with each one, they may never have been seriously in the running.

"I would not be honest with you if I didn't tell you that Dick Gephardt was always No. 1 in my heart," Clyburn said. "I found nothing thus far in a campaign to move him from that spot."

Despite "a lot of pressure, this was an easy decision for me. I've worked side by side with him for 11 years," Clyburn said.

Clyburn's top aide, Ike Williams, is on leave while running Gephardt's South Carolina campaign.

Clyburn, the 34th U.S. House Democrat to back Gephardt, will accompany him on a Saturday and Sunday campaign trip from Spartanburg to Rock Hill and the Midlands and Lowcountry.

Former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges has endorsed Gen. Wesley Clark, and state Treasurer Grady Patterson is backing Gephardt. The other two major party figures, state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum and retiring U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, are on the sidelines.

Hodges played down the value of endorsements Wednesday, saying they might be offsetting.

"At the end of the day, our candidates are going to rise and fall on their own strengths," he said.

Also Wednesday, Edwards' campaign announced the endorsement of state Rep. Alex Harvin, D-Summerton. The campaign also re-released a list of 60-plus elected officials who have endorsed Edwards, including Congressman Clyburn's cousin, state Rep. Bill Clyburn of Aiken.

Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.