Gephardt focuses on erosion of jobs

e-mail this story

It appeared March 10, 1988, in The Greenville News.

He didn't connect.

Nearly 16 years later, his red hair is graying, but Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt again is running for the Democratic presidential nomination and he's still talking trade and jobs.

This weekend was no exception as he campaigned in Spartanburg, Rock Hill, Columbia and Orangeburg.

"Economic issues have people's attention, so it's plausible that his message may resonate" in South Carolina's Feb. 3 primary, said Adolphus Belk, a political science professor at Wingate University.

In an interview amid diesel fumes in Gephardt's campaign bus between Spartanburg and Rock Hill, the former House Democratic leader said times have changed and his message has been refined over the last 15 years since he won but 2 percent in South Carolina's party caucuses.

The nation's manufacturing base has eroded to a much greater extent with no relief in sight, he said.

"My ideas are better thought out, better constructed and more effective because of my experience since then. Before, it wasn't as well thought out."

Saturday, at the University of South Carolina Spartanburg, where approximately 160 gathered for a local Democratic Party breakfast, Gephardt said laid-off workers whose jobs have been moved overseas approach him daily. Among them have been some of the 63,000 South Carolina textile workers whose jobs have vanished since 1993.

His plan, he said would create millions of new jobs by ending rewards for companies that shift jobs overseas, pushing for a worldwide minimum wage to help level the gap between American and foreign workers, creating a vast new public works program, and moving against the dumping of foreign goods on the U.S. market.

The reaction

Gephardt convinced Fred McDowell, 62, a disabled tire worker from Spartanburg.

"He's the best choice to get jobs back where they used to be," McDowell said over a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage and home fries.

Despite efficient staff work in placing supporters in Gephardt T-shirts around the hall, slapping stickers on all comers and using enormous square footage for campaign posters, many in the crowd were still shopping, reflecting polls showing up to 42 percent still undecided.

Steve Jobe, 35, an economics and government honors teacher at Dorman High School, left still looking for a candidate "with vision, a more positive view and less Bush-bashing. No one has come to the forefront yet."

Andy Poliakoff, 53, a Spartanburg lawyer, remained open-minded after hearing Gephardt, still seeking "somebody who can clarify the issues."

As the guy who's largely owned the trade issue for a couple of decades, Gephardt could be the beneficiary now that much of the public is tuned in.

More resonance?

His once formidable edge in the Iowa caucuses has been eroded by Dean, who now holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire, the opening contests that precede South Carolina.

"Gephardt's been around a long time, and that's one of his problems, but the trade issue appears to have more resonance this year than it did in '88," said Larry Sabato, presidential scholar and director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

The reason, he said, is that 15 years ago, the nation was just coming off an extended period of prosperity while now "we are perhaps exiting a three-year slow-down that has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs. It may be simplistic to say that trade is the only, or even a major reason for job loss, but people will buy it when they're unhappy."

Gephardt traveled with U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of Columbia, the state's highest elected black official who endorsed him last week.

Photos and lunch

After a stop at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, the caravan headed to Big T's Barbecue for a combination midafternoon lunch and photo op. Although customers were few, the campaign and media entourage filled the restaurant, sandwiched between a Chinese restaurant and a payday loan office in a gritty, working class area.

Seated on a hard plastic bench, Gephardt gnawed on ribs with sides of greens and string beans from a foam container while a dozen still and TV cameras, some just a foot from his face, recorded every bite.

Gephardt ended the day with a rally at Claflin College in Orangeburg and a chicken bog in a Columbia armory with trade union members.

Today, he will visit black churches in Sumter and Kingstree and address a rally in North Charleston.

Bill Carrick, Gephardt's Los Angeles-based strategist by way of his native Aiken, said his candidate won't shy away from union ties because South Carolina has one of the lowest percentages of organized labor and is often officially and unofficially hostile to unions.

"We're closely identified with working families, whether organized or unorganized. We pride ourselves on labor support; we don't shy away from it in South Carolina or anywhere else."

The union factor

Winthrop's Belk said Gephardt must walk a verbal tightrope.

"There's such name association that when people say, 'Gephardt,' they think 'organized labor' because it's one of his main constituencies," Belk said. "His campaign has got to get people to think that not only does he have this concern for organized labor but for workers in general."

Clyburn's endorsement Wednesday drew heavy coverage by the state and national press. The campaign followed it up Thursday with a Clyburn press conference to announce another half-dozen endorsements, mostly black legislators and Newberry's Jim Lander, former state comptroller general. It also launched a television ad featuring the congressman urging support for Gephardt.

Yet Friday morning on Fox News, Gephardt sought to play down at least one endorsement, saying, "I don't think endorsements are a big deal." He had been asked about former Vice President Al Gore's backing of Vermont's Howard Dean.

Asked about it Saturday, Gephardt said, "There are endorsements and there are endorsements."

Campaign convoys

Also Saturday, retired Gen. Wesley Clark's campaign formally opened a state headquarters in Columbia.

A "Clark Convoy" of approximately 40 supporters from Arkansas, Clark's adopted home state, joined former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges and Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry.

The group fanned out around Columbia and elsewhere to knock on doors and attend community meetings to promote Clark's candidacy.

A "Real People Express" tour on behalf of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is performing similar duty this weekend in Greenville and Spartanburg. The Tar Heel contingent will join with Edwards' Upstate supporters to canvass various neighborhoods.

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