| Zell Miller's career was never predictable ATLANTA - Maybe lifelong friend Ed Jenkins was onto something when he joked at a roast long ago that there were two Zell Millers: the Zell voters thought they knew and his twin, Ezell, the completely unpredictable one. Never easy to pigeonhole, Mr. Miller switched positions so often during a political career spanning four decades that he has long been labeled "Zig-Zag Zell." A Democrat, he saved the biggest surprise of all for a career-capping four-year term in the U.S. Senate. Biting the hand that fed him, he attacked his own party as out of touch with mainstream America, supported major Republican initiatives in the Senate, and delivered a keynote GOP convention speech - and campaigned - for President Bush. But he didn't change parties. "I learned a long time ago that in politics you can be lukewarm and nimby-namby and nobody's going to hate you very much, but nobody's going to love you very much. I've never been able to fit into that category," he told The Associated Press. "I feel things strongly, and people feel strongly about me, one way or the other." Indeed, when he leaves office in January he will not find many friends among the Democrats who now suspect it was "Ezell" Miller who went to Washington in 2000 to fill the seat of the late Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell. A former college professor, Mr. Miller was back in private life that year after 24 years as lieutenant governor, governor and a series of political jobs before that. Then his successor, Roy Barnes, tapped him to fill the Senate seat. Reluctantly, he accepted, promising to serve neither party's interests but only those of Georgia voters. He was elected to the balance of the term later that year. "I thought I'd serve the term out quietly and be a good Democrat like I've always been," Mr. Miller said. "It was quite a shock to hear and see what I heard when I went to the Democratic Caucus. It was all about these policies that I knew were out of the mainstream, that I knew were not good for the country and not good for the party advocating them." During his first two years in the Senate, "I wished every day I'd wake up and it would just be a bad dream," he said. Then, he said, "I came to realize that I would have hated to live this life and died without really understanding how broken the process is in Washington. It is a wonderful city. I look up at that dome and get goose bumps every time I see it. It's not the city, it's not so much the people up there. It's the process that's broken." Although friends worry about how he will be remembered, Mr. Miller sounds unconcerned. "I hadn't really thought about that," he protested. "I will always be very proud of what we were able to accomplish those eight years I was governor with the HOPE scholarship, pre-kindergarten, all the jobs that were created." Still, he said, maybe historians "will kind of look at some of the votes (in Washington) that were so very important, like the first tax cut, homeland security, the John Ashcroft nomination - some of the things where I was the deciding vote or at least the first Democrat who spoke out in support of the Republican legislation. I don't know. I can't judge." Emory University political science professor Merle Black said Mr. Miller will be remembered as an activist governor who left Georgia better than he found it and a senator "who wasn't there just to sit in the chair." But partisans will have different views. "For Democrats, it will be a very mixed legacy. They really liked how he behaved as governor, but a lot were very disappointed with his career in the Senate," Dr. Black said. "For a lot of Republicans and independents, Zell expressed a lot of the opinions they hold themselves." Zell Miller Occupation: Retiring U.S. senator Party: Democrat Age: 72, born Feb. 24, 1932, in Young Harris, Ga. Residence: Young Harris, Ga. Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Georgia Before politics: Served three years in the Marine Corps. Taught history and political science at Young Harris College. Political career: Served in the Georgia Senate from 1961 to 1964, then in a succession of state jobs for the next 10 years, including chief aide to then-Gov. Lester Maddox and as a member of the state parole board. Elected lieutenant governor in 1974 and held the post until 1990 - a record four terms. Elected governor in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. A year after leaving office, Mr. Miller was appointed by Gov. Roy Barnes in 2000 to replace Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell, who died in office. Elected to the U.S. Senate later that year to serve the remaining four years of the seat's term. Earlier in his career, Washington had been an unfulfilled goal. He twice ran for Congress, losing races in 1964 and 1966. He made a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1980, losing in the primary. (He did not have to resign as lieutenant governor to run.) In 1992, he was a keynote speaker at the Democratic convention for then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. This year, he was a keynote speaker at the Republican convention for President Bush.
|