The Artur Davis Lesson: Act Like A Democrat In A Democratic Primary

The surprisingly lopsided loss of Rep. Artur Davis in the Democratic primary for governor of Alabama on Tuesday has been scrutinized for broader political lessons.

How could Davis, once considered the fastest rising star among a young class of African-American pols, fall so fast and so unexpectedly?

What implications would the loss have on the notion of post-racial politics on which Davis ran?

Did the defeat say anything about President Obama, who had close ties to Davis but did little to help with his campaign?

All of the questions are worthy of asking. And depending on the source, different answers abound. But the essential takeaway from the race -- at least for higher-ups in the party -- is remarkably straightforward: If you want to win a Democratic primary you have to act like a Democrat.

"The shocking story is that Democratic voters in Democratic primaries vote for the Democrats," said longtime pollster Celinda Lake, tongue-in-cheek. "To be frank, that's what is going on here. Democrats are voting for Democrats and you can't become a Democrat-lite and hope to win."

It's that simple. Davis was tarred by his willingness to buck the party on health care reform, which he felt so compelled to oppose that he left the campaign trail to cast a "no" vote. On Friday, Politico's Ben Smith posted an e-mail from a supporter of State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks -- the man who bested Davis in Tuesday's primary -- talking about how the grassroots rallied behind the candidate who was actually committed to a key element of the Democratic agenda.

Davis essentially ditched the traditional scriptures of Alabama electoral politics, refusing to seek the endorsements of local African American groups out of the -- perhaps noble, but certainly damaging -- belief that the days of power-brokering were over.

"Health care was definitely a factor," said one national Democratic source. "But he also didn't get along with institutional African American leadership in the state, which is a nice way of putting it. He thought he could win without the Democratic base and the establishment African American in the state."

At a more superficial, but still noteworthy, level was the extent to which he tried to create distance between himself and the president. Earlier in the campaign, aides to Obama spoke glowingly and excitedly about Davis' chances -- hoping, in a self-interested way, that he could localize the type of campaign Obama had run nationally. But over the course of the year, Davis shied away from the Obama analogy. It was not coincidental that the president didn't campaign for the congressman (despite being friends), let alone cut a radio ad or send an e-mail solicitation on his behalf

All of which led White House advisers and allies to the conclusion that Davis' major misstep may have been that he thought he could outrun Obama's shadow.

"He blew it by running away from [the President]," said a senior Democrat who consulted, from afar on the Davis election effort. "The black community turned on him."

Comments

[longtalldrink]

06:55 AM on 06/07/2010

Next time dude...just run as a Republican. What's that you say? Oh, right...Republicans don't exactly have that "big tent" thing going on do they?

[justthomas]

12:46 AM on 06/07/2010

This Black man is ashamed of being himself as Blackman..Another Version of Michael Jackson.

[Cal3b G]

10:36 PM on 06/06/2010

but but but... I thought the media said African-Americans would support any black candidate? Remember, that's why they voted for Barack over Hillary in the Democratic primary! O wait... I guess that theories been proven wrong Fox & CNN and the rest of the mainstream media.

[simplify]

06:04 AM on 06/07/2010

Who listens to those overpaid clowns anymore?

[Cal3b G]

04:55 PM on 06/07/2010

Unfortunately a very large amount of people.

[juhar]

11:58 AM on 06/07/2010

Excellent point.

[DeloresT]

06:37 PM on 06/06/2010

"The black community turned on him"........Kudos to the African-Americans who saw through Mr. Davis' act. The time is totally "now" for the Democrats to realize that they can't take black voters for granted at the local or the national level (are you listening Mr. President?)

[sfstewart]

10:32 PM on 06/06/2010

Not that I speak for the entire black community, but I think President Obama is pretty safe with our vote. (Once again, this is just my opinion and I'm not saying I can speak for every black person in America, so don't start with the hating)

[CANTHATBE]

01:43 AM on 06/07/2010

Obama will be home too if he takes black votes for granted. It is part of the reason they lost the VA governors race too.

[CaptainSunshine]

09:42 AM on 06/07/2010

Both CANTHATBE and ladydragon are delusional if they think that Obama won't win 90% of the black vote. He's likely to win 90% of the latino vote as well.

To put it simply, there isn't another candidate on the horizon who will appeal to minorities. The past two years have been hate filled years directed not only at minorities but also at the President.

Overwhelmingly, minorities will identify with his struggle to put the country back on the right path.

"It is part of the reason they lost the VA governors race too. "

Are you saying that blacks supported the Republican candidate in mass numbers?

"He nominated a latina to the high court when we were hoping that he would nominate a real African American(Clarence Thomas is not welcomed in the Black community)."

Don't say we. Every black person I know is praising God that Sotomayor is on the Supreme Court, and not one person thought that he would put a second black on a court that is supposed to be representative of America. Most blacks I've talked too would like to see him nominate an liberal Asian female to the court to make it as diverse as possible.

[JDM73]

05:33 PM on 06/06/2010

Sorry, but Democrats aren't Democrats anymore. Conventional wisdom says they should be centrist, big-tent types and that's what most of them have bent over backwards to do. Is it coming back to haunt them? Yes, of course it is. REAL men and women of the left want the Democratic Party back; if we wanted zero corporate oversight, toothless health care reform, massive war spending and violations of civil liberties, we'd vote Republican.

[longtalldrink]

06:40 AM on 06/07/2010

Yup, totally agree.

[treetracker]

10:18 AM on 06/07/2010

Exactly! Rahm and Clinton brought us the corporate Dems - the DLC wing of the party - and they have done nothing but join with the GOP to sell our jobs overseas with NAFTA and the rest of the trade agreements - none of which get enforced when it comes to labor and environmental concerns, voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, voted with them on tax breaks for the wealthy, including raising the minimum amount before applying the estate tax, voting with them to allow the banks to continue to run amok, and giving away the store to the GOP in order to get their votes on health care, the stimulus bill and even the jobs bills the House has passed --- still pending in the Senate.

The GOP had it their way for far too long with the help of these Dems, even when they were in power and look where it's taken us. If the GOP wants to represent the corporations, fine. But the Dems needs to go back to representing the people so we can return to balance. There is no point having two parties, when they are both backing the corporations.

[LucieLee]

01:09 PM on 06/06/2010

I would say, act more Progressive in a Democratic Primary!!! Democrats have got to stop coming across as wimpish and afraid of their own shadows! They have to stand up for what they believe in, not compromising on their principles just to get elected!

[BrunswickGaDem]

11:46 AM on 06/06/2010

If Democrats are going to win in general elections, they must run candidates who are Democrats, not Democrat-lites. or republicrats. This should have been the lesson of the Virginia gubernatorial election. Cree Dees ran as a republicrat and the results were that Republicans still voted Republican and Democrats stayed home. Had Davis won the primary, the same thing would have happened in Alabama. Democrats have been making the mistake of thinking they could court Republicans while taking their base for granted. It's rare for a Democrat to unseat to take an office from a Republican without a fired up base. They'll never win over the teabaggers and racists, but if they can win the center and hold onto their base, they can win in Nov. The only way to do this is to present a clear alternative to the Republicans.

[sfstewart]

10:35 PM on 06/06/2010

I completely agree!

[longtalldrink]

04:52 PM on 06/07/2010

I could not answer you further up the post since I was all out of replies (courtesy of the Huff Post), but I can't believe you put Thomas in the same category as Sotomayor, so no, I do not agree that he represents a more perfect union.

[marka]

10:20 AM on 06/06/2010

Once again Pat Bucannan, Hannity, Beck and Rush have been proven incorrect. Black people vote ideas and not just identity, as these four have asserted at every possible opportunity. This gentleman did not even carry his own district when it came to the statewide election. Why? Democrats vote for Democrats that stand up for Democratic principles--not Republican-lite., Race had nothing to do with this election but ideas did. Real Dems are tired of these corporatist, false-equivalents.

[MekhongKurt]

04:51 AM on 06/06/2010

Interesting analysis, and one that makes Davis' loss far less startling than it seemed at first glance.

The lessons pointed out here likely will hold true for Democrats come the fall elections, particularly those Democrats who are Black, are running in strongly pro-Obama constituencies, but who themselves may have reservations or outright disagreements with the President.

It's probably worth noting that these lessons can have a lot of value for Republican candidates. As they look at their voter bases, whether in remaining primaries or in the fall elections, they'll have to decide to which *wing* of the party base to pitch towards, the further right one (symbolized by, for example, Limbaugh and the Tea Party) or to the wing that if not centrist is still closer to shore than the fringe. Those numbers may not be all that easy to determine (given that we voters can be a fickle lot).

This cycle is fascinating to me, despite the absence of a Presidential election this year, and is fascinating for a lot of reasons the 2008 cycle was. And 2010 has a decennial attraction 2008 lacked: the census -- and the subsequent redrawing of congressional electoral districts, that process better (and more accurately) known as "gerrymandering."

Good article -- thanks for filling in some blanks for me (mostly there because I [a.] live abroad and [b.] am not from Alabama).

[AyeChart]

09:49 PM on 06/05/2010

Go lib in a Democratic primary? That's news?

The question is, will pretending to be conservative fly in the real election now?

[abuja19]

06:24 PM on 06/05/2010

Oh well. Another one bites the dust.

[Intelligentia]

06:10 PM on 06/05/2010

This man's loss is more of an indictment to racism in America than itis about him. So, unless Blacks vote for a Black candidate in a large number, Whites are incapable of seeing past race in casting their votes? This is a rhetorical question! The same thin happened to Kirk and Sanchez in Texas. Oncenon-Whites are running for state-wide offices, those justice-loving- White liberals seem to abandone them, Democrat or Republican, it does not matter. We saw it happen with Obama. Only a little over 40 percent of Whites voted for him; and, most of those may have been young people and first-time voters. The long-time, "good, liberal" Democrats abandoned him and voted for McCain. Some of them used Hillary's primary loss as a cover for not voting for Obama.Of course, we know who the Republicans, excpet few, voted for. So, people, don't blame the man, blame the pathological,cancerous scourge called racism. If it was not for racism, we will not be having this discussion. Davis thought he did what he needed to win and Black voters did what they believed they must do. However, at the end of the day, we must not give racism a break!

[HeavingBoosom]

08:53 PM on 06/05/2010

Obama received 43% of the white vote--that's the higher than Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Carter, Dukakis, Humphrey.

LBJ was the last democrat to get a higher percentage of white votes.

The rest of your post is just a bunch of baloney to prove you are not the least bit intelligent.

[BustMyChops]

09:01 PM on 06/05/2010

What a joke. No one who would call themselves a liberal voted for McCain. None.
I'm a white liberal(note that I said Liberal and not Democrat). I voted for Obama. Now I think he's a corporate bagman. I think he sold out and lied about his intention to reform healthcare. So, am I a ra.cis+?

[Jetling]

09:33 PM on 06/05/2010

You're not. But I am not convinced he's a corporatist yet. Washington? Absolutely. Obama? I think he knows exactly how much corporate power he is working against - and how much it has tainted Congress, the press and the people around him.

Keep in mind, we were officially an oligarchy with the bank bailout. The previous eight years were simply the ramp-up of weath for the sake of the wealthy. Obama could be to the left of Kucinich and he'd get Washington no further to the midddle than he has at this point.

It's up to us to push him to do more - he said as much in Denver.

[jagrmeister721]

05:59 PM on 06/05/2010

I think the reality is more nuanced than "be a Democrat". Alabama has not nominated a single Democratic black candidate for governor. Never- as far as I know. In its history. Davis winning the primary would be epic, huge, unheard of; harder than Obama's getting the nationwide nod because we know the history of Alabama. In Alabama, its essential to court the white vote -- EVEN in the Democratic primary. And these aren't your typical white liberals.

Now, the so-called civil rights groups in Alabama sing an old tune; their language is old, and they are fighting old battles many of which have been won. Their organizations sometimes intentionally exaggerate certain grievances and use language blaming whites. I'm not saying they don't have legitimate cause in some cases- but they are polarizing; and they are a bit different than the national civil rights groups like Rainbow Coalition and Urban League who know how to help candidates rather than corner them in. Receiving their support has doomed black Dem candidates in the past in the primary. So Davis had to find a way to win the black vote but without these groups. IMO, Davis was right about forsaking the groups' support (he managed to get Jesse Jackson and other prominent leader's endorsement directly) but wrong about not realizing he had to go the extra mile then to court black voters directly. Without the support of the groups, he had to go to black communities, church groups, and black media.

[HeavingBoosom]

08:56 PM on 06/05/2010

You don't know what you're talking about! Obama easily won the AL primary because so many Democratic primary voters are black.

Davis could have easily won the Democratic primary, too, had he not been rejected by black voters.

[jagrmeister721]

09:16 PM on 06/05/2010

A few things. First, I mentioned that Davis would be the first black Dem gubernatorial candidate to be nominated. You didn't seem to grasp that. If there was a black Dem. candidate for governor nominated in Alabama, let's hear who that was. Otherwise, pipe down. Second, Obama won the Al primary but not "easily" as you mentioned. In fact he won it by a thinner margin than states like Louisana and Minnesota. A governor's race is very different than a national election. If Al was the first in the nation primary, would Obama have won it? Not certain. Things aren't as simple as Davis "wasn't a Democrat"; like most minorities, he was compelled by circumstance to thread the needle. The margin for error is slim and he fell outside that margin. As I pointed out, he needed to do more direct outreach into black press and local groups.

[Obamacrat]

03:24 PM on 06/05/2010

How shocking: if you want to win a Democratic primary, then act like a Democrat! Works for me!

[Middleclassvotingbloc]

01:57 PM on 06/05/2010

As a Democrat; Turn on our President and leader and we will turn on you. That is the lesson that all of the so call Democrats, seeking election or re-election, should take away from this loss.