Oklahoma Senate Race Inhofe vs. Walter With the exodus of Jesse Helms (N.C.), Strom Thurmond (S.C.), Phil Gramm (Tex.), and Bob Smith (N.H.) at the end of this year, there are few Republican senators left who are genuine conservative swashbucklers, who won’t trim their ideological sails, and who could not care less about whether colleagues like them or whether the national media mock them. When conservatives are asked which senators fit that description, the first name that almost immediately comes to mind is that of Republican Jim Inhofe, who has represented Oklahoma in the Senate since 1994 and is one of a diminishing number of GOP members of Congress who would rather be right than be President. Senate Armed Services Committee member Inhofe, a onetime U.S. Army veteran, put the obscure American naval base in Vieques, Puerto Rico, on the map, for example, defying demonstrators and national leaders of his own party to make the argument for continued U.S. bombing exercises on the island. He has also been a vocal leader on behalf of Reagan-style tax cuts and national missile defense. Deeming Bill Clinton "dishonest and corrupt" early on, Inhofe became a fierce watchdog over the appointments of the 42nd President. When Clinton violated an agreement with Republican senators by making a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board two years ago without informing them in writing, Inhofe retaliated by putting a senatorial "hold" on all judicial appointments in Clinton’s twilight days in office. Like Helms and the late Rep. John Ashbrook (R.-Ohio), the 67-year-old Inhofe is sometimes a lonely vote on an issue about which he has strong feelings. He was one of a handful of GOP senators who opposed the final budget deals the GOP congressional leaders made with Clinton in 1997 and ’98 and cast the only vote against the politically popular Everglades bill in 2000. Two years later, even the liberal Washington Post said Inhofe’s doubts about the beill were "proven to be right." Should Republicans recapture a majority in the Senate next month, Inhofe (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 98%) will become chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. In addition, the departure of Thurmond and Smith means that the Oklahoman is now third in seniority among Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee. So it’s easy to see why Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, James Carville, Ted Kennedy, Michael Dukakis, and homosexual activist James Hormel, whom Clinton tapped to be ambassador to Luxembourg, have all either contributed money to or done political chores for Inhofe’s Democratic opponent, former Gov. David Walters. The thought of Jim Inhofe is annoying enough to them. The possibility of his holding major power in the Senate is enough to get them active in the campaign to unseat him. For his part, Democrat Walters is best known for not seeking re-election in 1994 after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance violations. To this day, he maintains he knew nothing about the illegal donations but "took responsibility." Branding Inhofe a "right-wing fanatic" and "so out of touch with what Oklahomans care about that it’s scary," Walters invokes the name and record of still-loved former Democratic Sen. David Boren, who stepped down in 1994 to become president of the University of Oklahoma. "Like David Boren, I will be in the middle," he vowed (Piedmont, Surrey Gazette, Jan. 24, 2002), adding that he expects to occasionally vote with the Republicans, as Boren did. But a look at some of the major issues indicates that Walters is less like Boren and more like, well, his old friend Clinton. Walters is on record against the Reagan tax cuts, national missile defense, school choice, and the Clarence Thomas nomination to the Supreme Court, and supported gays in uniform and friend Clinton’s record-high tax increase. As a senator, Boren voted exactly opposite on each of these issues. By themselves, David Walters’ record and his association with the Clintons are enough to energize conservatives nationwide to work to defeat him. That he is running to dislodge Jim Inhofe, however, makes the case even stronger for conservatives to go all out to re-elect someone who has always been there for them. (Friends of Jim Inhofe, P.O. Box 13300, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73113) Nebraska’s 2nd District Terry vs. Simon Face it: Democrats from Washington, D.C., to Lincoln, Neb., just won’t leave Lee Terry alone. It doesn’t matter that, in 1998, conservative stalwart Terry won his first term as congressman from the Omaha-area district with 66% of the vote—the largest margin of any victorious Republican House freshmen in the nation that year. Nor did it matter that two years ago, Democrats fielded a well-known state senator against Rep. Terry and he again won by a 2-to-1 margin. And sure enough, as Terry (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 92%) seeks a third term, he again faces a strong and well-funded challenge. Asked why Democrats in the Cornhusker State and the Nation’s Capital continue to hound him in spite of his record of impressive triumphs at the polls, the 40-year-old Terry says: "I don’t know. In my first term, I was in the forefront of all the social issues, like abortion and a ban on cloning. I never shied away from them. And, in my second term, I’m on the Commerce Committee and deregulation is a high priority. Boy, can I name the areas in which greater deregulation is needed!" Terry also takes quite seriously the issue of unchecked immigration in urban and metropolitan Omaha. Two years ago, he threatened to cut off funding for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) unless its leadership told him when and where it would replace its overcrowded office in Omaha. A day later, the INS assured him in writing that it would purchase land and build a new facility on it in the next fiscal year. Terry’s pique with the agency and its prompt reassurance are testimony, according to the Almanac of American Politics, "to the impact of immigration on the Omaha area." Because he is unafraid to grapple with the "red-meat" issues that concern conservatives, Lee Terry seems destined to face serious challenges to his House seat from the left every two years. This fall, 33-year-old Jim Simon, heir to the popular Omaha Steaks chain, is the Democratic standard-bearer against Terry. Strangely, the bulk of Simon’s background in politics was as a Republican. While attending college in Washington, D.C., young Simon worked for conservative Republican Sen. David Karnes (Neb), a family friend. After Karnes’ defeat in 1988, Simon went to work for Nebraska Republican Gov. Kay Orr as a "jokewriter." From there, it was on to the first Bush White House, where Simon worked on the President’s Special Judicial Selection Project. To hear Simon’s friends tell it, attending the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston and listening to Pat Buchanan’s now-famous address was an epiphany for the young man, pivotal in his decision to become a Democrat. Now, a decade later, Simon is carrying the Democratic standard against Lee Terry because, in his words, "I don’t believe it’s possible to get anything done managing from extreme right. . . of a party. . . . I’m a liberal, conservative, middle-of-the-road, moderate Democrat." As to precisely what that means, Simon recites the mantra from the Democratic playbook about "prescription drug benefits for seniors." He wants new laws passed at the federal level "criminalizing a lot of this behavior that executives have committed in order to defraud investors, employees, and consumers." In a break with most Democratic hopefuls, candidate Simon, in a speech to the Suburban Rotary Club in Omaha, gave his blessings at to a flat tax—a 7% flat tax, far smaller than the 17%-to-20% pushed by such notable flat tax advocates as Dr. Milton Friedman or Steve Forbes. "A flat tax makes sense," Simon said after addressing the Rotarians. But, 90 minutes later, unable to produce any research supporting such a low rate, the candidate said, "Would I consider a flat tax? I don’t know." (Omaha World Herald, Sept. 6, 2002) If Simon doesn’t sound like the most impressive Democrat Terry could have faced, he isn’t. But money can overcome many weaknesses. In addition to his family fortune from steaks, Jim Simon built his own website company, Digital Marketing Services, a $25-million-a-year business that he eventually sold to America Online. Yes, Lee Terry appears destined to face spirited opposition from the left for the rest of his career. Only if his fellow conservatives in Nebraska and throughout the nation rally to him in his moment of need will he continue to be there for them. (Terry for Congress, P.O. box 540098, Boystown Station, Omaha, Neb. 68154) Washington State’s 2nd District Smith vs. Larsen There really is no way to properly characterize the respect and genuine affection—almost reverence—in which Jack Metcalf is held among fellow conservatives in Washington State’s 2nd District, even two years after retiring from Congress. After entering the state legislature in 1960, Metcalf lost two bids against the late Democratic Sen. (1944-80) Warren Magnuson, a race for the House, and a statewide initiative to compel the state attorney general to launch a suit against the Federal Reserve Board, before finally making it to Congress in 1994—the first Republican to hold the 2nd District in three decades and, at 66, the oldest of that fabled freshman Republican class that gave the GOP its majority in the House. Whidbey Island bed-and-breakfast owner and Kiwanian Metcalf never really changed much from the iconoclast he was in the legislature. He won two more terms over well-financed Democratic opposition and, in 2000, lived up to his self-imposed promise to retire after three terms. Alas, Republicans lost their hold on the 2nd District with Metcalf gone. Liberal Democrat Rick Larsen won by 50% to 46% over conservative Republican John Koster as Al Gore was also carrying the district. Former Snohomish County Council President Larsen is the opposite of his predecessor—supporting Bill Clinton’s punitively anti-business ergonomics regulations, opposing school vouchers and a constitutional amendment to limit taxation, supporting continued tax dollars for the National Endowment for the Arts and opposing bans on partial birth abortion and desecration of Old Glory. In fact, there are few House districts anywhere in the United States where the differences between the present congressman (lifetime American Conservative Union rating : 12%) and his predecessor (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 96%) are so pronounced. Jack Metcalf has no desire to return to what his neighbors call "the other Washington." But 2nd District GOPers have the next best thing in nominee Norma Smith, Metcalf’s special assistant for military veterans and local government affairs. Her longtime association with the popular former congressman—not to mention his strong endorsement—were pivotal to Smith’s winning the Republican nomination over a better-funded opponent. After years of working with military personnel at the two bases in the 2nd District and dealing with groups such as senior citizens and small businessmen, the vivacious mother of four and grandmother of one knows where to go for votes and support. With the country involved in a war on terrorism, her understanding of military issues and her personal ties to the large veterans community (husband Steve is a Marine veteran of Vietnam) are considered major campaign assets. "I want to restore tax fairness for hardworking married couples struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families," declared Smith. "Mr. Larsen wants to continue an unfair tax penalty for families—a tax on marriage." Reapportionment, too, helps the Smith cause. Because it is the fastest-growing district in the state, nearly 65,000 people had to be moved out of the 2nd by redistricting—and most of them came from Democratic areas in Everett, Mukilteo, and the suburban area south of Everett. "She’s smart, she’s competent, she’s courageous, and she’s also a tough Marine wife," Norma Metcalf, wife of the former congressman, said in campaigning for Norma Smith. (Norma Smith for Congress, PMB 398, 3405 172nd St. NE, Suite 5, Arlington, Wash. 98223; 360-435-2367)
