Dems won Arizona with Clinton-Gore, and can do it again
Twenty-four years ago, we led the successful Clinton-Gore reelection effort in Arizona — the first Democratic win in our home state since Harry Truman in 1948.
We won despite Democratic National Committee skepticism about investing in Arizona. Many criticized the victory as a fluke because Ross Perot was on the ballot. But it remains the only Democratic presidential victory in Arizona in the past 72 years.
Until, we think, this year.
The reasons for our 1996 victory had more to do with message than with Ross Perot (who also appeared on all GOPwinning state ballots): Were Arizonans better off then than they had been four years previously? Were more Arizonans benefitting from the economy than were hurting? Were threats to individual liberties such as a woman’s control over her own body a factor for Arizonans?
Most important: Was country more important than party in building a statewide coalition based on shared values?
The answer to all those questions was yes. The Arizona Democratic base of progressives, people of color and urban core voters responded enthusiastically to our statewide road trip so Arizonans everywhere could sign an 8-foot birthday card which Tucson’s Olympic star Kerry Strug presented to President Clinton. Personal Clinton environmental (Grand Canyon) and next-generation (Arizona State University) visits soon followed.
But outreach did not stop with party affiliation. Bipartisan outreach emphasizing inclusion, shared values and country before party was essential. Clinton’s visit to Ahwatukee and the first lady’s call on Barry Goldwater as he was reaching the end of his remarkable life reinforced that economic well-being and discussion without rancor were not exclusive to any one political party.
Times are much different now. Arizonans – like all Americans – are exhausted from a year that has brought a global pandemic to all of our lives; death to more than 226,000 Americans, including more than 5,800 Arizonans; racial equality struggles brought nightly to our television screens by cellphone videos; job loss to millions of American families, including 600,00 Arizona unemployment claims filed by late spring alone; and horrific devastation from wildfires in the West to a seemingly endless series of hurricanes in the Southeast.
Framing it all has been the fear and hatred fanned by a president exponentially exacerbating the partisan division in America. A president whose word is no longer trusted by a majority of Americans. A president whose cutting-edge coronavirus treatment is not available to most taxpayers. A still-infectious president who put the health of White House workers and his own Secret Service at risk to politicize public health safety for his own benefit.
One outraged Arizona Latina, who lost her Trump-supporting father to COVID-19, summed up the feelings of thousands who have lost loved ones to the pandemic: “My dad was a healthy 65year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life.”
This year the answers to the questions that frame this election will all be “no." The response from Arizona veterans and military families to Trump’s calling them “losers” and “suckers” will be a strong and passionate “no.” The reaction by hard-working Latino taxpayers to Trump’s nonpayment of federal income taxes for years – and his federal income tax payments of $750 the past two years – will be an angry “no.”
And the answer by women in places like Mesa, Ahwatukee and Chandler to the question “Are your families, your children safer from the coronavirus — is the country on the right track for a better future for them” will be a fearful “no.”
Many Arizonans are drained by the nonstop drama of the past four years and the events of this past year. Most of us, regardless of party, want a return to civility, decency and stability. We want to restore competence and quality to government, one we can again trust.
That is why we think that Arizona is poised to go Democratic this year. For the second time since Truman.
Doug Wilson was coordinated campaign director of the 1996 Arizona Democratic presidential campaign. Ana Ma was southern Arizona director and Barry Dill was state political director of the 1996 campaign. Reach them at doug@douglasbwilson.com, ama@ nexxusconsulting.com and barry@ firststrategic.com.