Dems recruit candidates outside political arena
Party leaders think ‘problem solvers’ can win in GOP districts
ORLANDO — When Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., first approached Orlando Police Chief Val Demings in February 2011 to gauge her interest in running for the U.S. House seat held by Republican Rep. Daniel Webster, she said she had never before considered a run for Congress.
“Then you’re the perfect candidate,” Israel, the Democratic House campaign chief, told her. Demings, who had already decided to retire that year, announced her candidacy last July.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Israel said Demings is part of a 2012 strategy to recruit non-traditional candidates with compelling biographies or achievements outside of the political arena in an effort to compete in traditionally safe Republican territories.
These “problem solvers,” as Israel calls them, are intended to help Democrats draw a contrast to Republicans who have party-line voting records or are veteran incumbents at a time when the electorate has a sour view of Congress and career politicians.
“I think people are just fed up with extremism and ideology and partisanship in Congress and they want to go in a different direction. They want members of Congress who will roll up their sleeves and solve problems rather than point fingers of blame,” Israel said.
Police career
Demings, 55, has a biography that reads like a movie script. The daughter of a cleaning lady and a janitor, she is one of seven children and the first college graduate in her family. She spent nearly 28 years on the Orlando police force, where she made city history in 2007 when she became the first female chief. On her watch, Orlando’s violent crime rate dropped.
“I’m running on my reputation,” Demings said in her Orlando campaign headquarters. “I’m committed and dedicated to making things better. . . . It’s not about playing political games. I wouldn’t even know how.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who appointed Demings as chief, praised her record including a 2008 effort to clean up The Palms Apartments, a povertyand crime-ridden housing complex, after a triple homicide that year left three young African Americans dead. Demings led the effort to improve law enforcements’ relationship with the community, secure new housing management, clean up and rename the complex, and form a community partnership to help residents earn GEDS.
Israel’s wager that candidates such as Demings can triumph in tough races is the latest chapter of a political playbook that has become familiar in recent elections.
When Democrats won control of the House in 2006, then-campaign chief and representative Rahm Emanuel, DIll., recruited outsider candidates, such as former NFL quarterback and nowRep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, to run against a GOP majority tainted by scandal. In 2010, Republicans expanded on the strategy by fielding candidates with no political experience, such as farmer and gospel singer and nowRep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, to run as government outsiders.
Israel acknowledged parallels but said his 2012 strategy is different because he sought candidates who would appeal to independent voters, vs. Tea Party candidates who adhered to a more defined ideological line on fiscal policies. “The contrast is in 2010, Republicans recruited people who ran as ideologues and served as ideologues,” Israel said.
Democratic contenders
Other candidates identified by Democrats include:
-Former astronaut Jose Hernandez, an engineer whose work has contributed to mammography technology to help detect breast cancer. He is the son of immigrants who didn’t learn to speak English until he was 12. He is challenging freshman Rep. Jeff Denham, R-calif.
-Another Californian and son of immigrants, Ami Bera, is a physician and former educator, who is seeking a rematch against Republican Rep. Dan Lungren, to whom he lost in 2010.
-Small- business consultant and activist Jamie Wall, a son of dairy farmers who was a Rhodes Scholar and the first in his family to graduate college. He is challenging Rep. Reid Ribble, R-wis.
-Emergency room doctor Raul Ruiz, the son of farmworkers who became the first Latino to earn three Harvard University graduate degrees, is challenging Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-calif.
-Former award-winning veteran journalist and health care public relations executive Cheri Bustos, who has recently served in local office, and is challenging Rep. Bobby Shilling, R-ill.
-Wealthy philanthropist and businessman Paul Hirschbiel, who is chal- lenging freshman Republican Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia.
None of these races are slam dunks for Democrats, but these are the kind of districts Democrats will have to put into play before Election Day if they stand a chance of winning a majority.
“That’s the problem with a lot of these Democrats with a great story, they don’t have a great district to run in,” said David Wasserman, a House race analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report, which currently projects Democrats are likely to net 5-15 seats this year, but fall short of the 218 seats necessary for control of the chamber.
Republicans are confident about their majority, even if they stand to lose some of their current 242 seats. Nat Sillin, a spokesman for the House GOP’S campaign operation, said that even the best Democratic candidates will have a hard time winning in Republican districts.
“These candidates’ support for higher taxes and more spending and Barack Obama’s health care law are going to be an albatross,” he said, “That’s going to be the real issue.”