DAN K. THOMASSON The '04 race: Rich white guy vs. rich white guy

WASHINGTON -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers puts his finger on the anomalies of American politics with a portrayal of left-wing propagandist filmmaker Michael Moore under a sign that says "Michael Moore Stays on Message." The grossly overweight Moore (not a characterization, by the way) is wearing a T-shirt that proclaims: "Rich White Guys Against Rich White Guys."
For many Americans, that pretty much sums up what they can expect to witness over the next three months of all-out campaigning in a presidential election that may be as bitter as any witnessed in the last 50 years and features "rich white guys." A friend put it another way recently, stating that voters have a real choice to make in November.
"They can," he said, " vote for a wealthy prep-school and Yale graduate who was a member of the enormously exclusive and influential Skull and Bones or they can vote for a wealthy prep-school and Yale graduate who was a member of the enormously exclusive and influential Skull and Bones."
Other similarities
The outward, admittedly superficial similarities between the Democratic and Republican tickets don't stop there. Both sport vice-presidential candidates who are wealthy white guys who have made their fortunes in controversial ways -- Democrat John Edwards as a personal-injury lawyer whose specialty was suing doctors, and Vice President Dick Cheney, the gray eminence of politics by managing oil-services conglomerate Halliburton, now the leading contractor in efforts to reconstruct Iraq.
So where does that leave the nation's non-white, non-rich, non-ideological electorate when it comes to making a decision about whether to support George W. Bush for another four-year term or to replace him with John Kerry? Since 1933, African-American voters have supported the Democrats by about 92 percent to 8 percent. But other groups in the traditional non-white category, including Hispanics, which are now the country's largest minority, have not been so quick to buy into that party's "chicken in every pot" promises, realizing that automatic loyalty to any one party is not likely to produce the best result for them.
A recent poll sponsored by Black American's Political Action Committee, and conducted by Wilson Research Strategies, found several major contradictions in African-American-voter attitudes. While more of those polled (40 percent to 36 percent) said they believed the Democratic Party had taken them for granted, an equal number said they would vote for a white Democrat over a black Republican for president. In fact, 81 percent of those answering said they would never or seldom ever vote for a Republican.
Most influential black American
At the same time, 38 percent of respondents acknowledged that a black Republican, Secretary of State Colin Powell, was the most influential African-American political figure in the United States and that the Rev. Jesse Jackson, despite seemingly decreasing political importance, was second with 27 percent. Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, registered 8 percent, three points ahead of the Rev. Al Sharpton, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Somewhat contradictory is the black attitude toward social issues like gay rights and school choice. On the question of homosexual marriage, which liberals and Democrats support, 69 percent of those polled believed that such unions should not be made legal. Nor do they believe gay rights are as important as civil rights.
What this all means is anyone's guess other than what it says about general voter confusion. If the answers on a variety of issues in this survey meant very much, the African-American vote would be split far more evenly between the two parties. But that is highly unlikely. So far, neither African-Americans nor other non-white groups have voted in the kind of numbers that would greatly influence an election, leaving issues of specific concern to them largely un-addressed by either candidate other than the traditional paying of lip service to the ideal of civil rights.
Then there is the question of the blue-collar white voter. On social issues, they are much closer to the Republican conservatives and Bush, opposing gun control, gay marriage and abortion, and favoring the war in Iraq. However, they have been hard hit by the loss of jobs and concerns about their economic future. Many have joined the undecided pool.
In the end, these non-rich white guys may hold the key to which of the rich white guys wins election.
X Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.