HOW HE SEES IT So what did happen to Zell?

By PHILIP GAILEY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
When Democrats are not denouncing Zell Miller as a traitor to his party, they are asking each other, "What happened to Zell?"
It's a question I can't answer about a fellow Georgian I have known and respected for more than 40 years. I can't fully explain his bitter estrangement from the Democratic Party, nor can I understand why, in his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, the Georgia senator spoke so harshly and contemptuously about John Kerry, even questioning his fitness to be commander in chief. I did not recognize the man Republicans wildly cheered in Madison Square Garden, just as I don't recognize the man his critics are trashing these days.
Susan Estrich, who ran Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign, used her syndicated column to suggest that Miller may have had a minor stroke or was showing early signs of Alzheimer's disease. Former President Carter, in a two-page letter to Miller, blasted the senator for his "rabid and mean-spirited speech" in New York and accused him of "historically unprecedented disloyalty." David Gergen, who has served as an adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidents, smeared Miller by association, recalling that four decades ago Miller served as chief of staff to Gov. Lester Maddox, a notorious segregationist. Observers of that period know that Miller was a moderating influence on Maddox, whose administration hired the first black state trooper, among other surprises.
Gergen said Maddox was "a man of hate," and that Miller is "a man of hate, too." Is Gergen referring to the same Zell Miller who, as governor, led a politically risky -- and unsuccessful -- campaign to strip Confederate symbols from the state flag? The state's black voters whose support was critical to Miller's political success obviously did not share Gergen's view, although many of them are now angry at Miller for campaigning for Bush.
Personal experience
I came to know Miller while working as a college volunteer in his unsuccessful 1964 campaign for Congress. I believe Miller's defeat in that race was Georgia's gain. He went on to serve 16 years as lieutenant governor and eight years as governor. He had a conservative streak in him on crime and other issues, but he pursued a progressive agenda as governor with the support of blacks and labor unions and rural voters. Perhaps his greatest achievement was pushing through a state lottery to fund a universal pre-kindergarten program and college scholarships for any student who graduated from high school with a B average or better.
In those days, Bill Clinton called Miller his "favorite governor" and cited Miller's HOPE scholarship program as a model for the nation. Miller was an early supporter of Clinton's first presidential bid, and Clinton chose his old friend from Georgia to deliver the keynote address at his 1992 nominating convention in Madison Square Garden. It still stands as one of the great populist convention speeches of the last century.
By the time he left office in early 1999, he was by far the most popular politician in Georgia. That's why, after the sudden death of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell, then-Gov. Roy Barnes persuaded a reluctant Miller to come out of semi-retirement and accept an appointment to the Senate. Democrats saw Miller as their best chance of reclaiming the Senate seat and holding it, even though Miller had told them he would represent the people of Georgia and neither political party in the Senate.
Joining the Senate
The Senate changed Miller. He didn't like the partisanship or the conformity, and his independent streak didn't sit well with the Senate's Democratic leadership. He stopped attending the Democratic caucus and began voting with the Republicans more than with his own party. He co-sponsored Bush's tax cuts, voted to confirm John Ashcroft as attorney general and became increasingly critical of the Democratic Party. In the 2002 election, in what may have been his last real act of party loyalty, Miller came roaring to the defense of Max Cleland, Georgia's junior senator and a Vietnam triple amputee, after Republicans began running scurrilous ads questioning Cleland's commitment to national security. Cleland lost.
I know Zell Miller well enough not to worry about him. He's tough. After he leaves the Senate early next year, his long political career will be over. I still count him as an old friend with whom I have often disagreed. What saddens me is to think that his legacy will be defined not by the good work he did as governor but by the shrill speech he made at George W. Bush's convention.
XPhilip Gailey is editor of editorials for the St. Petersburg Times. Scripps Howard News Service