| Clyburn Wooed as Kingmaker in South Carolina Presidential Race
February 23, 2007
Laura Litvan - Bloomberg
Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- When South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn's phone rings, it's often Barack or Hillary on the line.
Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both consulted Clyburn before announcing their 2008 Democratic presidential bids, and made pilgrimages to see him in his district. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is a frequent caller too.
Clyburn -- who last month became the second black ever to attain the job of House majority whip -- is basking in his other role, that of potential kingmaker in South Carolina's early Democratic primary.
South Carolina's highest-ranking black officeholder, Clyburn has long been a key figure in the state's politics. About half of the voters in the Jan. 29 Democratic primary will likely be black, and many will look to see whom he supports, said Blease Graham, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
At a Charleston event this week celebrating the congressman's rise to the No. 3 House post, Clinton, 59, alluded to his political clout by telling the crowd that people want to know ``What is Jim Clyburn going to do?''
Clinton will have to wait to find out: Clyburn, in an interview, said he won't endorse any Democrat until at least after the Jan. 14 Iowa caucuses. Any endorsement, he said, won't be based on the historic opportunity to elect the first female or black president. It will turn on the question of which Democrat can win.
No Time to Experiment
Electing the first woman or minority president is a goal worth pursuing, Clyburn, 66, said; it's just that ``I don't have enough time left to experiment. We have to set this country on a different course. I think we took the first step last November. The next step will be in 2008.''
Obama, 45, can't automatically count on black votes as he seeks to become the nation's first black president, Clyburn said: ``You've got to earn that vote.''
Clyburn's endorsement doesn't guarantee victory in South Carolina. In 2004, he initially supported former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, who dropped out of the race early. Clyburn then endorsed Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who lost the primary to Edwards, a South Carolina native, before securing the Democratic nomination.
Still, Clyburn's support is coveted in a wide-open 2008 field and may be more valued because of his higher-profile role in Congress, said David Woodard, a professor of political science at South Carolina's Clemson University.
`A Broker'
``He is a broker here,'' Woodard said. Clyburn's endorsement ``will be very influential in determining the winner.''
Senators Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who are also in the Democratic presidential race, were alongside Clyburn at events on Martin Luther King's birthday last month. Candidates are lining up to attend an April fish-fry he will hold in a municipal parking lot in Columbia.
Clyburn said he would like to see the candidates make development of alternative fuels a cornerstone of their platforms; that might help revitalize his district's farming economies, Mostly, he said, he wants to ensure there isn't a repeat of 2004, when Kerry lost a close race to President George W. Bush.
``He just never laid out a vision,'' Clyburn said. ``Nobody knew what it was, or who he was.''
This time out, he said, ``If Hillary Clinton were to lay out a vision for this country, because I think her vision will be pretty energized, she could win. Same thing with Obama.''
Catching Fire
Edwards, 53, still has enormous support in South Carolina, and that may spread nationally, Clyburn said. ``Any of these candidates could catch fire,'' he said.
Among all the candidates and would-be candidates, Clyburn said he is personally closest to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, 59. ``Can a Hispanic-American get elected?'' he said. ``I don't know.''
Clyburn's emphasis on the outcome rather than the historic possibilities of the 2008 race may seem surprising, coming from a politician whose life has been shaped by breaking down barriers. Clyburn attended segregated public schools and emerged as a civil-rights protester in college, once spending four days in jail.
In 1992, he became the first black elected to Congress from South Carolina since Reconstruction after winning a five-way primary for a new majority-black congressional district spanning 15 counties in the eastern part of the state. Earlier races for the state House and secretary of state ended in defeat.
One loss, his 1978 bid for secretary of state, was tinged with racism, he said. That convinced him that to succeed as a minority politician in his state he had to stress consensus- building and display a calm demeanor. Results, not the fight against the establishment, are what truly matters, he said.
``I knew that for so many whites what was happening was threatening,'' Clyburn said. ``I developed a laid-back style purposefully because of that.''
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