By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
March 9, 2000
Alan Keyes arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Salt Lake City Airport for a rally which had been hurriedly put together in about four days by a 21 year old girl, Stefani Stone, who heads the Utah Keyes campaign. The rally was not held in Salt Lake City last night, but at Utah Valley State College in Provo, just a few miles from where I live. So, I packed my tape recorder and camera and went over to see what a Keyes rally was like, expecting at the most a few hundred people, since there had been only a couple of days for getting the word out.
To my, and everyone else's surprise, nearly 5000 enthusiastic people showed up to cheer, applaud, give a number of standing ovations and rapt attention to almost two hours of comments and questions. As people streamed out of the MacKay Auditorium, most of them were deep into discussions about Keyes' message.
Frankly, the last time I'd seen anything remotely similar was when I attended an Adlai Stevenson rally in 1956.
When I got home I was greeted with news on TV that Arizona Senator John McCain will announce that he is ending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and Bradley is abandoning his efforts and will endorse Al Gore. Most of the rest of the evening I listened to various news pundits speculate about "patching up" the hostility between McCain and Bush and running them as a team on the Republican ticket.
Of course, all the pundits I listened to were people who clearly were supportive of Al Gore and the Democrats. Some pundits speculated that first George W. Bush would have to embrace the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill, which is tailor made for the Democrats. It protects labor unions and penalizes candidates by limiting their free speech to what the Federal Government thinks is enough talk.
First, if we assume that George W. Bush, governor of Texas, is the Republican candidate, what sort of vice-president might a politically savvy advisor suggest for him? Certainly not another Westerner from an adjoining state! For ticket balance we would expect Bush to look from someone from the East or Midwest, someone who might bring characteristics which he lacks, i.e., a different race, or gender; who can heal and unite. John McCain managed to irritate farmers in Iowa, Christian conservatives in the South, and the Republican party base in an important industrial Midwestern state, Michigan. He is now insisting that, to make amends that Bush, the winner, not he, the loser must change his views and adopt a campaign finance bill that would boost the labor unions and Democrats, is unconstitutional and damaging to the Republicans.
Democrats are giving their strong endorsement of a Bush-McCain ticket. That alone is enough to make me suspicious of the value of the idea.
One of the pundits offering Republican George W. advice is none other than Bill Press, the left wing of CNN's Crossfire program. He called Bush's victory in California "hollow" and warned that "On issues, California holds more bad news for George Bush. When two-thirds of voters say the country is on the right track, it's hard to make a case for change. When 72 percent say the budget surplus should first be used to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, it's impossible to make a case for giving all the surplus away in a giant, unnecessary, unwanted, across-the-board tax cut."
That, oddly enough, is quite similar to Alan Keyes' views on what faces the Republicans in the fall. Keyes, who appears to have been totally forgotten by the media, points out that the American people never throw out the incumbent party when the economy is good. He suggests that the Republicans cannot win this fall if they ignore the issues of principle that he espouses.
And, that brings me back, again, to the nearly 5,000 people who showed up last night, less than 24 hours after the national media had, in effect, announced that the race for the nominations were over and after both Bradley and McCain had indicated they are probably bowing out of the rest of the expensive campaigning for president.
In the two major parties that leaves Al Gore, George W. Bush and Alan Keyes, with Keyes addressing the largest crowd of his Presidential campaign. What's wrong with those Utahans? Don't they have TV sets? Don't they know that CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC have already announced the winners? Why would 5,000 people show up for to listen to a man who hasn't got a chance of being president?
Several things intrigues me about that event last night. One of them was Martin, an energetic young black man who seemed to be all over the place handing out Keyes posters and broshures, grabbing a microphone and announcing that, at the request of several members of the audience who wanted to contribute to Keyes campaign, they had located some plates and people would be able to write checks to the Keyes 2000 campaign. In this mostly white or Indian state, Martin, it turned out, was the Keyes leader for Davis county.
Then there was Oliver DeMille, president of George Wythe College and his wife Rachel, who had only heard about the rally the day before and who drove several hours with their family of small children from Southern Utah to hear Alan Keyes speak. Why? Because Alan Keyes speaks about the importance of morals and freedom and principle to governance.
I sat down beside a man who had brought his young children. They couldn't possibly understand or appreciate what Keyes was talking about. I asked him how he had found out about the rally and he said, "Someone sent me an e-mail this morning."
Someone sent him an e-mail and he dropped what he was doing, gathered his wife and his children, and spent the evening listening to Alan Keyes. Didn't he know Alan Keyes can't possibly win?
Before Alan Keyes spoke, Chris Jones, a young father who had a lot of professional experience in managing political campaigns, but had given up on politicians, told us how he became Keyes national organizer. He believed in Alan Keyes. Jones' enthusiasm for Keyes hit a responsive chord as the 5000 people in the hall cheered him on.
While for some reason the national media never seemed to be able to think of a single question to ask Alan Keyes, after a hour's talk, Keyes told the audience that if any of them wished to remain, he would answer questions. Most of the audience remained and lines quickly formed in front of the two microphones set up for the questioners. In spite of the lateness of the hour, and the need for many of the people to get their young children home and into bed, over fifty people lined up hoping for an opportunity to ask Keyes a question.
"Dr. Keyes, why does America have the highest rate of teen-age pregnancies and STDs in the world?" a college student asked. "Mr. Ambassador, would you more fully explain your tax plan?" one questioner asked.
Keyes doesn't give short answers to questions, but he began by saying in response to the Tax question:
" The source of my plan is one I consider to be very trustworthy and it is the source of many of my ideas. My source is the founding fathers of this country. My plan for taxes is very simple. Let's return to the original Constitution. Let's get rid of the 16th Amendment that the socialists brought in at the beginning of the 20th century."
The audience broke into applause and cheers.
"Now, under the original Constitution the government was funded with tariffs, duties and excise taxes. So the plan has two parts. The first is: We will no longer move forward in the collectivist approach to trade and international economics, that sacrifices the best interests of the American people for the sake of the profits for a handful of corporations who have found their way into the pockets of our politicians. "
He compared the tariffs and duties to the rent merchants pay to set up in the local Mall:
"When was the last time you heard that the rent charged by the mall owner 'interferes with commerce?' No! the owner built the mall, and he has to keep the lights on and the security guards paid and keep the place clean, so the merchants have to pay rent."Well, we own this great mall that is called the American market. It happens that nearly every region on earth is dependent on access to this Mall to develop and grow rich. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with charging them a reasonable rent. Indeed, since we are the best Mall on the face of the earth, there is nothing wrong with charging them PREMIUM prices to come get rich here! If they want discounts, we can negotiate discounts. But if they want discounts so they can come get rich here, we want discounts so we can go get rich over there."
The second part was a sales tax which would take the place of all income and employment taxes. He pointed out that with a sales tax, when you want a reduction in your taxes, you merely cut down on your purchases and you pay fewer taxes.
At almost every point Keyes was interrupted by applause and cheers and after the rally was over people left the auditorium excitedly talking about Keyes' ideas. He had inspired and stimulated their thinking and the audience, some of them, seemed willing to stay there half the night if Keyes' continued to answer questions.
It's been a long time since I've seen that kind of enthusiasm for a candidate. Yet, I have not heard a single national pundit mention this man as a possible vice president. I've heard several discussions about George W. choosing a woman - perhaps Elizabeth Dole - as vice President. Elizabeth Dole is a delightful person, but she would not make that much difference in a Bush campaign. People who will vote for George W. Bush are not going to be swayed by a bow to feminism. And, besides, Elizabeth Dole isn't a feminist. She is pro-life, just as Alan Keyes is pro-life.
Candidates who have dropped out of the race for president, such as John McCain and Steve Forbes, outspent Alan Keyes 25 to 1. Yet, in the end, it was Keyes who was continuing to move up. In the Super Tuesday race in Minnesota Alan Keyes came in second with almost 20% of the Republican vote, ahead of John McCain by two percentage points. While McCain has angered the Republican base, Keyes has energized it. Where McCain moved towards government control even for candidate financing to attract independent votes, Keyes has moved towards freedom which appeals to the independent vote.
Why are so many people still ready and willing to listen to Alan Keyes? I think many of them agree with a Republican Party leader I spoke to as we walked to our cars: "If George Bush doesn't pick Alan Keyes as his running mate, he's going to lose to Al Gore!"
And why not? He represents the Eastern Seaboard (Maryland, Harvard Graduate) He has proved himself to be an extraordinary campaigner, outlasting people with a whole lot more money and name recognition, such as Elizabeth Dole, Steve Forbes and Orrin Hatch. His family represents two minorities - he's black, and his wife is an Asian - from India.
But, perhaps most importantly, any man who can draw 5,000 enthusiastic people to hear him speak, after the entire national media has announced the race he is running is already over, has something George W. Bush needs.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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