What it takes to win: electing America's new leadership means attracting a diverse group of voters without losing their black base - Cover Story

Black Enterprise, Nov, 2002 by K. Terrell Reed, Sonia Alleyne

FOR NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER H. CARL McCALL, THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION IS THE ultimate political prize. And he's using all the resources at his disposal to get there. Over the last few months, McCall, 66, has been a ubiquitous presence in New York, pressing the flesh, getting his message out, and telling voters why he's "the leader New York needs." With campaign staffers and reporters in tow, McCall can be found appearing before the New York City Partnership, a group of the nation's most powerful business leaders; rubbing elbows with luminaries such as Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Bill Cosby, and Spike Lee at a fund-raiser in Harlem; or urging college students in upstate New York to become active in the political process.

Approximately 1,600 miles away in Texas, another campaign is moving full steam ahead. Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas, exchanges dialogue and shares laughs with members of the state's conservative business establishment--a rare scenario for an African American Democrat running for U.S. Senate in "Bush Country." Not only has Kirk, 48, successfully caught the attention of these power brokers, he's inspired them to write big checks to help finance his campaign. The affable, well-connected politico is as comfortable among the business community as he is speaking in a Baptist church. Over the last year, his deft touch with such divergent constituencies has made him the front-runner in this hotly contested race.

U.S. Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.), who will easily win re-election to his congressional seat, has been just as busy as McCall and Kirk, sowing the seeds of his political future. On a humid August day, the 32-year-old politician holds court in New York City, spending the morning with financial executives from UBS Warburg and Citigroup, and addressing 200 young black professionals at a $250-a-plate fund-raiser at night. Although Ford's discussions range from corporate responsibility to government support for small businesses, the buzz among many attendees is his impending run for the U.S. Senate in 2006. And Ford is not coy about his intentions. "In the House, every two years you're running for re-election," he says. "That's the motivation for running for the Senate.... It gives you the opportunity to take a long-term view of things. You have a vote in whether the president can declare war. You have a say in the nominations [for] cabinet positions. There are so many opportunities there to affect my state, my district, and my country. I'm trying to be a part of a new way of thinking on national priorities."

That assertion represents the goal for all three men to perform on a larger political stage. In fact, this year McCall and Kirk--and Ford in 2006--stand the best chance of becoming members of an exclusive club: the 150 men and women who exercise power in America's statehouses and the halls of the U.S. Senate. Currently, there are no African American governors or U.S. senators.

Espousing a philosophic mix of political pragmatism, pro-business sensibility, and social progressivism--as well as the skill to connect with broad constituencies--McCall, Kirk, and Ford may very well shatter the political glass ceiling and, in the process, make history. Moreover, their possible entrance into those once-elusive positions places them on the career path to the White House.

This election season has been a historic one. Out of the 50 gubernatorial offices, 36 are up for election, which attracted a record number of black hopefuls. Including McCall, there have been seven African American candidates for governor: former Illinois State Attorney General Roland Burris; Wisconsin State Sen. Gary George; former Oregon State Treasurer Jim Hill; Florida State Sen. Daryl Jones; Michigan State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith; and Ed Sanders, the executive director of a nonprofit who is running for governor of Tennessee as an Independent. All of the Democratic candidates but McCall were eliminated in the primaries; Tennessee's gubernatorial election will be held this month.

Out of 100 U.S. Senate seats, 34 were up for grabs. Besides Kirk, North Carolina State Legislator Dan Blue made a bid for the seat vacated by ultraconservative Sen. Jesse Helms but was defeated in the September primary by Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff for President Clinton.

It has been more than a decade since African Americans have attained such high-ranking positions. In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder became Virginia's chief executive, the first African American ever elected governor in the United States. And in 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun was elected to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, one of two blacks to achieve such a feat since Reconstruction. (The other was Edward Brooke, a Republican who represented Massachusetts from 1967 to 1979.)

Over the last two decades, there have been African Americans who have pursued even loftier political ambitions. Most notable was the Rev. Jesse Jackson's historic bids for the presidency in 1984 and 1988--campaigns that garnered plenty of support and registered legions of new voters. And Wilder, praised as one of the country's most effective governors during his tenure, made a short, unsuccessful run for the White House in 1992. Recently, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the ever-present New York City-based activist who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 1994, announced his possible candidacy in the 2004 presidential election. (See sidebar, "Sharpton for President?")