Inside Politics

Tarheel affection

Clay Aiken is no Andy Griffith, and certainly no Elizabeth Dole.

So says the North Carolina Center for Voter Education, which polled 1,600 voters in the state about Mr. Aiken, the singer who placed second on Fox’s “American Idol” back in May.

“The Raleigh-born pop phenomenon who captured the country’s attention has already started moving in bipartisan political circles,” the group noted. “He sang for Gov. Mike Easley at the Old Capitol building in Raleigh, and recently he sang ’Happy Birthday’ to Sen. Elizabeth Dole, North Carolina Republican, in Washington.”

Yet the survey found that 41 percent of North Carolinians did not know who Mr. Aiken was, and 47 percent did not recognize Ruben Studdard, who won the “Idol” competition. TV actor Andy Griffith, who played the beloved sheriff of mythical Mayberry, was recognized by 87 percent.

“It could be looked at as discouraging, that some voters pay more attention to people in show business than politicians,” said center spokesman Chris Heagarty.

Only 47 percent recognized former state Commissioner of Agriculture Meg Scott Phipps, who resigned after charges of illegal campaign conduct surfaced. Mrs. Dole, however, was recognized by 90 percent of the respondents.

Cultural moment

St. Louis-based T-shirt maker F.R. Duplantier predicted yesterday that his new T-shirt emblazoned with “Hasta la vista, Davis!” will soon outsell his “Osama bin Rodham” shirts.

The meaning of “is” is

“Surprise. Democratic 2004 front-runner Howard Dean is starting to sound like Bill Clinton in a very un-good way: playing word games and waltzing with the truth,” Deborah Orin of the New York Post noted yesterday.

“Which doesn’t quite suit his claim that his honesty sets him apart from rivals. Dean’s Democratic foes have privately grumped about this for months, but it came into high relief when he got challenged at yesterday’s AFL-CIO debate on whether he’d ever backed raising the retirement age to 68 or 70 — a big no-no for a union crowd,” she continued.

“I have never favored Social Security at age of 70, nor do I favor one of 68,” Mr. Dean insisted.

But Mr. Dean previously told NBC he’d “also entertain taking the retirement age up to 68. … And in 1995, Dean told CNN that ’I absolutely agree’ that America must ’increase the retirement age.’ Dean aides now admit he ’misspoke’ at the AFL debate.”

Such fancy steps won’t fly anymore.

“Now that Dean is the front-runner, he can expect to be held to a higher standard of truthfulness,” wrote Miss Orin.

Cultural moment No. 2

Just 38 percent of Democrats said their party is doing an excellent or good job in protecting the interests of minorities, aiding the needy and representing working Americans, according to a Pew Research Center poll released yesterday.

Among liberals, the figure stands at 31 percent, but 57 percent of Republicans gave their party high marks on issues such as cutting taxes and pushing social issues important to conservatives.

Brown on Gray

One celebrity politician has no problem with the recall effort against California Gov. Gray Davis.

“I don’t think it is unfair,” former Gov. Jerry Brown told Reuters yesterday. “This is the prerogative of the people. Who … are politicians to say it is not fair?”

Mr. Brown was governor of California from 1975 to 1982 and is now mayor of Oakland; Mr. Davis was once his chief of staff.

“Do you think the people are too dumb to understand the smart politicians? I mean that’s not a thesis that flies in a democracy,” the three-time presidential candidate said.

He continued, “If I were governor, I certainly would not want to be recalled. I think it would be a very unpleasant experience, so I definitely empathize with him. But Harry Truman said if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Sweet home Alabama

There’s a bitter split in the Christian Coalition’s ranks about Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s $1.2 billion tax increase plan. The coalition’s national office here, which has been one of President Bush’s chief supporters for his tax cuts, approves the plan.

But its Alabama chapter has been campaigning vigorously against it.

Alabama officials have been running radio ads for weeks against the plan, which would raise property, income and other taxes, but includes a break for low-income taxpayers. Chapter President John Giles told the Birmingham News this week that fighting higher taxes is a bedrock Christian Coalition position, “like opposing abortion.”

The national office begs to differ.

“The Christian Coalition of America supports Gov. Bob Riley’s plan for tax reform because it is clearly and unquestionably designed to help the least among us and asks those who are most able to pay their fair share of the taxes,” said Roberta Combs, coalition president, who lobbied for the plan during a four-city tour of the state.

State coalition officials say the national office’s support for higher taxes was “a mystery” and a policy flip-flop.

Flip-flop No. 2

Medical marijuana fans are accusing presidential contender Sen. John Kerry of flip-flopping on the issue to the point where he now essentially embraces the Bush administration’s position.

The Massachusetts Democrat said Wednesday he’d put off any final decision on medical marijuana because there’s “a study under way analyzing what the science is.”

But Aaron Houston of the Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana said that just a month ago Mr. Kerry seemed to endorse medical marijuana use, and when asked about the content of his mysterious study, said, “I am trying to find out. I don’t know.”

Mr. Kerry did say his “personal disposition is open to the issue of medical marijuana” and that he’d stop Drug Enforcement Administration raids on patients using the stuff under California’s medical marijuana law.

Mr. Houston said that rang hollow.

“I was embarrassed for the senator,” Mr. Houston said. “He seemed so afraid to take a clear stand that he hid behind a study he knows nothing about — and which may not even exist.”

Mr. Kerry could end up endorsing the same policy as Attorney General John Ashcroft, who shepherded the DEA policy against medical marijuana users, Mr. Houston said — leaving Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich as the most medical marijuana-friendly presidential candidate. The Ohio Democrat has promised to issue an executive order allowing its use.

Edwards malaise

Democrat John Edwards, whose presidential campaign has been going nowhere, is running well behind President Bush in his home state of North Carolina. The senator’s re-election prospects are looking shakier, too, if he decides to seek a second term.

The president would defeat Mr. Edwards 54 percent to 40 percent, according to a Research 2000 North Carolina Poll conducted July 13-16. Voters also said by a margin of 48 percent to 47 percent that they disapproved of Mr. Edwards’ White House bid, though he leads in the state Democratic primary with an underwhelming 43 percent.

In a trial matchup against Republican challenger Rep. Richard M. Burr, Mr. Edwards leads 47 percent to 39 percent, “a poor showing for an incumbent this early in the election cycle,” election analyst Hastings Wyman said in the Southern Political Report. “Moreover, Edwards’ Senate margin is decreasing — in mid-May, he led Burr 47 percent to 36 percent.”

• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com or 202/636-3085.