National Political Pundits Say, 'Watch the Damn Voters'

By: Greg Mitchell Three leading national political pundits offered frank assessments of 2004 campaign politics in a Friday morning panel at the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention in Washington, D.C.

David Broder of The Washington Post, the "dean" of campaign reporters, urged editors to remember four words this year: "Watch the damn voters." For generations, he said, he and others had "worked under the spell" of reporter Theodore White and attempted to "get inside campaigns better than anyone else." This led to focusing on political consultants and ad directors, and elevating people like James Carville to stardom.

Naturally, voters felt left out. But now politicians are finally "making the transition to a two-way communication with voters." Newspapers need to do so as well: "Just as candidates have learned the value of face-to-face contact, it behooves us to do the same." He advocated "walking the precincts.It's hard work but the most insight-producing."

Broder admitted he had mis-read George Bush in 2000, believing he did not have ambitious or radical goals: "Wrong, Broder," he said.

Broder added, "My message is simple: If you don't take the voter seriously and get your reporters out there, you will miss the real story."

Poll analyst Bill Schneider of CNN drew a laugh by answering a question from Broder about the number of undecided voters in the presidential race this year by waving a sheet of paper and saying, "I have a list of names right here."

There are so few because "It's still November 7, 2000," when the last race was deadlocked. He cited a new poll in Florida which showed Bush and Kerry in a near-dead heat there, with Nader drawing enough votes to make a difference.

Syndicated columnist Clarence Page said he was a bit "baffled" by President Bush's gain in the polls this month despite terrible news from Iraq and new books from Richard Clarke and Bob Woodward. He said he felt embarrassed for Bush at his last press conference, when he was "even less articulate than usual."

Page also drew a laugh by explaining that he had appeared on Fox News this week. "I do that every so often to get a different audience," he added. "People who read newspaper columns are at least semi-literate."

Others appearing on the panel were Jeanne Cummings of The Wall Street Journal and Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle.