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Heya—I used to hang out here a lot back in ‘02, when we drove a stake through Cynthia McKinney’s heart. Alas, as we should have remembered from the Hammer films, that isn’t enough—if you don’t also cut off the head and sprinkle holy water, Dracula rises in the next sequel.

Anyway, I have a theory—what do you make of it?

As I see it, Denise Majette arrived in Congress as a standard-issue liberal Democrat who’d unseated a radical. The thing is, the Congressional Black Caucus has a lot of radicals. McKinney might have been the most loud-mouthed and stupid, but she wasn’t really to the left of Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Charlie Rangel, et al. And Majette had unseated one of their own.

So I’ll bet she arrived in DC instantly marginalized. The Black Caucus hated her, other liberals were afraid to embrace her for fear of offending the Black Caucus, and she’s too liberal to make a place as one of the swing votes courted by both parties. In that situation, what could she accomplish? She could keep the seat, but she couldn’t really do anything with it.

The Democratic party was forced to make a decision—embrace Majette’s defeat of McKinney (and thus repudiate McKinneyism), or ignore it. Since they were wrapped up in a campaign against Bush, and since McKinney is seen (on the hard left, anyway) as a martyr for telling the truth about Bush, it was too awkward to embrace Majette’s defeat of McKinney—so they washed their hands of her.

In that situation, running for Zell Miller’s seat was a face-saving way for Majette to get out of a hopeless position.

But, then, I’m thousands of miles away. Does that read make any sense to you?

Andrew: “I’ll bet she arrived in DC instantly marginalized. The Black Caucus hated her”

Yeah, it took about three nanoseconds to see plentiful evidence of that. And you may be right, I’m not really up on the detailed machinations and power schemes of that body of 435 busybodies.

Call me a Pollyanna, but I’d say the reaction to such a situation would depend on your expectations, motivations, and constitution. If you expected to become a power broker in DC, rather than being motivated by representing your district better than the person you beat, and believed after a mere two years it was not worth staying in the job (a mark of power in DC, in itself), then, yes, you might throw yourself on the sword of a statewide race for Senate.

I guess we’ll never know the real story, as she still claims it was a calling from God. In my opinion, I think maybe her expectations were too high, and maybe she was stymied in her first term … but what rookie isn’t in some way? By staying, and getting another mandate from your constituents, you carve your own place among those that are left. The Black Caucus will eventually accept you if they want your power in their block. If they don’t, you positiion yourself so someone will. In the newly realigned House, that couldn’t have been too hard.

She, of course, had a right to do whatever she felt she needed to do. I, of course, have a right to be pissed at the aftermath in my district.

The only good news is that in two years, we’ll do this dance all over again. Or, I guess I could do the trendy thing, and claim I’m going to uproot myself and abandon my home over a short term politician. Or maybe secede. Not from the Union, just from the 4th District.

Naaaah.

However, your idea does fit in nicely with my theory of what happened to Zell Miller. He spent his whole career working his way up the power structure of the Georgia Democratic Party, was Lt. Gov. for many years, and eventually Governor. He’d earned … and come to expect … the respect of state politicians, particularly Ga. Democrats.

Then he accepted the Senate slot when appointed by the Governor, and went off to DC. There, he was just another rookie in the chamber, with little more clout than, oh, say, Denise Majette. I think he didn’t get the presumed respect to which he’d become accustomed, and in fact, may have been treated rudely by party powers in DC, who have never been long on tact.

I think what we’ve seen from him over the past year is a reaction to that treatment, despite his protestations that the Democratic Party is broken. I think that’s another matter altogether.

But now, Zell and Denise both have plenty of time to think about their experiences in DC, and the mistakes they might have made. Because they are now encapsulated history, and neither of them will ever be going back.