New England floods presidential race

WASHINGTON – It has been nearly 150 years since three New Englanders seriously vied for the Democratic presidential nomination. Even then, two of the three had moved out of the region by the time they ran.

It hasn’t been quite as long on the Republican side. Just 120 years.

Now, Democratic Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean all are seeking their party’s 2004 presidential nomination. Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd also is pondering a run.

They are not alone. Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards are running, and others considering a bid are Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Joseph Biden of Delaware; former Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado; and the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist.

The number of New Englanders underscores the region’s importance as a spawning ground for political leaders. But it doesn’t necessarily bode well for the individual candidates.

The three, for instance, may splinter what otherwise could have been a solid block of regional support, including money, organizational help and volunteers, for any one of them.

“There may be three regional candidates but not a regional candidacy,” said Garrison Nelson, a University of Vermont political science professor. “They’re going to be calling the same people.”

The candidates themselves aren’t too concerned.

“Each of us are different in terms of our experience, our records, our ideas, our priorities, and I think we are going to be judged that way, rather than because we are from New England,” said Lieberman on Monday after announcing his candidacy.

Kerry has focused on building a national network and is counting on his record appealing to voters outside the Northeast. Frank talk about the country’s future “resonates as well with veterans in South Carolina and [autoworker] families in Michigan as it does in a diner in New Hampshire,” he said.

Dean, likewise, is trying to turn his Vermont accomplishments, including balancing the state budget and providing universal health coverage for children, and his opposition to Bush on Iraq, into a national platform.

“We’re not a geographic candidate,” said Steve McMahon, a Dean adviser.

Still, none of three can count on winning the New Hampshire primary as a single regional candidate might, although even Dean and Lieberman give the edge to Kerry, if only because of the Boston media’s reach into southern New Hampshire, where the state’s population is concentrated.

Kathy Sullivan, the New Hampshire Democratic chairwoman, said Kerry is well-known but that is offset by Lieberman’s name recognition as the 2000 vice presidential candidate and the fact that Dean is spending a lot of time in the state.

“I wouldn’t say there is sort of a home field advantage swinging toward one candidate,” she said. “It’s wide open.”

New Englanders have fared well in New Hampshire but that hasn’t always translated into final victory.

John F. Kennedy in 1960 won the primary and the presidency. Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor, in 1988 won the state’s primary and ultimately, the nomination, but lost the general election to Republican George H.W. Bush. Paul Tsongas, the late Massachusetts senator, won the 1992 primary but eventually bowed out, leaving the nomination to a Southerner, Bill Clinton.

In 1856, Pennsylvanian James Buchanan, who won the presidency, won the Democratic nomination by defeating Vermont native Stephen Douglas, who represented Illinois in Congress; Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, the incumbent president; and Lewis Cass, a New Hampshire native who was a U.S. senator from Michigan.

On the GOP side, in 1884, James G. Blaine, who represented Maine in Congress, got the nomination. He defeated incumbent President Chester Arthur, a Vermont native, and George Edmonds, a U.S. senator from Vermont.

New England’s colleges and universities have played a role in breeding political leaders. In the current field alone, Dean, Kerry, Lieberman, Hart and Bush all went to Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Graham attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

But some say a well-developed political structure, starting with historic town meetings, has been just as crucial in helping people get a start.

“Every kid in Boston grows up with the Red Sox and politics,” said Dukakis, who started out at Brookline, Mass., town meetings. “There’s a political ethic in New England which says, ‘Hey, you get involved.”‘

New Hampshire’s influence arguably has waned as other states have moved their contests earlier in the year. The 2004 primary probably will be Jan. 27, the second presidential contest after the Iowa caucuses set for Jan. 19.

New Hampshire still can give its winner a lift heading into other parts of the country, but that cuts both ways for New Englanders. There’s so much pressure to win, a loss can prove devastating.

“All three New Englanders are not going to come out of the New Hampshire primary in good shape,” said Steve Grossman, a former national and Massachusetts Democratic chairman who is supporting Dean.