A former Navy SEAL, a former CIA operative, and a bureaucrat have been doing
battle in the First Congressional District earnestly, but ever so quietly,
vying to carry the GOP banner against four-term incumbent Democratic US
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy. But considering Kennedy's $2 million war
chest and his lack of recent gaffes, many observers believe that regardless of
who wins this battle, their big-name opponent will emerge victorious in
November.
Political newcomers Mike Battles and Dave Rogers are at the opposite ends of
the GOP philosophical spectrum, with Rogers being the most conservative. The
third candidate, Christy Ferguson, proudly and often proclaims, "I'm a John
Chafee Republican." In fact, Ferguson worked for the late senator in
Washington, DC, for 13 years, before Governor Lincoln Almond tapped her to
become director of the state department of Health and Human Services.
The first district primary has been a low-key, grassroots effort, mainly
because of the expected low turnout of about 17,000 voters, according to
Republican officials, and the candidates themselves. With little more than a
week until the September 10 election, there have been a few radio spots, but
scant television or newspaper advertising. The candidates have been wearing out
the shoe leather, going door-to-door, attending barbecues and lawn parties
(Battles walked the entire district, from Woonsocket to Newport). And the
campaign has been devoid of negativity and nastiness, consisting largely of the
differences between the three congressional wannabees.
Early on, Ferguson was the first of the three GOP congressional candidates to
go after Kennedy. She rapped his acceptance of campaign money from Las Vegas
gambling interests, and, referring to his previous work as chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm for House
Democrats, described him as "absent from Rhode Island for as long as he's been
in office." She also criticizes Kennedy for being out of touch with the average
Rhode Islander, citing his fundraisers with Hollywood celebrities and party
bigwigs.
But one of the biggest surprises of the campaign has been the way in which
Ferguson, who was backed by Almond and widely expected to be the frontrunner in
the race, has run a low-key campaign, raising only $122,000 and being eclipsed
to a fair degree by Battles, who snagged the state Republican Party
endorsement. "I'm shocked that Ferguson hasn't raised more money and put
together a stronger organization," says Darrell West, a political science
professor at Brown University. "She's been invisible for six months."
Providence Journal political columnist M. Charles Bakst laments the
Republican primary in the First Congressional District as "a stealth campaign."
Asked whom he thinks will win, he deadpans, "I have no idea. When I find the
seven Republicans who will be voting, I'll let you know."
FERGUSON IS SMART, articulate on the issues, and she can legitimately lay claim
to being the candidate with the most government experience, more so even than
Kennedy himself. But Ferguson will have a hard time distinguishing herself from
Battles, seen by many as her main competitor.
Mike Vallante, a former state GOP chairman who is now president of
California-based JM Communications, a consulting firm whose clients include GOP
gubernatorial candidate Jim Bennett, and others agree that Battles, after
winning the party endorsement, seems the most organized. "I would say the
odds-on favorite is Battles," Vallante says.
Maureen Moakley, who heads the political science department at the University
of Rhode Island, also sees the First Congressional District race as a close
contest between Battles and Ferguson. "Battles is a military guy, which should
play well in Newport, and Ferguson has really run an effective grassroots, door
to door campaign," Moakley says.
But Rogers is also a military man, and he's basing much of his campaign on his
experience as a Navy SEAL. Rogers is the only candidate in the GOP primary race
who wasn't born in Rhode Island. He was born in Fort Ord, California, in 1965
and moved with his family to Newport in 1971, when his father was assigned to
head up the Force Economics and Decision making program at the Naval War
College. Rogers was awarded the Navy Commendation medal for duty during the
1989 US invasion of Panama, and he now works for the Warren Rogers Associates,
which provides mathematical analysis services to the petroleum industry.
Battles is quick to point out, albeit politely, the differences between
himself and his two competitors. Of Rogers, Battles says, "He's relied on
out-of-state money from socially conservative Republicans" -- a reference to
how Rogers harvested nearly $600,000, by far the largest war chest in the race,
by mailing fundraising letters highly critical of Kennedy throughout the
country -- "and he's too conservative for Rhode Islanders."
As Vallante notes, "the Kennedys have always been red meat in conservative
politics." In fact, a review of Rogers's campaign donations for the quarter
covering April through June reveals that none of his $219,000 in donations came
from Rhode Island. Battles ruled out any out-of-state donations, raising only
about $70,000 as of the last reporting quarter. He has run some radio ads and
has had TV spots produced, but Battles had yet to book any air time.
Battles, a West Point graduate and an accomplished collegiate pugilist, served
as an Army Ranger in the United States and Europe, ending up as an aide de camp
to the commanding general of the 7th Army Training Company. He left the Army at
the rank of captain, worked as a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch before
joining the CIA and serving as an operations officer for two years. Asked if he
was a spy, Battles responds, " I can't talk about what I did in the CIA, but if
you look on their Web site, you will see a definition of what an operation
officer is." The Web site definition, in fact, sounds like work for a character
straight from a John le Carré novel. Battles doesn't dispel the notion,
matter-of-factly declaring, "I speak Albanian and can communicate in
Russian."
Battles is a self-described mixed bag Republican. "I hate labels," he says,
calling himself a social liberal and fiscal conservative. He's pro-choice, but
favors a ban on partial-birth abortions, and is against drilling for oil in
Alaska. Battles supports mandatory trigger locks and a ban on assault rifles,
but believes in gun ownership. On the perennial congressional campaign issue of
prescription drug benefits for the elderly through Medicare, Battles says he'd
prefer to see a mix of government and private insurance programs administer any
such benefit, if and when it ever becomes a reality.
Battles, who resides in Newport with his wife, Jacqueline, and their newborn
son, Peter William, is an executive with Ibis Consulting, a Providence
technology firm. Born in Providence, he grew up Pawtucket and Barrington. He
looks like anything but a former Army Ranger and CIA operative. Clean cut with
a cherubic face, his hair remains trimmed to what would pass for a military
haircut. Trying to illustrate that he's not of the blue-blood, country club
Republican ilk, Battles proclaims, "My net worth is about $150,000. I'll be
broke by the end of the campaign."
On Christy Ferguson, Battles plays on a widespread perception, deserved or
not, of government workers. "The last thing we need," he says, "is another
bureaucrat in Washington."
Ferguson spins the Battles's jibe to fit her campaign emphasis on experience.
"I know the ropes. I'm not likely to be seduced by Washington DC," she says
pointedly, scoring her own one-two punch at the pair of political novices
opposing her for the GOP nomination.
Ferguson's campaign, however, resembles those of her two opponents in many
ways. She's attended more than 100 small breakfast, lunch, and cook-out
fundraisers, was the first to put a bio-type ad on television, and she relies
on a close-knit staff to work the phones and pump out the stump speeches.
"We've been doing what we need to do to win," she says.
Ferguson, a lawyer who lives in Jamestown with her husband, Fred Glomb, and
10-year-old son, Gregory, has plenty of experience in government, most notably
having served as counsel and deputy chief of staff to John Chafee from 1982
until 1995. She was the chief architect of the leading Republican alternative
to the failed Clinton health-care reform bill. Appointed by Almond to head up
the state's human services department, she gained bipartisan recognition for
restructuring the state's Medicaid managed care program, RIte Care, and
initiated the Starting RIte program, which improved the affordability of day
care and early education for children.
After working for the late Senator Chafee, one of the upper chambers' greatest
moderates, it's no surprise that Ferguson's political beliefs are similar to
his, with the exception of gun control. The late senator wanted a ban on all
handguns. Ferguson favors a ban on assault rifles and mandating trigger locks,
adding, however, "I can understand if a guy in New Mexico who lives in the
desert wants to sleep with a rifle under his bed, but the guy in South
Providence is another story."
Ferguson, who is pro-choice, was endorsed by the WISH List, a group of
Republican women in the House and Senate who favor abortion rights.
If Ferguson wins the primary, she may have a difficult time pointing out the
differences between herself and Kennedy when it comes to government spending.
Ferguson brags about bringing home "millions" of dollars in federal grants to
help support social programs in Rhode Island. Kennedy, of course, talks up much
of the same thing. "If you had a race between Patrick Kennedy and Christy
Ferguson, it would be difficult from an issues standpoint and government money
standpoint to tell the two apart," says consultant Vallante.
Like the other two candidates, Rogers has never before run for public office.
He is a conservative, pro-life Republican who distances himself from the
moderate Republican label of his two rivals, saying, "I would disagree with
Senator Lincoln Chafee on almost every issue."
Rogers says his military experience is needed in Washington, especially in
this time of combating terrorism. "I can make informed votes on the important
issues facing the country," he says confidently. The Portsmouth resident also
claims that Rhode Islanders in general and voters in the first district in
particular are "fed up" with Kennedy's representation, or the lack of it,
according to Rogers, and the climate is ripe for change.
Backed by his ample war chest of out-of-state donations, Rogers is articulate
and comes across as serious-minded, with a military, no-nonsense bearing. He
has also attended a slew of small, coffee hour-type fundraisers and has
television ads produced, but has yet to run them.
DESPITE THE EFFORTS of the three Republicans, and their seeming viability
compared with previous Kennedy challengers who were inexperienced, the
likelihood of an upset is remote, according to political observers and even
some Republicans.
Kennedy has cleaned up his act. For more than a year, there haven't been any
incidents similar to the clash with a security official at Los Angeles Airport
or the difficulty with a sailboat (he now has one of his own). And Kennedy has
calmed his sometimes explosive rhetorical attacks, like the venomous diatribe,
carried live on C-SPAN and extensively repeated on local TV newscasts and talk
radio, against former FBI director Louis Freeh in May 2001 about the FBI's
handling of the Timothy McVeigh case.
Kennedy has other vulnerabilities. His most glaring are his inferior debating
skills. Kennedy hasn't had to participate in a televised prime-time statewide
debate since he first ran for Congress in 1994. But this year could be
different. The media will consider the Republican primary winner an underdog,
but also a viable opponent, and Kennedy will be forced to debate. During such
occasions in the past, he has tended to fly off the handle at the slightest
provocation, often losing his train of thought.
Another weakness, as pointed out by all three GOP congressional candidates, is
Kennedy's quest for more power in the House, including his desire, professed to
me in an interview last year, to someday be elected speaker. The political
maneuvering necessary to accomplish this goal could be fertile ground for
criticism. Kennedy would have to spend more of his time wooing Democratic Party
bosses, and less time in the district, conjuring up the beating he took in the
polls because of his past traveling across the country for the DCCC.
Kennedy isn't always seen as a friend of the Rhode Island business community.
His unabashed support for unions, such as showing up at a recent union rally
during the McLaughlin & Moran strike and making a strident speech against
management, could be construed by some as being against small businesses, which
number into the thousands in Rhode Island.
But with things like the airport episode receding into the background,
Kennedy's assets -- such as a ranking position on the powerful House
Appropriations Committee, which enables him to deliver millions in federal
grants and military contracts to businesses and nonprofits in the district --
loom larger. Kennedy's strengths are numerous, including his nearly eight years
in seniority, and his famous, powerful father in the Senate. And his status as
the darling of local and national organized labor doesn't hurt, especially in a
labor-friendly state like Rhode Island.
Kennedy, teamed with Senator Jack Reed -- a rising star in his own right, who
is on the Senate Appropriations Committee -- can claim that the smallest state
in the nation, with two powerful Democrats in key positions, has a
disproportionate share of clout in Washington.
Referring to the three GOP challengers, Republican consultant Vallante says,
"I think any of them are going to have a hard time beating Patrick Kennedy. I
think he woke up, he spends more time at home. I think he's gotten his house in
order."
Adds the ProJo's Bakst, "I don't think any of them will beat Patrick
Kennedy."
URI's Moakley says beating Kennedy "is going to very, very hard. The most the
GOP candidates can do is raise their name recognition and run a credible
campaign to make another run for public office in the future."
Even Bradford Gorham, chairman of the state Republican Party, isn't holding
out much hope of a victory in the first district. "Let's face it," he sighs
with resignation, "it will be a tough campaign."
A three-way GOP primary, especially with the qualified candidates now running,
has forced the candidates to concentrate on the differences between themselves,
as opposed to skewering Kennedy, leaving the four-term congressman without any
battle scars as he enters the war for the big prize in November. "You can't
give Patrick Kennedy a six-month free ride and expect to beat him, " says
Brown's West.
Kennedy hasn't had a serious challenger since he first run for the seat in
1994, when political neophyte Kevin Vigilante came very close to an upset. But
in every race since then, at least 30 percent of the voters cast their ballots
for the unknowns, indicating the extent of anti-Kennedy vote in Rhode Island.
With the caliber of candidates in the GOP primary, Kennedy will once again
have a serious challenge from the primary winner, but most observers feel the
race is his to lose.
Issue Date: August 30 - September 5, 2002
