It is early days, but it now seems that the White House cannot be bought, or at least not bought as easily as was thought a year ago. George W. Bush, the Governor of Texas and son of former President George Bush who has raised a huge war chest of money to fight his campaign for the White House, has not done well in the first two primaries for the Republican Party nomination. Significantly, he is being challenged by a campaigner for election-funding reform, Senator John McCain.
Senator McCain beat Bush by 19 points in New Hampshire last week. This week Mr Bush beat him fairly easily in Delaware, but Mr McCain did not campaign there. On the other hand, Mr Bush visited the small state five times and was backed by the entire party establishment which organises the primaries. The establishment favoured Mr Bush by having only a few polling booths, shutting out rank and file Republicans.
New Hampshire is notorious for backing challengers to the favourite, but McCain’s victory there has nonetheless shaken up the Republican Party. Many Republicans did not want a repeat of 1996 when early squabbling among potential Republican nominees hurt the overall campaign against Democrat President Bill Clinton. Perhaps, they thought, an early cohesive backing of Mr Bush would prevent that. Many Republican members of Congress and Governors have given formal backing to Bush. And many corporate backers have funded his campaign. They backed him because he had the money and the pedigree, and because he looked like the leading contender. They wanted to back a winner. But slowly they must be feeling they have backed the wrong man. As the campaign progresses, Mr Bush looks more uncomfortable with foreign policy. He also descends into platitudes, slogans and almost gibberish at times. He is fearful of saying anything direct for fear of upsetting voters. As a result he has upset no-one, but he has also inspired no-one.
Like his Democratic counterpart, Vice-president Al Gore, Mr Bush has refused for some time to take unscripted from journalists. Everything has to be a set piece. The last time he took unscripted questions he revealed a frightening lack of knowledge about foreign affairs for a man proposing himself as leader of the most powerful country on earth.
Mc Cain, on the other hand, has been willing to take journalists’ questions ad-hoc at doorstops and anywhere on the campaign trail. His replies have been straightforward. That will sharpen him for the primaries to come and the main race if he gets the nomination. Importantly, if McCain gets the nomination it will put a stop to massive fund-raising in US presidential elections and the unseemly pay-back of favours after a campaign is won. McCain has made himself an heroic pariah among his fellow Republican congress members. It has mainly been Republicans who have voted against his efforts to reform campaign donation laws that would insist on greater disclosure of the sources of funds.
For now, many rank-and-file Republican voting in primaries appear to have approved of his approach. He has come from virtually nowhere to put a serious challenge to the moneyed Republican establishment who till now appear to be satisfied with an inoffensive and unoffending mouthpiece.
That is a good sign for American democracy.