While the superb team and candidate we had in Gary Anderson did not emerge completely victorious this election season, the mere fact that his candidacy was extremely viable is a major testament to how far things have finally come. Not that long ago, the thought of a viable statewide campaign for public office being aggressively and successfully pursued by an African American man here in Mississippi would have been sheer fantasy. Gary Anderson has successfully broken down that barrier, and he did so with enthusiasm, passion, class, and a campaign worthy of our respect for all that it had to overcome to achieve all that is has achieved.We should all thank Gary Anderson for having the courage to run even with the knowledge that history and current politics were against him.
How often each day do we pass through doors that men and women of all backgrounds, religions, economic, religious, and racial backgrounds have broken down so that others of us can benefit from the blood, sweat, and tears we invested. Too often, those of us who break down those doors are not the ones who benefit directly from our efforts. Nevertheless, an eternal debt of gratitude we owe for those who have helped to make the quality of our lives that which it is at present.
So, here, I thank Mr. Gary Anderson for the fortitude, commitment, vision and passion he and his campaign always exhibited throughout the campaign. Gary did this with class, and I am proud to have supported his candidacy, to have become a big fan, and to remain supportive throughout the future.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
The Upside of Gary Anderson's Run(s)
Ana Maria at AM in the Morning:
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Thing is that, as someone pointed out on another blog, even the Republicans have been fielding black statewide candidates since 1983--most recently Bill Jordan, who challenged Mike Moore for the AG spot in 1995. What seems to inevitably happen with these candidates, regardless of party, is that donors listen to the "black candidates can't win statewide office" myth and don't give them the platform they need to win.
ReplyDeleteTo name a good example, there was a fuss made recently about a Mike Chaney ad that used video of Anderson, because that video showed that Anderson was black. Q: How the hell would Anderson have won statewide office anyway against a visible candidate if nobody even knew what he looked like? In 2003 against Tate Reeves, 68% of likely voters didn't know there was a Gary Anderson running for statewide office at all, much less for treasurer, much less that he was a black man, much less that he was the former state CFO.
The Barbara Blackmon campaign of 2003 is much closer to what I think we need in terms of visibility, but what one or both parties needs to do in 2011 is run a strong black candidate at or near the top of the ticket. Running one black guy at the very bottom, with little support and no visibility, is not really much of an achievement, and I say this as someone who fully supports Gary Anderson and voted for him--but I'm not surprised Chaney won. Anderson was about as visible to voters as Rob Smith was.