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After the caucus vote...
posted at 2007-01-11 04:23 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Patio seating
Last night's House Dems caucus meeting looked interesting - from a distance, at least. The press wasn't allowed access - state public meetings law apparently makes an exception for political caucuses - so while we could see the sides of the 3rd floor auditorium, we couldn't see the podium. But the third floor of the legislature has rooftop patios. If you walk outside, you can see everything through the gallery windows. It was like watching TV with the sound turned off, but the body language was pretty illustrative. First, there was a procession of nominating speeches. Then the speaker candidates headed to the podium to make their pitches. Joe Hackney was cautious, steady, still. Drew Saunders looked a little stiff. Dan Blue, on the other hand, was passionate - pounding the podium, pointing out into the audience. Jim Crawford was more animated than I've ever seen him. Lots of "inclusive" gestures. And Mickey Michaux, coming last, appeared to be doing his best "Look, folks" reality check. In the end, though, it went to...
Speaker Hackney?
Could be. Hackney won the nomination on the fourth ballot with 41 votes to Crawford's 23 - not quite two-thirds. Is it enough? Crawford indicated that, at least as of last night, he's not interested in taking his votes across the aisle to wheel and deal with the GOP. But two weeks is plenty of time to change your mind. And there's little doubt that many House Republicans would rather see the more conservative Crawford on the dais than Hackney, whom they still regard as a liberal, despite his moves toward the center over the past two sessions.
And then there's Blue. His third place showing was respectable, but not as strong as many observers expected, topping out at 19 votes. Some lawmakers have mentioned an "anybody but Blue" backlash, led by longtime Dems offended by his open ambition after four years of absence. He had the support of most of the Legislative Black Caucus, many of whom went on to back Hackney after Blue's elimination. Would they come back if he cut a deal with the GOP? That's what he did in '99, and almost repeated in 2001. He spent a lot of tonight's meeting talking to other past and present candidates, especially Bill Faison, but Blue says there was no orchestrated deal to support either of the top two contenders. He also says he's looking forward to working with Hackney.
Of course, there's no guarantee the GOP would deal anyway, especially after last year's internecine strife in the primaries. They haven't put up their own Speaker candidate yet, but minority leader Skip Stam says it isn't out of the question.
Other wins
Finance co chair William Wainwright took the nomination for Pro Tem over Mecklenberg's Beverly Earle, leaving Charlotte out of the money for the first time in 8 years. And Hugh Holliman is the new majority leader, besting Marian McLawhorn and Bill Owens. After the meeting, Holliman said he feels comfortable the caucus will unite behind Hackney in two weeks. If not, he'll be on point to deal with it.
