On Thu, Oct 10, 2002 at 08:47:10PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Billings (Montana) Gazette - October 10, 2002
>
> Taylor quits Senate race in Montana
>
> By JIM GRANSBERY
> of The Billings Gazette staff
> and Associated Press
>
> State Sen. Mike Taylor, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate,
> will withdraw from the race this afternoon, saying a Montana
> Democratic Party television ad has destroyed his campaign.
>
> Taylor said at a press conference in Helena that the ad, which he
> said insinuated that he was a gay hairdresser, had pushed his poll
> numbers through the floor.
>
> Although the ad was placed by the Democratic Party, Taylor blamed
> Sen. Max Baucus for it.
>
> "We have zero left to fight with," Alan Mikkelsen, Taylor's campaign
> manager, said Thursday morning. "The ad has destroyed the campaign.
> We have no money left and we don't want to stoop to the same level."
>
> Taylor, a state senator from Proctor, was the GOP candidate opposing
> Baucus, D-Mont., who is running for a fifth term in the Senate. A
> recent poll by the Lee Newspapers of Montana showed Baucus with a
> commanding lead of 54 percent to Taylor's 35. Green party candidate
> Robert Kelleher of Butte had 1 percent and Libertarian Stan Jones of
> Bozeman had none. Ten percent were undecided. The poll had a margin
> of error of plus/minus 4 percentage points.
>
> Ken Miller, chairman of the state Republican Party, said former
> Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, currently the Republican National
> Committee chairman, had been approached about running in Taylor's
> place, but declined.
>
> A senior Republican close to Racicot, speaking on condition of
> anonymity, said the RNC chairman will not seek the Senate seat.
>
> The official said Republicans in Washington hope to replace Taylor on
> the ballot. Republicans objected less than two weeks ago when
> Democratic Sen. Torricelli ended his re-election bid amid falling
> poll numbers and Democratic Party leaders went to court to put a new
> candidate on the ballot.
>
> Dan Allen, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial
> Committee, said, "I'm not aware of anyone reaching out to any
> candidate to get them into the race."
>
> He doubted anyone would be interested, given the timing and the tone
> of the race. "The negative atmosphere created by the Democrats
> doesn't make it appealing for someone else to get into the campaign."
>
> Montana law requires Taylor's name remain on the ballot and does not
> allow Republicans to name a replacement. Write-in candidates have
> until Oct. 21 to file.
>
> Earlier this week, Taylor took strong umbrage with the ad funded by
> the Montana Democratic Party, which he described as "character
> assassination." The ad began running last Friday on Montana
> television stations.
>
> "What bothers me," Taylor said, "is they are using a picture to
> assassinate my character. Why use that picture? Are they saying
> someone from my field in not qualified to be senator?"
>
> What incensed Taylor was the film clip accompanying the ad. Taylor
> had a twice weekly segment in the early 1980s on a Denver television
> station. The clip shows Taylor applying lotions to the face of a man
> siting in the barber chair and discussing techniques. The ad shows
> Taylor, then slender, sporting a full beard. He is wearing a
> tight-fitting, three piece suit, with a big-collared open shirt ala
> John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." Taylor's top two or three
> shirt buttons are unbuttoned, exposing some bare chest and a number
> of gold chains.
>
> "I cannot believe they would stoop to that level," Taylor said.
>
> State Sen. Ken Toole, D-Helena, and program director for the Montana
> Human Rights Network, said Thursday morning the ad "is an overt and
> obvious appeal to the homophobic (voter) that is playing to that
> stereotypic imagery."
>
> Toole, who has fought for homosexual rights for years in the Montana
> Legislature, said he had complained to the state Democratic Party.
>
> Toole said the Democratic response was that the image was not
> intended to imply that Taylor was gay.
>
> "It is hard to believe their advertising firm did not see it," Toole
> said. "Bottom line is it is obvious and it ought to be pulled.
>
> "Once you play these cards, inject this crap into a campaign - race,
> gay - nobody controls it," Toole said.
>
> Dan DuBray, a former Montana television journalist who did campaign
> ads for former U.S. Rep. Ron Marlenee, R-Mont., said Thursday the ad
> was as subtle as "a 2x4 across the forehead. The video was clearly
> designed to send a subliminal message about Mike Taylor's sexuality."
>
> "It is bizarre," DuBray said. "I can't believe the senator would
> embrace this type of ad. The process is out of control. This is far
> below the floor of any TV ads in the past."
>
> The Democratic Party's $100,000 television ad campaign accused Taylor
> of abusing student loan programs. Taylor signed settlements with the
> U.S. Department of Education and the Colorado Student Loan Program
> and paid $27,250 to cover audit allegations. Both sides agreed that
> the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing by either party.
> The audit and settlement involved a hair design school in Colorado.
>
> Taylor owned and operated a chain of hair care salons and beauty
> products sales that he has since sold.
>
>
> Text of Taylor's comments
>
>
> Perhaps foolishly, I believed that a God fearing common person that
> worked hard and honest could be anything he wanted to be in America.
> I ran for the U.S. Senate because I wanted to help Montana families,
> America and our president. I believed in the American dream.
>
> Now I knew that this was a tough hill to climb - especially since my
> opponent raised more money from out of state special interests than
> any other U.S. senator in history. But we kept hoping that with the
> White House, and the RNC under Marc Racicot, we could take that steep
> hill.
>
> I understood and accepted the fact that politics in Montana is a
> contact sport. I actually welcomed the rough and tumble . . . the
> clashing of ideas and visions for the future.
>
> I'd seen the ads where Nancy Keenan and Denny Rehberg exchanged shots
> about each other's voting record. I'd seen the ads where Conrad Burns
> and Brian Schweitzer traded jabs over prescription drug ideas. And
> sure, they were all hard hitting.
>
> But not lies. And never personal slanders of the vilest kind.
>
> I simply never thought that my opponent would run televisions ads
> that lied, assassinated my character and mislead the people of
> Montana.
>
> And not in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that a sitting U.S.
> senator of 28 years would sanction the use of 20-year-old pictures of
> me for the most despicable of insinuations about my character.
>
> My opponent has blanketed the airwaves with loathsome distortions of
> the truth and called it a campaign. I talked - always - about votes,
> about plans for the future and about ideas. I thought it would be
> enough. I was wrong.
>
> With his millions of out-of-state special interest money, he has
> turned me into a lightning rod, drawing criticism not just to me, but
> to my party and even my beloved state. The lies about me made
> national news on Tuesday - he has smeared my good name so badly that
> regrettably I draw unfavorable reviews of Montana.
>
> All of this over a picture of me that's untrue - the furthest thing
> from the truth.
>
> Perhaps I may be able to repair the damage my opponent has inflicted
> upon my good name and that of my family, but at what price? I would
> have to blanket the airwaves with slime more thoroughly than he. I
> will not.
>
> I will not.
>
> If that's what it takes to win, it is a victory not worth the
> winning. I think I would make a good senator. But I know I'd make a
> bad liar. I will not be like him.
>
> And so today I stand before you today prepared to set aside my dream
> of serving Montanans in the United States Senate, for someone of
> impeccable character and integrity . . . someone yet un-poisoned by
> my opponent's venom . . . someone with the stature to enter this race
> as a write-in candidate who could win and put an end to my opponent's
> vicious, self-serving ways once and for all.
>
> I am willing to step down in favor of a man or woman who will have a
> better chance than I to return decency to our seat in the United
> States Senate.
>
> I am willing to do this, not because my ideas have been tried and
> found wanting, but because they've been shouted down with slander and
> left untried.
>
> I've thought about little else, day and night. And I've talked to my
> wife at great length, because I know how she loves me and how
> forceful she gets when our family's reputation is unjustly impugned.
>
> I am willing to suspend my campaign because my opponent's lies about
> me are hurting my wife, my family, my friends, my party and most of
> all Montanans from all walks of life. Were it just me, and there was
> no one else in a better position to win, I would stay and absorb the
> blows. I would stand and let him hit me believing that sooner or
> later the truth would prevail. But there is so much more at stake.
> Montanans young and old are suffering and so too is our national
> image.
>
> I cannot let this go on, without giving Montanans an option . . . a
> reason to hope that there is a candidate out there who - with their
> massive outpouring of support - could overcome this sea of sleaze
> from my opponent. The notion that Montana deserves a U.S. senator who
> will always put Montana first rather than just in election years
> deserves a fair hearing, not a mud bath.
>
> I know that my departure would only temporarily dash the hopes of
> many generous, giving donors . . . hardworking, dedicated volunteers
> . . people who lent me their good names and reputations.
>
> To them I say: Please understand that we must offer this option for
> the sake of all Montanans. Your efforts are exemplary - beyond
> compare. No candidate has ever had better allies. Your friendship and
> support will be the shining memory that I take from this race, which
> my opponent's lies can never sully.
>
> To Rick Allen in Kalispell, Mary Jolley and Brent Stanghelle in Great
> Falls, John Rush in Helena, Jim and Jan Helgason in Billings, to all
> the women in Gallatin County, and a hundred others I could name if
> you'd give me enough airtime, I say more than just thank you. I say
> that the state of Montana owes you a debt for your diligent efforts
> to keep this race on a high note.
>
> To all of you who helped, I will always be in your debt. Now let's
> look to the horizon and prepare to embrace the candidate who's out
> there who we pray will rise to the occasion and make history of which
> all Montanans will be proud for generations to come.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu