Cliff Notes On Cliff Stearns

The news that Cliff Stearns could be unseated in a Republican primary is something difficult to fathom for those who have watched Central Florida politics in the last few decades, but that indeed happened this week when an unknown tossed the incumbent by less than 1,000 votes.

A lot of national media has jumped on the race to discern what cost Stearns his seat. I feel since I lives in Stearns' district through most of his time in Congress, and covered Stearns for five years while I was at the Daily Commercial, I ought to say something, and I have to say the conventional wisdom is a bit off. It is so easy to say this was a Tea Party candidate picking off a Washington establishment candidate, but I don't think you can batter Stearns on ideological grounds.

Stearns was always a reliable congressman for the district when it came to standard far like getting us proper road funding, keeping us abreast of international affairs and all of those other duties which are basic to being a good Congressman. I have always had a soft spot for the man in part because when I got Stearns on the phone on 9/11, I impressed my grandfather more than at any point in my professional career. Partisanship aside, I always thought Stearns was a good representative on balance.

But he also had a penchant for red meat, and it would come out every time there was a headline issue in Washington that had the attention of the base. Impach Clinton? Of course. Investigate Clinton after he was out of office for the Marc Rich pardon? We can toy with that to keep the haters pleased. Attack Planned Parenthood? Get Cliff a front-row seat. Even birtherism. That, I must say, was the saddest chapter of all.

Knowing Rep. Stearns, I can't imagine he actually bought into all of this crap, but any shot at a Democratic president seemed a fair one. People right now are suggesting he was becoming a star for taking on issues like Solyndra, but I don't buy that. Like so many issues, this was a chance to feed the base by taking cheap shots at Obama that meant nothing. Nobody but the most foolish of tea party voters thinks Solyndra will result in any serious matter or a justifiable punishment of anyone in the administration. But that foolish group is who Stearns always worked to keep happy.

The funny part to me is that the tea party has always contended keeping them happy is all they asked of congressmen.

Tea Party activists are ready to claim another scalp, even though Stearns was more likely just a victim of random violence. The Ocala Star-Banner, which is closer to the ground in this district than I am nowadays, suggests other opponents besides Ted Yoho were doing damage against Stearns on their own. From their editorial:
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He (Stearns) had what was seen as viable opposition from state Sen. Steve Oelrich and Clay County Clerk of Court Jim Jett, both seasoned officeholders who had held multiple offices...Low-road campaigning by Oelrich, Jett and Stearns, who spent much of the campaign sparring … and ignoring Yoho.
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I will take the paper's word that the negative campaigning hurt Stearns. But I don't buy the notion he stopped listening to constituents. That doesn't seem like the Cliff Stearns I watched for years. Rather, I suspect redistricting left him trying to reach new voters, something I can attest made him nervous 10 years ago. My guess is he was paying extra-close attention to the desires of constituents expressed at forums and elsewhere.

I would suggest his problem was that he listened to these voters too much.

Stearns always paid too much attention to the knuckle-draggers in his party. My guess is the rise of the tea party in the past two years has made his follow that strategy to a greater degree than ever before. But the full make-up of a constituency, even in a Republican primary, is not just the base. It is the rest of the rank-and-file who had grown disillusioned with Stearns.

Even 10 years ago, I knew party regular voters on the Republican side then who felt Stearns lacked leadership. They saw him as a follower, someone who would never be more than a generic, do-nothing congressman. In the day, nobody wanted to challenge that in a primary. It's different now.

While the tea party would have people believe following their every command is the way for Republicans to win elections, most voters don't just want a congressman that leaps only when a single populist special interest says jump. Don't get distracted by the fact Ted Yoho brands himself the tea party guy in the race. Stearns was the perfect tea party candidate. And that's exactly why he lost.