Macho Democrats?

By Perry Bacon Jr.

In an effort to defeat Republican incumbents in congressional elections next year, the Democrats have come up with a simple strategy in their quest for candidates: men in uniform. Granted, John Kerry's line about "reporting for duty" didn't go over too well in the last election. But this go-round, the Dems are recruiting newly minted veterans from Iraq and the war on terrorism. One of them, Marine reservist Paul Hackett, became something of a hero this month when he nearly won a seat in a heavily G.O.P. district in Ohio, in a special election closely watched by both parties as a prelude to the showdown in '06. Democrats have recruited at least three other veterans to run for House seats and are close to signing on another--in a North Carolina district where Republican incumbent Robin Hayes is considered vulnerable because he voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Marine reservist Timothy Dunn told TIME he wasn't ready to announce he is running but will probably enter the race.

Some reasons for the big veteran drive extend beyond mere patriotism. George Lakoff, a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley, who has been advising Democrats, suggests that voters often see their party in the style of a "nurturing parent" but, in a post--Sept. 11 world, prefer the "strict father" governance embraced by Republicans. In less Freudian terms, Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel, who runs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says "the military and these other institutions are greatly respected." Hence the Democrats' netting a former CIA officer in Illinois and a former FBI agent in Minnesota, whistle-blower Coleen Rowley, who testified about mistakes the bureau made before Sept. 11. But the Dems' biggest coup may involve a different kind of uniform: former Redskins quarterback Heath Shuler has agreed to run in his native North Carolina. --By Perry Bacon Jr.