Wrestling in the Sandbox
BOCA RATON, FLA.--Over a lunch of fried fish and green beans, about 50 senior citizens listen to congressional hopeful Ron Klein argue the case for stem cell research and better prescription drug care. But the first question raised is far more basic: "Are you a Democrat?"
Klein is happy to give a yes--and is rewarded with wide smiles. The minority party is pleased to make this election a referendum on the troubled GOP in Florida's 22nd District, an elderly enclave stretching from Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter. The energetic Klein, 48, is relentlessly attacking 13-term incumbent Republican E. Clay Shaw for his ties to the Bush administration. "People here have lost trust and confidence in the government," argues Klein. "They're clearly looking for change."
Cutthroat. Democrats have long targeted Shaw, 67, a low-key conservative who has championed popular local issues like Everglades restoration. Their hopes were buoyed in 2000, when challenger Elaine Bloom came within 600 votes of ousting him. But Republican redistricters then molded the 22nd into friendlier terrain, replacing a piece of Democratic Dade County to the south with a Republican swath of Palm Beach County to the north. Since 2000, Shaw has won by double-digit margins. But John Kerry narrowly carried the district in 2004 and Klein, a partner at the law firm of Sachs Sax Klein and former minority leader in the state Senate, has kick-started what promises to be a cutthroat race.
Klein has benefited from a pro-business track record, as well as the backing of trial lawyers and statewide contributions from hopeful Democrats, giving him $1.5 million in the bank. Klein released a blistering radio ad pinning high energy prices and other ills on Republicans when President Bush drummed up $800,000 for Shaw at a single fundraiser.
But Shaw says the race will be competitive only in terms of fundraising. Klein's plan to make hay of visits by Bush and Vice President Cheney and criticize Shaw for his support of the private Social Security accounts will backfire, Shaw says. Shaw is also touting welfare reform legislation he authored and his potential chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Meanwhile, Shaw is raising questions about the propriety of Klein's law firm lobbying for developers while Klein was supposed to be legislating. Klein denies any impropriety.
Both seem itching for a fight. "I hope he makes my record an issue," Shaw says. "My accomplishments outdistance anyone's in the [Florida] delegation." Naturally, Klein disagrees. The Cook Political Report lists the race as leaning Republican, but "if anybody can beat Shaw," says a veteran of Florida's political scene, "it's Klein." In the end, though, this race may have less to do with politics in Florida and more to do with politics in Washington.
This story appears in the June 19, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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