In politics and baseball
"It ain't over till it's over'

by James Ylisela Jr.

The senior senator with the megawatt smile finally has something to beam about.

In the last month, good news has come twice to Carol Moseley-Braun, surpassing her old record by a factor of one. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and other Democrat bigwigs helped erase a nagging campaign debt everyone kept talking about. Then the Federal Election Commission decided to drop an investigation into her goofy finances, if only because the five-year statute of limitations was about to run its course.

But hey, a win's a win. As I write this, that's two more victories for Moseley-Braun than the Cubs have posted for the entire 1997 season.

It's a fitting comparison, because the senator and the baseball club have more than a few things in common. For starters, they're both attractive and historic, which appeals to the idealism in all of us. They also spend a lot of money, raise our expectations and have little to show for it in the end.

That's the way many Moseley-Braun fans are feeling as she prepares to defend her U.S. Senate seat in 1998, though few may be willing to say so publicly. But truth be told, they're disappointed this dynamic woman will begin her re-election campaign more a symbol of mediocrity than the beacon of hope for equality that swept her onto the national stage in 1992.

Like the Cubs, incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Cavol Moseley-Braun has a long season ahead of her.

That's the problem when you're the symbol senator (to borrow a term from former Tribune political writer Tom Hardy). You can't possibly live up to your billing, even if you do a good job. And few would put Moseley-Braun's first term in the win column.

Is there a double standard here?

You bet there is. If Moseley-Braun were a middle-aged white guy, like most of her fellow senators, her sloppy accounting practices, revolving door for advisors and shenanigans in Africa might never have cracked the front page.

On the other hand, being the first and only has its advantages.

Party leaders sensing disaster are less willing to pull the plug, fearing a backlash from black voters. And Republican hopefuls are reluctant to run against her, even when she's carrying major political baggage.

What bothers Moseley-Braun's supporters is that she hasn't been a very good senator, and they keep hoping she will be. What bothers her critics is that she hasn't been a very good senator, and it doesn't matter.

She is the only black woman in the Big Club, and that's pretty powerful stuff, regardless of her taste in dictators and boyfriends.

Mayor Daley must think so. Whatever his private views, the mayor is standing firmly with Moseley-Braun, and seems ready to hoist her onto his broad political shoulders with money, troops and public support.

He has his reasons and, politically speaking, they're damn fine ones:

• Supporting Moseley-Braun is good city politics. Even the slightest appearance of ambivalence could stir black voters at a time when the mayor has vanquished every possible political opponent. Chicago is about as politically docile as it has ever been, and Daley wants no part of awakening what we used to call "movement politics."

• It's good Democratic Party politics. Daley, after all, is President Bill Clinton's favorite mayor, and it would hardly do for Hizzoner to lose one of Illinois' Senate seats. Having a Moseley-Braun victory in the bag would allow the Democrats to spend money on vulnerable Republican seats.

• It gives Daley the chance to beat Jim Edgar at something. If the governor jumps into the Senate race, this may be the closest the two rivals will ever come to head-to-head competition. It's either that or a mud-wrestling contest at Meigs Field.

After more than four years in office, Moseley-Braun has told us once again that she's getting it together, getting the message, moving ahead. But with politics, as in baseball, good fortune can change overnight. Moseley-Braun may have won a few today, but can she last through a long, tough season?

I think she's a shoo-in, whether the reasons are symbolic or just plain numeric.

Then again, I think the Cubs are going to win it all.

James Ylisela Jr. teaches urban reporting at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He's the consulting editor of The Chicago Reporter.

Illinois Issues May 1997 ¦ 41