Rep. Richard Gephardt's presidential campaign swung through Western New York on Friday, including a couple stops in Niagara Falls, in an effort to generate support leading up to the state's potentially decisive Democratic Primary in March.
Gephardt's campaign centers on creating jobs, a theme that figures to resonate in places like Niagara Falls and Buffalo that have seen thousands of industrial jobs migrate or disappear altogether.
If Gephardt is still in the race by March, that is.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean emerged from a crowded field through the summer and fall, gaining support through blistering criticism of George W. Bush's war in Iraq, as well as aggressive Internet-based fund-raising.
The late entry of Gen. Wesley Clark into the race grabbed headlines and pushed Gephardt and the rest of the Democratic hopefuls down a rung. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll last week showed Dean with the support of 27 percent of voters surveyed, followed by Clark and Sen. Joseph Lieberman with 12 percent each. Gephardt garnered 7 percent, tying him with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and political gadfly Al Sharpton.
But Niagara Falls native Gary Parenti, who helped coordinate Friday's whirlwind tour of the area, said those national numbers could be rendered meaningless by the primary calendar. Iowa, where Gephardt's campaign has focused much of its time and money, holds its caucuses on Jan. 19, with the New Hampshire primary eight days later. Seven more states pick their delegates on Feb. 3 this time around, meaning the nomination could be all but clinched by the time New York Democrats vote on March 2.
"He needs to win Iowa and he needs to finish in the top tier in New Hampshire," Parenti said. Parenti, a member of the state Senate's central staff, thinks that sort of performance could translate into a Gephardt sweep on Feb. 3.
"By New York, I think we'll have a nominee," Parenti said. "I think he can secure it by the time we get to New York."
Parenti said Gephardt left Western New York with $70,000 in his pocket, with another $40,000 pledged to the candidate.
Friday's first campaign stop was at Dan Vecchies' Shadow Martini Bar on Third Street, where Gephardt spoke to reporters and shook hands with supporters.
"Dan Vecchies was great," Parenti said. "He and Gephardt hit it off very well. We wouldn't have reached our goals without him. Dan was a newfound treasure for us in this thing. And the congressman loved the crabcakes."
Parenti -- a veteran political operative who has worked for State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano, former Buffalo City Comptroller Anthony Nanula and the Erie County Democratic Party -- said Gephardt's experience won his support.
"He's been in a leadership position for 20 years," Parenti said. "He's been involved in every issue that has confronted the United States during the last two decades, both foreign and domestic."
Parenti said Gephardt's strong union support makes him the most viable candidate in the industrial Midwest, an area of strength for Bush in 2000.
But before Gephardt can worry about November, he has to make sure he makes it to March.
A day spent in a St. Catharines courtroom waiting for Kirk Jones to face charges stemming from his miraculous plunge over the Horseshoe Falls in October offered a glimpse of justice, Canadian-style.
For one thing, threatening someone is a crime under Canadian law. One man received two years probation for leaving a phone message on his sister's machine, saying he was going to burn down her house if he wasn't invited for Christmas dinner.
Then there was the admitted cake thief who had been in jail for three months for lifting the dessert, valued at $12.95, from a donut shop. And the stolen meat peddler who was caught in a tavern trying to sell $26 worth of steak and chicken he got from a homeless man who had snatched it from a store.
Jones pleaded guilty to unlawfully performing a stunt on Niagara Parks property and mischief, receiving a $3,000 fine. While waiting for his case to be called, Jones talked about his feat, his plans to join the Toby Tyler Circus in an undetermined capacity next month and his relationship with his older brother, Keith, with whom he lives in Canton, Mich.
"We've always been like Cain and Abel," Kirk Jones said, declining to specify which one he's more like.
Jones' case, scheduled for 9 a.m., wound up being the last one called, shortly before 5 p.m. His hearing, like those before it, was conducted with an almost unbearable tone of civility. Attorneys addressed the judge as "your lordship." The prosecutor, known as "the crown's attorney," and defense counsel referred to each other as "my friend" when they addressed the court.
It was like being in another country.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 23 2003 |