Bucks
Patrick Murphy, Barack Obama’s team member
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Little did Mighty Betsy and I realize what a political roller coaster ride America was about to experience when we had dinner with Congressman Patrick Murphy 13 days ago. Because MB is on the board of Bucks County Planned Parenthood, we attend its annual “Blue Moon Auction” each fall.
One of the items at the auction was a dinner for ten with Patrick and Jenni Murphy at Maggie and Richard Groff’s home near Doylestown. I support Planned Parenthood because its programs emphasize that every child should be a wanted child. It was also an opportunity to interview the two Murphy’s. The dinner was a gourmet delight.
The Iowa caucus had just occurred with Barack Obama the big winner. I’d forgotten that Murphy had declared his support for Obama months ago. That’s a gutsy position to take for a first term Democratic congressman…especially when predictions for the Democratic nomination clearly favor Hillary Clinton. How much political capital will Murphy lose if Hillary lands in the White House?
He’s a member of Obama’s team and travels constantly with him…first in Iowa and later in New Hampshire. I learned that Murphy is fearless.
Annsi Cole Stephano (Solebury Township), and Bill Morrill (Newtown area), both Planned Parenthood board members, and Andy Rouse, one of my rowing friends were at that dinner party. It was fascinating to observe Morrill and Rouse because they hadn’t seen each other in decades. Both had served in the Nixon Administration, 30 plus years ago.
Bill was a high-ranking civil servant in the Federal Bureau of the Budget and the principal officer for the Defense Department. Andy was the Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Budget. His assignment was forecasting budgets five years in the future. Later, Andy’s team worked on reorganizing the federal government.
What a glorious but hopeless mission, I thought!
“Bill was one of the fast disappearing group of senior civil servants,” Andy told me. “Administrations since have replaced them with political appointments. Bill’s a good example of what we’ve lost.”
Boy, is that the truth!
The day before the New Hampshire Primary, I called Murphy on his cell phone. He was racing around Concord, New Hampshire’s capitol. I asked him about Obama’s Vice Presidential and Cabinet appointments, should he win the Democratic nomination and the fall election.
Murphy believes that California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be in Obama’s administration. “You’ll find Republicans, Independents, and Democrats in Obama’s cabinet,” Murphy predicted. “He’s not locked into exclusive Democratic appointments.”
How will Obama do tomorrow [January 8], I asked?
“I just want a victory,” Murphy replied, “I’m not looking for a landslide.”
It turned out that Hillary Clinton surprised the nation by winning a razor thin victory in New Hampshire…but a victory non-the less. The pollsters accurately predicted a John McCain win on the Republican ballot but missed the Democratic result.
Why?
Another of my rowing friends, Francis Ballard, probably has the best answer. “The polls predicting an Obama landslide were taken on the Saturday before the Primary,” Francis began. “But that was before news anchorman Charlie Gibson asked Hillary Clinton [during the Saturday evening debate] whether she was bothered by so many who say she’s unlikable. She responded, ‘You’re hurting my feelings.’
“And the next day, Hillary Clinton showed tears in an emotional response to a question posed by a woman at a diner,” Francis Ballard continued. “In the two days between the poll and the primary, women changed their mind…in fact, 10,000 of them did.”
The day before the New Hampshire Primary, I called Geordie Wilson, the Publisher of the Concord Monitor. MB and I’ve known his parents and him for years.
“We’re in the eye of the [political] storm,” Geordie began, predicting that Obama would steam roller over Hillary Clinton. “It’s a wave crashing over the state,” Geordie continued. “She’s like a deer caught in the head lights. And, she’s not graceful when she’s in the attack mode.”
The Monitor endorsed Clinton, which did not please Geordie’s mother who was for Obama.
“Romney will be surprised,” Geordie accurately predicted as he discussed the two Republican rivals, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Geordie believes that the New Hampshire win will give McCain tremendous energy as the South Carolina Primary approaches. I enjoyed the Monitor editorial headline which read, just before the primary: “NOT Romney.”
Geordie emphasized that 41 percent of the voters in the Granite State are independents. “You can’t win in New Hampshire without the independents,” he said.
It was the independents…and especially women…that carried the day for Hillary Clinton 10 days ago.
Patrick Murphy is a busy young man. So is his charming, perky, better half who used to be a Republican. Murphy has his work cut out for him. He’s campaigning hard for Obama. But, I wonder whether Patrick’s forgotten that he’ll be facing an opponent too?
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith