MISSOURI COMMENTARY: TODAY'S HOT-BUTTON ISSUES HAVE RACIAL CURRENTS

Race is a more compelling factor in American politics today than at any time in our recent past. That's a provocative statement, but the 1994 congressional election unquestionably supports that conclusion.

For decades, the Democratic party has had the lopsided support of black voters and the almost as lopsided support of Hispanic voters. The white vote has tended by narrow margins to tilt Republican in congressional races. In the most recent election, the tilt became an avalanche with 58 percent of white voters supporting Republican congressional candidates. Dividing the group on the basis of sex, 62 percent of white men voted Republican, as did 55 percent of white women.

In the 1992 congressional races, in contrast, the white vote for those candidates split 50-50 (white men voted 51-49 for House Republican candidates and white women voted 51-49 for House Democratic candidates). The Democrats lost the recent election because the white vote went heavily Republican.

Not every white American male who shifted from Democratic to Republican had race on his mind. Some switched to the Republicans because they can't stand the Clintons. Some were offended by Clinton's stand on gays in the military. Some felt left out of the economic recovery. Some disliked Clinton's position on taxes or had other reasons.

But an undercurrent based on race played a role in the major change in voting patterns. Pollsters have difficulty identifying the race factor in elections because dealing with race directly or indirectly brings forth the largest number of untruthful answers. For example, in 1989 David Dinkins and Doug Wilder were black candidates running, respectively, for Mayor of New York and Governor of Virginia. Both had double digit leads in the polls right before election day, and both just barely squeaked by. Some white voters simply wouldn't tell pollsters the truth that they were going to vote against the black candidate.

Alan Wheat, a black man and the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Missouri, lost every one of Missouri's 114 counties, carrying only the city of St. Louis. By no means was race the sole reason for Wheat's defeat, but anyone who claims it wasn't at least a partial factor is being willfully naive.

Many of today's hot button issues have a racial undercurrent.

-- Death penalty. Watch local television news in America's old cities and the perception is that all murderers and rapists are black. Solution: death penalty. Some candidates even campaigned on "quick fry." Republicans were the most vigorous in trumpeting the death penalty and many Democrats, fearing to be left out on the issue, joined in the execution chorus.

-- "Three strikes and you're out" and other crime legislation. As with the death penalty, the perception is that all hardened criminals are black like Willie Horton. A year ago, even Jesse Jackson commented: "There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery -- then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

-- Welfare reform. Once again the perception is that this is purely a "black problem." The Republicans answer is for the federal government to build a string of "better than Dickens'" orphanages to warehouse illegitimate black children.

-- Affirmative action. No subtle nuance here. To many white males this means a black guy got my job or my promotion.

-- Proposition 187 and immigration. Again, nothing covert here. In California, Texas and Florida "immigration reform" means "keep minorities out."

The 20th century Democratic Party rose to dominance as the party of minorities. Early in the century, it was the party that had compassion for immigrants of all origins and religions. Beginning with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, it became the party fighting for first-class citizenship for blacks. In due course, it became the political home for downtrodden Hispanic immigrants.

Today many whites men say: What about me? What about my home, my job, my kids, my future?

The burden of the Democratic leadership in Washington is to balance its past with its future. The Democratic Party should never surrender its dedication to civil rights, civil liberties, and enhancing economic opportunity for the disadvantaged. Yet, without pretending to be a thin echo of the GOP, the Democrats have to persuade white American males that these principles are not its singular preoccupation. The latter prescription is much easier to write than to fulfill.

~Tom Eagleton is a former U.S. senator from Missouri and a columnist for the Pulitzer Publishing Co.