Mitt Romney will be nominated in Tampa next week.
However, he had to fight for the nomination. Going back to last year we have
seen a candidates surge to the top of the pack and then after a few weeks in
the spotlight they faltered and fell. In fact, they fell so fast and hard that
they folded and exited the race.
Leading the flavor of the month club pack was first
Michelle Bachman. Then she was followed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, who
looked like the real McCoy, but faltered right out of the gate. Then pizza
mogul Herman Cain had his day in the sun and his sunset. Then Newt Gingrich
soared for a few weeks but was swept away by former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum.
All these stars that have now burned out were
catapulted into the temporary limelight by what is called the “Big Mo” in
politics. That is short for momentum. In bygone days, and also in proper
political vernacular, it is referred to as the bandwagon effect.
George Wallace, who was the master of Alabama
politics, understood the bandwagon effect. He knew that people like to vote for
the winner. He would often tell me that he would rather have someone say that
he was going to win rather than say that they were going to vote for him. He
continued, “If they hear someone say they’re going to vote for me, they figure
they might have a selfish motive, but say he’s going to win invites everyone to
get on the train to victory and vote for the winner.” Some country people would
describe it as saying, “I don’t want to lose my vote voting for so-and-so, he
can’t win.”
Wallace used a unique political practice to exploit
this bandwagon effect. He would employ what I call runners. These well trained
runners would only number a handful of men because they had to be perfect for
the job. They had to be believable, genuine and look the part. These men would
circulate throughout the state during an election year. They would pose as
traveling salesmen.
The state was full of country stores in those days.
These country stores were where politics was talked. They were at the country
branch heads. They were the grapevine for the rural community. The barber shops
in the county seat were the other stage. Wallace himself would campaign in the
barber shops.
Wallace’s man would stop at a country store in North
Alabama several times, first to talk about the weather and the crops. On his
next stop he would talk about football. Finally, after he had won the
confidence of the locals in the country store, he would go into politics. These
folks would ask their well-traveled friend how the governor’s race looked
throughout the state. He would look them in the eye and say, “It ain’t no race,
George Wallace is going to clean up. He’s going to get all the votes in South
Alabama.” The North Alabamians would want to get on the bandwagon. The Wallace
runner or traveling salesman would do the same thing in South Alabama.
George Wallace’s political prowess for remembering
people’s names was legendary. However, he was better at adults than children. A
story often told on Wallace occurred during his first run for governor. After a
speech, Wallace was speaking to folks and a little boy came up to Wallace to
shake his hand. Wallace in a perfunctory manner said to the little boy, “How’s
your daddy?” The boy responded, “My daddy’s dead.” Wallace responded, “I’m sorry,” and went on
visiting with the crowd and shaking hands. The little boy meandered on and
later inadvertently bumped into Wallace again. Wallace looked at the boy and
asked him, “How’s your daddy?” The boy responded, “He’s still dead.”
See you next week.
About the author: Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading
political columnist. His column appears weekly in more than 70 Alabama
newspapers. Steve served 16 years in the state legislature. He may be reached
at http://www.steveflowers.us.
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