Perhaps most telling of the Rhode Island Republicans’ showing in last week’s general election was the fact that their sole winner couldn’t declare victory until two-thirds of the crowd had gone home.
As a large-screen projector showed the faces of Rhode Island’s winning Democrats, state party Chairwoman Patricia Morgan paraded federal and state candidates across the stage at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings in Warwick Tuesday night for their concession speeches.
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One by one, they congratulated their opponents, spoke of their dedication to the campaign and thanked their supporters, some of whom watched with tears streaming down their face.
Noticeably absent for most of the night was the state’s most powerful Republican – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri.
While his party’s other candidates were capping their election season with losses, Carcieri stayed penned up in his hotel room, watching the returns in his narrow race against Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty.
By the time the governor was ready to take the stage – after all precincts and mail ballots had been counted, and the tally showed him up by 7,914 votes – it was close to 1 a.m., and many of the party faithful had left the hotel’s meeting room.
It was a bit of a surprise for Carcieri, a popular governor who has often used his political strengths to make his opponents come to his side of an issue.
But do the returns – which show that 49 percent of the voting public went for his opponent – mean the governor will have to adjust his style or will be less effective moving forward?
Carcieri, in a news conference Wednesday afternoon, called Tuesday a “rough night” for the state’s Republicans – highlighted, in particular, by the defeat of U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee. But the governor said he was pleased with his own win, and he attributed the closeness of the race to the problems of national Republicans and the divisive nature of the statewide primary between Chafee and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey.
Carcieri said the fact that he won in one of the country’s bluest states, during a year of large Democratic gains nationally, shows his continued popularity.
“It went down to the wire, but you take all victories,” Carcieri said. “This is a very difficult climate. … Given what was happening, it’s a wonder we survived.”
Brown University political science professor Darrell M. West said the small margin of victory shouldn’t stifle Carcieri’s agenda for the next four years.
“Any time you have a narrow election victory, it’s a little hard to act in the future,” West said. “You don’t carry the same weight as you would if you overwhelm the opposition. But he still is popular, and I think voters like his independence.”
What remains to be seen is how the governor’s near loss will affect his relationship with the Democrat-controlled legislature. Although he was more conciliatory in this past legislative session, Carcieri has previously sparred with Democrats over issues including state budgets, casino proposals and the unionization of child-care workers.
In the upcoming session, Carcieri said, he plans on tackling pension reform, environmental policy and health care costs.
With the makeup of the General Assembly remaining firmly Democratic – in fact, at press time, the Republicans had lost two seats in the House – West said last week’s results may embolden its leaders, giving them more perceived bargaining power when dealing with the governor.
“They’ve given him several things in recent years,” West said. “They may be reluctant to do that in the future.”
Asked whether he will have less influence in the General Assembly come January, Carcieri denied having ever been “overly confrontational” with the legislative body and said key issues such as tax reform have been led by efforts on both sides.
Robert Watson – an East Greenwich Republican and leader of the House Republicans – said that, despite its loss of two seats, his small contingent remains strong.
“We just know that we’ve always lacked in numbers, but we make up for it in effort,” Watson said.
The governor’s narrow reelection still represents a vote of confidence in his job, Watson said, and it would be wrong to fail to give Carcieri his due.
Gary S. Sasse, the executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, which has worked closely with both the governor and the legislature on issues including Medicaid reform and tax policies, said last week that his group still feels comfortable about being able to get its goals accomplished in the current political environment.
In the coming months, Sasse said, RIPEC will work on entitlement reform, the effective implementation of the recently passed property-tax relief plan, tax competitiveness and the cost of pensions to the state.
The key is to keep state spending in line, Sasse said – and that is not a partisan agenda. “Both the legislative and executive branches realize that this is an issue.”
Lamenting the losses of her party on Tuesday night, state chairwoman Morgan said she was discouraged that the “strong” candidates the Republicans put up this year couldn’t make it across the finish line.
However, she said, Carcieri remained a bright spot on this year’s ticket, despite the poll numbers. And, as he enters his second term, he will be able to govern effectively, she said.
“There are some big, big problems out there,” Morgan said. “He’s going to have to do what he has been doing.”
