Cleo Fields - Running For Governor

Running For Governor

In 1995 he became a candidate for Louisiana governor. Another black candidate withdrew and endorsed Fields, leaving him the entire black vote. Many in his party were angered by his candidacy, since most felt that a black challenger could not seriously win the office and Mason-Dixon polling released on October 17, 1995 showed Fields to be the loser in every possible head-to-head combination of candidates. "I know I'm going against the odds, but I am an odds-buster," he noted in the Commercial-Appeal. "I feel uncomfortable when it's even. I like to be the underdog. I've been the underdog all my life." He narrowly beat the top two white Democratic candidates in the primary and made it to a runoff with Republican Mike Foster. Though race had been a preeminent factor during his Congressional redistricting fight, Fields vowed not to emphasize color in the election, proclaiming, "I'm not running to be the African American governor, but to be the best governor," in a speech excerpted in the Chicago Tribune. "Don't vote for me because I'm black, ... don't vote against me because I'm black." His remarks in the Los Angeles Times continued this theme: "When a baby cries, it's not a white baby or a black baby — it's a hungry baby," he asserted. "When people cry for job opportunities, they're not black or white — they're unemployed." He was also outspoken in his support for gun control, which Foster roundly opposed. "Every time I hear a gunshot," he declared in a speech reported by the Chicago Tribune, "I think about my child." Some analysts actually wagered that Fields chances in the election might be helped by the likelihood that many of Foster's supporters would go duck hunting on election day.

Fields believed his brief record as a Congressional representative would help him in the election. "Voters have had an opportunity to see me and see how I operate as an elected official," he explained during a news conference covered by the Chicago Tribune. "So I think slowly we're breaking down those race barriers." Foster, meanwhile, knew better than to underestimate his opponent. "Anyone who thinks Cleo Fields is not tough is not living in this world," he noted in the Tribune. "Cleo's one of the toughest campaigners I've ever seen." Yet Fields' self-confidence was not enough to earn him an enthusiastic endorsement from fellow Democrats, and his alleged lack of cross-over appeal because of his color was a constant issue during the campaign. In the Commercial-Appeal, Fields replied to such assertions after having knocked out all other Democratic candidates by saying that he expected "from the Democratic party what I have given the Democratic Party — loyalty and support." John Maginnis, a Baton Rouge political writer who was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, thought that Fields had become "the dominant black politician in the state, which also makes him probably the most important Democrat in the state."

Fields had underestimated the challenge he faced. Foster's conservative message, designed by media consultant Roy Fletcher, who also had handled Cleo Fields' campaign for Congress, resonated with Louisiana's voters, who in a previous election had given former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke nearly 40 percent of the popular vote. As the polls predicted, Fields was defeated soundly in the runoff. Exit polling showed that 95% of his votes came from the black community. During this race Fields began a feud with fellow Democrat Mary Landrieu who did not endorse him in the second. Like many, she believing his bid had been funded by Republicans and was intended to be a spoiler to let Foster win. Fields retaliated by labeling her campaign racist and refusing to endorse her in her later race for United States Senate. It was revealed that Fields had abused his Congressional franking privileges by sending newsletters to his district — at a cost of about $46,000, paid for by taxpayers — that were clearly meant to boost his gubernatorial bid. "Of course, a newsletter like that doesn't have to say `reelect me' to be effective around election time," explained National Taxpayers Union vice-president Pete Sepp in Insight on the News. "It can serve as a great, well-produced reminder to voters that their incumbent congressman is taking care of business." Fields was far from alone in engaging in such tactics, of course, but the exposure in a time when "government waste" was a handy political phrase wielded by conservatives, it did not help.