Democrats fall short: McCall, Kirk lose major elections. (Washington Report).

In the wake of one of the most important elections for African Americans in the early part of this century, pundits and political analysts are asking, what went wrong?

November 5, 2002, could have been an historic day for African Americans, the day that black voters helped Texas elect its first black U.S. Senator and New York its first black governor. But despite strong campaigns, the candidates in both races fell short.

In Texas, Republican John Cornyn beat Democrat Ron Kirk former mayor of Dallas, 55% to 43%. Halfway across the country, in New York, democrat H. Carl McCall received 33% of the vote, to republican incumbent George Pataki's 49%.

Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, says a downplaying of racial issues by the candidates, lack of financial support from the national Democratic party, and the overwhelming popularity of President George W. Bush, who campaigned hard for his fellow Republicans, contributed to Kirks and McCall's campaign losses.

"Bottom line, Democrats just couldn't get it done in this election," Walters said. "Not after 9-11. [The election] was predicated upon people's fears for their personal security and [President] Bush used this fear as political capital. Kirk, McCall, and everybody else had to contend with that."

National election results bear this out. The Democrats had a one-seat advantage in the U.S. Senate going into the race and needed only six seats to retake the House of Representatives. But Democrats had a dismal election day, losing seven senate races, including Kirk's, and challenges in Colorado, Georgia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Missouri, and North Carolina.

The Democrats' fight for control of Congress may have put the final nail in McCall's campaign. With McCall facing a more than 10-point deficit in polls just three weeks before the election, the Democratic party pulled the plug on financing his campaign in order to shift money to important Senate and House races, including Kirk's.

David Bositis, chief political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C., says the decision to stop pouring money into McCall's campaign most likely helped Kirk pick up more votes near the end of his race.

Finance issues aside, McCall's campaign never really picked up enough steam to overcome Pataki, a Republican governor whose popularity soared after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Bruce Miroff, chairman of the political science department at the State University of New York at Albany.

On the other hand, Kirk and Tony Sanchez, a billionaire Hispanic businessman who self-financed his campaign for governor, had strong support from the Democratic party. The Democrats hoped the two would win big seats in Texas and would shore up minority support for the party. Unfortunately, Sanchez also lost his election bid, by a margin of 58% to 40%, to Republican Rick Perry.

Some believe that Kirk's inability to attract a solid base of black voters contributed to his defeat. "I think he suffered from nonracialism," Walters says. "You need to bring in the Jesse Jacksons or the Al Sharptons to excite people. Otherwise, they think you don't care about their issues."

There may, however, be a silver lining to these McCall and Kirk losses. Kirk, whose says his plans now include returning to his Dallas law practice and spending time with his family, believes he may have opened the door for other black candidates to campaign for Texas' U.S. senate seats. "Somebody has to go first," he says. "People around the country [now] see that African Americans can run good campaigns statewide. I didn't win, but the next person might."