queen, the duke and the young nobleman, The

"Now I'm not mad At my Mom and my Dad, For giving me this unusual name; But just you remember That come November - Ander and Crenshaw are one and the same

Like singing Rep. (1982-86) Ed Zschau (R.-Calif.) and onetime Texas Democratic Gov. (1938-41) and Sen. (1941-48) W. Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel, whose Light Crust Doughboys band captivated Lone Star State voters, guitar-playing Ander Crenshaw used his love of music to launch a meteoric political career in Florida. When he was young Crenshaw's brother couldn't handle "Alexander," so it came out "Ander," and the unusual name has stayed with the Jacksonville native. Elected to the state house of representatives in 1972 and nearly elected secretary of state six years later, onetime University of Georgia basketball star Crenshaw wrote a song about his unusual first name and soon had voters throughout the Sunshine State singing along with him. He also had the assistance of vivacious wife Kitty, whose father, Claude R. Kirk, Jr., was Florida's first Republican governor since Reconstruction (1966-70).

Bouncing back to Tallahassee after winning a special election to the state senate, Crenshaw in 1992 became the first Republican president of the senate in more than a century. Two years later, he ran unsuccessfully for the GOP guber natorial nomination in a primary won by present Gov. Jeb Bush. His political career appeared over and Crenshaw threw himself into the investment banking business.

But with the surprise retirement of four-term Rep. Tillie Fowler (American Conservative Union rating: 85%), Crenshaw suddenly had a crack at political resurrection. At 55 and with Fowler's blessings, he declared for her Jacksonvillebased 4th District seat.

Like a duke in a royal court who has the queen's blessings, Crenshaw appeared on the verge of assuming power. Obviously because of his own clout and that of Fowler, other prospective candidates such as State Sen. Jim Horne declined to make the race in derernce to Crenshaw.

But 31-year-old entrepreneur Dan Quiggle was not going to be deterred from his ambition of serving in Congress. A former intern at the post-presidential office of Ronald Reagan and the founder of a vending machine company taking in more than $1 million a year, Ormand Beach conservative Quiggle makes no bones about being a "capitalist" who understands budgets and vows to "be an activist in the mold of my political hero Ronald Reagan." So far, Quiggle has raised more than $118,000 and retained for his campaign the Atlanta-based Century Strategies firm run by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.

Is there as much philosophical difference between opponents Quiggle and Crenshaw in the heavily Republican 4th District as there is between the two GOP protagonists in the Oth Did? Not really, since it is difficult to find an issue on which they disagree.

"I don't defer on rny conservative credentials to anyone," Crenshaw told me. "When I was president of the Senate, I was leading the charge against [the late Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles' big-spending and big-taxing schemes. The record speaks for itself: We stopped a lot of that stuff and saved the Florida taxpayers millions."

Matthew Corrigan, political science professor at the University of North Florida, may have summarized this primary best: "You're looking at two very different campaign styles" He noted that Crenshaw has been lining up highpowered endorsements from political figures such as Fowler and Arizona Sen. John McCain and from local leaders such as Jacksonville City Council President Alberta Hipps, while Quiggle focuses on coffees with small groups and door-to-door campaigning.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Sep 1, 2000
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