6/26/00 6:25 p.m.
La Campaign Aux Folles
A slow start for Lazio.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

ick Lazio must be sick of parades — whether it's attending them or talking about them. This columnist is certainly sick of writing about them. Lazio, of course, has good reason to be tired. A Memorial Day Parade upstate ended up with the GOP candidate flat on his face, and sporting nine stitches on his upper lip. That the accident occurred the day before his debut speech at the state Republican convention just compounded the ignominy.

He managed to avoid much trouble at New York City's Salute to Israel and Puerto Rican Day Parades; but no such luck at Sunday's Gay Pride Parade. Lazio made quite a splash by not being there. The mini-controversy that developed over his decision not to march underscores how treacherous are the waters that candidates often have to navigate while campaigning in the Empire State.

Frankly, Lazio's decision to skip the Pride march this year is politically questionable. If Lazio were running as a pure conservative, his non-appearance wouldn't have been a story. He would just say that he either disapproves of the lifestyle or doesn't buy into the identity politics that the parade represents. If Lazio were running as a clone of the liberal Giuliani, he would have marched. The mayor just accepts the Pride parade as any other. In the past, he has often been booed, but typical of Giuliani, he looks at every parade as an opportunity to show that this is his city and he'll march if he wants to. (Aside: The mayor's fondness for dressing up in drag on "Saturday Night Live" and other venues should merely be seen as coincidence). Ironically, the mayor's illness gained him a large deal of sympathy this year. He was cheered and even hugged by many along the parade route.

But, in the context of New York's identity politics, Lazio comes off poorly by resorting to the politician's favorite dog-ate-my-homework excuse, "scheduling conflict," to explain why he was taking hayrides upstate while Hillary and Rudy were strolling down Fifth Avenue with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered multitude. (Note, by the way, how the definitions of the alternatively lifestyled expand as the years go by. It was not that long ago, that it was just "gays and lesbians." Some literature referred to the "Free Spirit" community; who that refers to is anybody's guess.)

While Hillary is going to get the overwhelming support of gays, the question is whether Lazio looks bad by seeming to duck this parade while he had no problem attending various others in the city and around the state. New York is one state where identity politics and the traditional urban-area coalition politics tend to merge. Showing up at least gives the appearance of wanting to compete for a certain community's vote. At the very least, it precludes a round of "Where's Rick?" stories. Besides, it's not as if conservatives are going to abandon Lazio because he chooses to march in the Pride parade.

Dick Morris has a column in today's New York Post lauding Lazio's response to Hillary's attack ad. Morris has overseen several winning campaigns and his insights can't be completely discounted. However, the fact remains that, over the last few weeks, Lazio has been playing defense. A response ad that ends with Lazio saying that it's "easier for Mrs. Clinton to attack me than to name a single thing she has ever done for New York" has a certain zing to it. However, it ultimately reiterates the basic charge against Lazio — in this case that he voted against the Patient's Bill of Rights and flip-flopped on support for hate-crimes legislation.

Lazio deflects the first accusation, by demonstrating that he did vote for one of the compromise versions of the Patient's Bill of Rights. However, the truth is that he did flip-flop on hate crimes. But, then again — to the consternation of more than one New York conservative — so did nearly the entire Republican state establishment. Sexual orientation is even included in the bill that emerged from the state legislature at the end of last week's session. So, don't blame Lazio — blame the Pataki-led machine.

But, regardless of Morris's confidence that Hillary's ad attacks have been effectively parried, the average outside observer might be nervous that Lazio recently doesn't seem to be on the offense.

Furthermore, it is a rule in politics that if you're not playing offense, you're playing defense. If you're playing defense, you're not setting the agenda. Between commercials responding to Hillary's attacks, returning fire on an SEC investigation into a stock deal, and explaining his role in assisting a donor dealing with HUD, Lazio has been in constant reactive mode for the last couple of weeks. Can a case can be made that the SEC and HUD stories have been engineered by the Hillary camp? Of course, but that is to be expected. It is what the Clintons do, after all. The more important question is, Why hasn't the Lazio camp been more out front in framing their candidate's agenda? Lazio has been campaigning to be the candidate for more than a year now, long before Giuliani dropped out. He should have been able to hit the ground running. So far that hasn't been the case. New Yorkers might not like Hillary; they may be poised to vote against her. That's all well and good. But Lazio still has to close the deal.

We're waiting.