“I just got your message and I apologize to you for getting back so late,” drawled former Democratic National Chairman Don Fowler, in a phone call to me Feb. 18.
One of the two oldest living former Democratic National Chairmen, South Carolinian Fowler, who died Tuesday at 85, was unfailingly courteous and a delight to reporters. Almost inevitably, he had something to say that would draw attention to a story that set off the “clicks.”
On that particular day, Fowler reiterated his neutrality in the Democrat presidential sweepstakes — “nearly all of them are my friends” — but he couldn’t leave me without imparting something newsworthy.
“I’m high on [Minnesota Sen. Amy] Klobuchar,” he revealed, “[S]he’s smart as hell and has a personality that is very pleasing. And she’s done very well in debates.”
But, as if to make his neutrality known, Fowler and wife Caroline hosted receptions for nearly all of the Democrat hopefuls at their Columbia, South Carolina, home.
When I first interviewed Fowler on the floor of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, his niche as a “wise man” in his party established, Fowler was drawing delegates from various states by just standing there.
But he still made time for colleagues Linda Feldmann of the “Christian Science Monitor,” Danish journalist Jorgen Ullerup, and me.
“Chairman Fowler was a Southern gentleman of the best sort, and I always appreciated his energy and insights,” Feldmann recalled.
And what “energy and insights” they were!
Of Donald Trump and his hardline stand on immigration, Fowler said: “We’re all immigrants — doesn’t that fool know that? “He talks about banning Muslims from the U.S. Has he not read the First Amendment and its providing the free exercise of religion?” When I asked Fowler if I heard him correctly about calling the Republican nominee a “fool,” he nodded vigorously and said “Make sure you get that down!”
He also made it clear he was fed up with Bernie Sanders’ supporters for making known their disappointment that Hillary Clinton had edged their man out for nomination.
Of Sanders, Fowler said, “We’ve got to let him vent.” But of his supporters drowning out speakers that evening with chants of “Bernie! Bernie!” he said: “This is all very sad, and a very unfortunate occurrence. Hillary Clinton has done so many good things she deserves better than this.”
Four years later, Fowler underscored his view that the ambivalent attitude of Sanders’ supporters toward his friend Hillary had cost her the election against Trump.
“Sanders is a front-runner here [in South Carolinas], but it’s not to my liking,” Fowler told me in 2020. “But I will support him if he’s the Democratic nominee for no other reason that he is the Democratic nominee and we need to defeat Trump.”
A native of Spartanburg, S.C., Fowler earned a degree in psychology from Wofford College and went on to earn a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Kentucky. Along with teaching at Wofford and the University of South Carolina, Fowler rose to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Fowler became Democratic state chairman in 1971, shortly after fellow Democrat John Carl West had won a contentious contest for governor over Republican Rep. (and school busing foe) Albert Watson.
Three years later, when Democrat gubernatorial nominee Charles “Pug” Ravenel was suddenly struck from the ballot for not meeting residency requirements, his angry supporters deserted the substitute nominee and helped elected Jim Edwards as the Palmetto State’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
Suddenly devoid of the governorship and its accompanying patronage, Democrats looked to Fowler for leadership. He gradually healed the party’s wounds from ’74 and Democrats recaptured the governorship in 1978 with Fowler’s friend Dick Riley.
The South Carolinian’s skills at bringing disparate party factions together caught the eye of national Democrats. In 1983, he was named to head the DNC’s “Fairness Commission” to “reform” the nomination process. Fowler oversaw the reduction of the threshold from 20% to 15% for which presidential candidates could acquire delegates in primaries and caucuses.
He also championed the existence of “super delegates” — elected and party officials who automatically were delegates at national conventions and thus had a vote without being chosen in primary or caucus.
In 1994, following a mid-term election thrashing in which his party lost control of both Houses of Congress, President Bill Clinton turned to old friend Fowler as Democratic National Chairman. During Fowler’s stint at the DNC helm, Clinton was reelected and Democrats made gains in the Republican-controlled House and Senate.
Since 1997, Fowler headed his own communications firm and taught at the University of South Carolina.
“Don Fowler was one of South Carolina's treasures,” former Rep. John Napier, R-S.C., a former judge of the U.S. Court of Claims, told Newsmax. “And he was one of our nation's treasures. Don will be remembered a man who lived every day by his principles and patriotism.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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