- Originally published in The New York Times September 23, 2004
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
By SARAH KERSHAW; Eli Sanders contributed reporting from Seattle for this article.
Something remarkable happened at the annual powwow of the Rosebud Sioux here last month. Before thousands of American Indians
gathered on the prairie grass of this vast reservation on the northern
Plains, the tribal president gave Senator Tom Daschle a red feather.
White men rarely receive the feather, a sacred tribal honor bestowed on
Indian veterans, and some at the powwow later said they were shocked
and offended.
Mr. Daschle, who is locked
in a tight and vicious race with his Republican challenger, John Thune,
said he was deeply moved, and he was undoubtedly grateful because he
also received the influential endorsement of the tribal president, who
has a lot of Republican friends.
Indians are a long ignored bloc of voters representing only 1.5 percent
of the population. They have begun to show their power in the last few
years, helping to defeat a senator in Washington State in 2000, helping
to deliver victory to another here in South Dakota here in 2002 and
being heavily courted by the presidential candidates in swing states
like Arizona and New Mexico.
In the
last few years, political races from Congress to county sheriff have
begun to hinge on the Indian vote, particularly in places like South
Dakota, where the Indian population is 8 percent. Republicans and
Democrats alike, including the presidential candidates, are courting
Indians as never before. Mr. Daschle, the Senate minority leader, has
campaign offices on all nine of South Dakota's reservations.
Long the population with the lowest voter turnout, Indians have begun
to register in droves, and turnout among them has skyrocketed. Some
tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the country's largest, with
300,000 members in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, have moved the dates
of their tribal government elections to coincide with those for United
States government officials.
Often
thought to be solidly in the domain of the Democrats -- when they voted
-- Indians have branched out, giving their votes and their money to
both parties. The president of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, Charles
Colombe, and a fast-rising number of Indians here and across the
nation, have contributed to the Republican Party.
Campaign contributions to both parties have risen sharply, especially
from tribes in California, Connecticut and Michigan, which have begun
to funnel their hefty gambling revenues into politics, contributing
almost $5 million so far this year to federal campaigns. The tribes, as
sovereign nations, are subject to some, but not all, of the campaign
spending limits and laws on financial contributions.
Here on the Rosebud reservation, in one of the poorest counties in the
nation, where the unemployment rate hovers around 75 percent, there is
little money to give, and influence has come in the way of votes. In
2002, Senator Tim Johnson was re-elected by a hair in an 11th-hour
victory largely attributed to late returns from Democrats on the
state's reservations.
Still, Republicans
are gaining ground. Mr. Colombe, a registered independent, voted for
George Bush in 2000 and said he gave his own money to Republican
candidates.
''Many, many Indian people
find themselves in the position that I'm in, with the need to be
independent,'' Mr. Colombe said in an interview at tribal headquarters
here. ''I'm weighing who can do most for Indian Country.''
Indians sent about 80 delegates to the Democratic National Convention
this year and about 35 to the Republican convention, a substantial
increase over previous years, according to the National Congress of
American Indians, which represents the 562 tribes that operate as
sovereign governments.
''It's like somebody figured out we're here,'' said OJ Semans, a Sioux
who lives on the Rosebud reservation and is a field director for Four
Directions, a nonprofit group focused on Indian voter registration and
rights. ''We have been able to go to Washington, D.C., and where before
if we went, an aide or legislative assistant would come out, now it's
the senator, it's the congressman.''
In
return for their votes and their campaign contributions, the tribes
have gotten political promises, and sometimes results, on the issues at
the top of their agenda: improving transportation, health care and
education on the reservations and, for the tribes that run casinos,
particularly in California, a casino-friendly environment.
Tribes involved in casinos have contributed $4.9 million so far this
year to federal political campaigns, 65 percent to Democrats and 35
percent to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics, which tracks campaign spending. While only a small percentage
of tribes have enough money to make the donations, and they still
represent a small part of overall donations, the total is a sharp
increase from 10 years ago, when the tribal casinos were just beginning
to emerge, and the tribes gave $663,000, according to the center.
In South Dakota, which has one of the largest Indian populations in the
United States, the election in 2002 seems to have been a watershed.
''2002 demonstrated that the Native vote is a powerful vote. It made
the difference,'' Mr. Daschle said in a telephone interview from
Washington. ''The Native vote is now being recognized as a very
important voting bloc, and that's empowered the Native American community.''
Senator Johnson said: ''When I first came into politics, it was rare
for a tribal chairman to want to be seen on the stage with a white
politician. They viewed these as white man's elections.''
He added that the role of Indian voters in his victory had ''changed the political dynamics in South Dakota forever.''
''They are a force to be reckoned with,'' Mr. Johnson said.
This year's presidential candidates have reached out in unprecedented
fashion to Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, tribal leaders there say.
Both campaigns have been running
Indian-language advertisements in those states, and President Bush met
privately with the Navajo Nation vice president, Frank Dayish Jr.,
before a campaign stop in New Mexico last month.
Senator John Kerry appeared last month at the powwow of the Zuni and
Navajo in Gallup, N.M., where eagle feathers were waved over his head
in a ritual that is said to chase away evil spirits.
''It was a real experience,'' said the Navajo Nation president, Joe
Shirley Jr., who has endorsed Mr. Kerry. ''I really appreciated the
fact that he was willing to come into Native country and be part of our
sacred ceremony.''
Mr. Shirley, the
leader of 300,000 Indians who live in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, has
championed a widespread voter registration drive, and he said he
believed this was the first time a presidential nominee had campaigned
on Indian land.
This year, observers
say several House and Senate races could be swayed by the Indian vote.
In Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who is the daughter of
Gov. Frank H. Murkowski, is in a tight race with Tony Knowles, a former
governor. The state's population is 16 percent Alaska Native, and like
Indian voters in other states, Alaska Natives are involved in an
unprecedented voter registration drive this year.
As a group, Alaska Native leaders have not yet firmly endorsed either
candidate, although some observers say they expect much of the vote to
go to Mr. Knowles, a Democrat. Alaska, though, is a heavily Republican
state.
Among wealthy tribes in the rest
of the country, there is growing support for Republicans and several
gambling tribes, including the Saginaw Chippewa in Michigan, have begun
to donate relatively large sums to the Republicans.
Joseph Sowmick, public relations director for the Michigan tribe,
speaking for himself and not the tribe, said, ''The Republican platform
of respecting tribal sovereignty and the idea of less government is
very attractive to the Saginaw Chippewa.'' The tribe, which has about
3,000 members, has contributed $239,000 to federal political campaigns
so far in 2004, 62 percent to Republicans.
Among gambling tribes, the Michigan tribe ranked third in
contributions, after the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Southern
California and the Mashantucket Pequot in Connecticut, each of which
gave to Republicans and Democrats, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics.
While acknowledging
that in South Dakota, Indian voters are most likely to cast most of
their ballots for Democrats, John Thune, Mr. Daschle's opponent here
said he was happily aware of the recent shift toward supporting
Republicans.
''They are more receptive
to the other side of the story,'' Mr. Thune said. ''I think that that
comes from a lot of empty promises over the years from Democrats.''
Tensions are rising between Native Americans
who say that many Republicans have a lot to offer Indians and that the
Democrats have taken a paternalistic approach to Indians and others who
say the Republicans are seeking them out only now because gambling
tribes have money and other tribes have potential votes that could
decide close races.
''Unfortunately, the
tribes -- because they are political neophytes -- are being taken in by
this whole thing,'' said Russ Lehman, managing director of the First
Americans Education Project in Olympia, Wash., whose organization was
heavily involved in registering American voters who were credited with
helping defeat Senator Slade Gorton of Washington in 2002. ''They are
being invited to dinner, but they're not really one of the guests.''
But Mr. Colombe, the president here on Rosebud, who said he was
involved in unsuccessful voter registration drives in the past, played
down the conflict and said the crucial development was that Indians are
voting.
''We began to understand that
this system will go on without you, unless you get involved,'' Mr.
Colombe said. ''Ideas take a long time to catch on. This one, in my
opinion, took a whole generation for our people.''