by JACKSON BAKER
After opening his mayoral campaign Wednesday afternoon at The Peabody with a
formal announcement event that had its ups and downs, former MLGW head Herman
Morris regrouped with a sizeable group of supporrters later in the evening at
the Botanic Gardens.
The gathering had a well-heeled look to it. Good wine,
elegant canapés, and hors d’oeuvres were to be had, and the room teemed with a
crowd that was clearly well above the median, income-wise.
That was ironic, given Morris’ use of the term “Tale of Two
Cities” earlier in the day to describe a city riven between the prosperous and
the poor. Though clearly upscale, his crowd was racially diverse,
however, in keeping with the candidate’s emphasis at his opening on being a
bridge between the races.
In his remarks at the evening event, Morris was fluent and
obviously comfortable with his audience, and his resonant bring-us-together
rhetoric, coupled with his aura (and stated promise) of professionalism, was
just what the crowd was looking for.
In a few scant hours, Morris had manifestly improved as a
speaker and seemed already to have grasped that practice would make him, if not
perfect, then at least good enough to compete. If he had a failing on this first
night of campaigning, it was a difficulty in finding the right way to close.
Sooner or later, of course, all rookie politicians come to realize that only
Tchaikovsky could get away with five finales to the same set-piece. In the
event, what Morris did was spin from one exhortatory coda to another until his
wife more or less concluded for him, with a pitch to supporters to buy prints of
one of his oil paintings, which were on display in an exhibit room just around
the corner
The candidate’s paintings – well crafted and traditionally
done — were, as they say, worth the price of admission, and several of the big
spenders gladly sprung for the selected print, a ploughing scene involving a man
and a mule and called, curiously enough, “Self Portrait.”
Should it come to pass that Morris does indeed get elected
mayor, the evidence of his oils was that he could probably do his own bona fide
self portrait to hang in the Hall of Mayors at City Hall. And there was a spirit
to the affair Wednesday night that anything might be possible.
But that could be illusory. Councilwoman Carol Chumney is
in the field, after all – and is sure to remain there, come what may. Morris and
his supporters all acknowledge that. And it would seem obvious that the two
challengers – Chumney with her following of disestablishmentarians and
barnburners, Morris with his bi-racial elite corps – would end up splitting the
same anti-Herenton vote. John Willingham will get some votes, too – though the
former county commissioner has by now taken on the aura of a perennial candidate
and seems destined to bring up the rear.
But at least Herman Morris, after all the prior talk and
anticipation, was finally hitched up to his plough. It’s up to him now to sow as
he will and reap what he can.
