[Previously: “The Day That Ted Hayes and Maxine Waters Tangled — Physically,” June 5.]
[img]125|left|Ted Hayes||no_popup[/img] Since this is the third and final installment of Republican Ted Hayes’ account of his gigantic underdog run against U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) in November, the reader may have noticed that one of Mr. Hayes’ strategies is to out-talk his opponent.
Even though Ms. Waters has been one of the loudest and most loquacious personalities in Washington for nearly two decades, her upstart challenger will test her there at least for sheer volume.
Stories about Mr. Hayes’ candidacy have been scarce in the public prints, and the legends surrounding his ticket to fame — as the face of homeless activism in Los Angeles in the ‘80s and ‘90s — have receded.
He, of course, is not backing off an inch just because his profile has been lowered.
“Even the black press doesn’t want to cover me,” he says. One story was published in the flagship newspaper of the community, the Los Angeles Sentinel.
“The black leadership knows that my positions on issues are right,” Mr. Hayes says. “Downtown business knows I am right. The mayor, other politicians, the police. They all know.
A ‘Feared’ Figure
“But they are deathly afraid of me, which I understand because I am a maverick.
“It appears I don’t answer to anybody. It appears that if I am successful in November, that means power comes to me.
“And what does that mean, an empowered Ted Hayes? Does he want to be mayor some day?
“They are thinking, ‘If we let him to the table — look at the way he dresses. He is not formally educated. He is not in the good, ol’ boys club. If we let him, he is going to want to bring the rest of the riff-raff to the table. Then we have a revolution. We can’t have that.’
“But they are going to have to deal with me.”
In spite of his decreased visibility, Mr. Hayes insists “I am doing well without money. Some people even think I am wealthy. A lot of black folks have a mythology about me, and that is why they like me.
“Once in awhile, they see me on TV. Not that much, but when they see me, I strike an image that they can’t shake,” and he smacks the palms of his hands together, as if clanging cymbals.
Toting up Earnings
“I didn’t buy my notoriety,” he says. “I earned it.
“Besides, I am not going to need that much money to beat Maxine Waters. She already has beaten herself. I just have to go collect. And the way I collect is to make sure everybody in the district knows I am running for her seat.”
Mr. Hayes said the difference between this campaign and his first two runs for office — for Mayor and the City Council — “is that I have more experience now.
“People who have been telling I should run are going to hold their noses, because I am a Republican, and vote for me anyway.
Where Is the Leadership?
“See, Maxine Waters is beating herself because she has failed to become a leader. Go all across this country. Talk to the average black person about black leadership. They’ll all say ‘What black leadership? We ain’t got no leadership’
“That’s right. We are devoid of leadership. The only reason we listen to Louis Farrakhan — not that we believe in his Islamic ideas and space ship stuff — is we, as black folks, gravitated to him because he was standing strong about us. And he dared to confront the proverbial white man.”
Speaking gutterally now as emotion surged, Mr. Hayes said “we loooovvvveee to see a brother get in The Man’s face. He filled the vacuum where there was no leadership at.
“Of course, now he has blown his collateral, big time.
The New Leader
“And now here comes Obama. We’re not going for Obama because we believe what the man said. We don’t hear a word the man said. We are the most racist people going right now.
“We accept him because he looks something like us. Then we realize, he’s not even one of us. He’s an African. He’s not one of us. He’s a Northeast African. His people kill our people. To this very day, they don’t like us.
“But they are going for him because they figure we got a black man up there, it gives ‘em a sense of pride, and we will advance. But they’re going for a myth.
About His Candidacy
“I think that once black folks become convinced I am a viable candidate, they will come to me,” Mr. Hayes says.
How will voters know when he is viable?
“We will have to raise enough money,” he says, “to insure that I get out at least one or two mailers — and then, I will win.”
