Social Security was a key issue in several races, with Democrats and special-interest groups such as organized labor frequently attacking candidates for supporting privatization. Millions of dollars worth of television ads warned that pro-privatization candidates wanted to “gamble your retirement on Wall Street.” Senior citizens are the largest single block of voters in most races, and frightening them with dire warnings that their Social Security check (or Medicare) is in jeopardy has been a standard campaign tactic for decades.
But this year the scare tactics failed. Illinois Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun heavily targeted the Social Security issue in her race against Peter Fitzgerald, without success. Despite a barrage of attack ads claiming that he would invest Social Security funds in “junk bonds” to benefit “greedy Wall Street investors,” Fitzgerald won handily.
Fitzgerald will be joined in the Senate by two other supporters of privatization, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and George Voinovich of Ohio. Like Fitzgerald, Bunning survived harsh attacks on his willingness to consider privatization. Social Security was less of an issue in Ohio where Voinovich cruised to an easy win, but the popular governor had visited Chile earlier this year and returned with high praise for that country’s privatized system. His views on the issue certainly didn’t hurt him.