Politics can be a family business

? When Fred Thompson, grieving over the death of his adult daughter, decided last week to bow out of seeking re-election to the Senate from Tennessee, it was a reminder that politics really is a personal business. Family influences play at least as large a role at election time as any social trend or set of issues.

With Thompson as the prospective nominee, the Tennessee seat was considered safely in the Republican column. Now, it becomes competitive, even with former governor and presidential contender Lamar Alexander offering himself as a substitute for Thompson. Alexander faces a Republican primary and a serious challenge from the Democrats neither of which would have been the case had Thompson continued in the race.

But family ties are a force in so many ways. One of the problems former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan faced in his failed bid for the California Republican gubernatorial nomination was the fact that his wife is an ardent and active Democrat. Her influence could be seen in the many contributions Riordan made over the years to liberal Democrats, and in the campaign roles played by such prominent Democrats as Patrick Caddell, once pollster to George McGovern and Jimmy Carter, and Susan Estrich, who ran Michael Dukakis’ presidential race.

Republican activists had such a hard time understanding this pattern that they turned to the alternative, Bill Simon Jr., whose name familiarity, to the extent he had any, was based on being the son of Richard Nixon’s treasury secretary.

In the same California primary. Rep. Loretta Sanchez helped her sister, Linda, win a hotly contested Democratic nomination in a newly created district, setting up the strong possibility of the first sister act in the history of the House.

Another variation on the family theme this one ending on a discordant note involves the Democratic strongman of Sacramento, state Senate President John Burton, and his daughter, Kimiko. Ms. Burton was appointed public defender in San Francisco by Burton’s political ally, Mayor Willie Brown, and was challenged for election to the post by the former chief deputy, a man she had fired on taking office.

When I was in Sacramento last month, the lobbyists were buzzing about Senator Burton’s efforts to corral money and support for her race. “John wants this more than he’s ever wanted anything for himself,” one Democratic operative, who had known him for years, told me.

But he didn’t get it. Kimiko Burton lost by a wide margin in a low turnout.

Illinois, my destination last week, has seen more family politics in play. A leading contender for the Democratic nomination for governor is Rep. Rod Blagojevich, better known to insiders as the son-in-law of Alderman Dick Mell, one of Chicago’s strongest ward bosses.

The young man was happily practicing law in 1992, he told me, when he received a call from Mell one day while he was out jogging. Mell was in a feud with a neighboring ward leader, and wanted candidates to challenge his rival’s slate for the state Legislature. As Blagojevich put it, “In the world of tribal chieftains in Chicago, if you don’t have a state rep out of your organization, you’re emasculated.” Who better to fight for the family honor than his daughter’s spouse? Thus was a political career born.

But the buzz about Blagojevich is minor compared to the furor in Illinois over the fact that Mike Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and the Democratic state chairman, is trying to see his daughter, Lisa, nominated for attorney general. Miss Madigan, 35, has tried to convince the Chicago papers and the voters that she is running on her own record. But she cannot escape the large shadow cast by her power-broker father, who is matching John Burton’s exertions for his daughter.

Of course, one does not have to leave Washington to see the importance of family. The current President Bush decided, rather suddenly, to take up politics right after his father, now known as Bush 41, had been defeated for re-election as president. With guidance from the elder and help from family friends, George W. rose so fast he was able to avenge the defeat by beating the No. 2 man on the ticket to which his father had lost.

The Bush-Gore race was a dynastic battle, with Bush’s grandfather and Al Gore’s father having served as fellow senators for a decade after 1952.

Whether it is Thompson retiring or these others running, truly the explanation is in the blood.