The Nation's Pulse: Biting Back

...Roemer, a member of the House education committee, says he had a call from Hastert in late January asking him to continue working with the Republicans on education issues...

...With Robert Menendez of New Jersey replacing Connecticut's Barbara Kennelly as caucus vice-chair following her failed gubernatorial bid, chief deputy whip Rosa DeLauro, a Northeastern ultraliberal and one of the party's fiercest partisans, ran against Texan Martin Frost for caucus chair...

...But one top Democratic staffer allows that the Democrats may choose simply to block the Republicans at every turn so they can point to a do-nothing Congress and make the argument that they should be returned to power...

...Still, "He's one out of how many" in the leadership...

...Or maybe a yellow dog left out in the cold too long...

...I have to believe the president is going to want to accomplish some things at least in the first year of this term" before the campaign season makes any real legislating impossible...

...Bonior concedes the Democrats tilted left during their majority reign...

...his full energy was focused on becoming the next speaker...

...He does care how he's viewed by the party...

...Whether Hastert's efforts to work with the Democrats will be applauded in his own conference remains to be seen...

...But Gephardt's choice may prove to be an inspired one...

...Bonior insists Democratic leaders are now making more of an effort to listen to the moderates and conservatives for the sake of party unity...

...If any substantive legislation is going to be passed in this Congress it will have to be done before the presidential and congressional campaigns start in earnest...

...The White House is a factor, too...

...In addition to true moderates like Roemer, the New Dogs include people like Harold Ford, Jr...

...Republicans and Democrats could be so polarized and angry that it will be impossible for them to work together...

...The women were furious that, unlike Bonior, Gephardt had declined to take sides...

...77 Though their numbers may be twice those of their Republican counterparts, Democratic moderates lack the visibility and party clout of the GOP moderates...

...The Democrats are making it clear they will do whatever it takes to win back control in 2000, an event many of them consider a foregone conclusion...

...Such overconfidence causes mistakes, and that has at least a few Democrats worried...

...In the wake of the '94 conservative realignment, many Democrats — especially those running for the first time—see the wisdom of toning down their rhetoric...

...They say he is well aware of what Democrats need to do to win back seats in swing districts...

...52 March 1999 - The American Spectator D espite these overtures, not all Democrats are convinced their leaders are sincere about including the more conservative members of the caucus in decision making...

...As Frost says, it will be his job to ensure that "liberals, moderates, and conservatives all have a piece of the action...

...When Kennedy first won his Rhode Island congressional seat in 1994 at the tender age of 27, he was painfully shy, granting almost no national interviews in his first two terms in office...

...This growth may reflect not so much a sea-change in Democratic ideology as the politics of convenience...

...Indiana's Tim Roemer was one of those New Dogs who voted for Frost for caucus chair...

...Membership in the New Democrats is growing significantly, up to 58 from 45 last fall, with 15 of the 23 current Democratic freshmen joining...

...Just as Hastert is wooing Democratic moderates, the Democrats plan to do the same with GOP moderates to garner the votes they need...

...The five conservative House Democrats who voted to impeach Bill Clinton are also likely targets for Hastert...

...Speaker Dennis Hastert is well aware of the problem...

...After the 1994 election, conservative and moderate Democrats complained bitterly that, had they not been continually ignored by the leadership, the Democrats might have held the House...

...They're not without influence, either...

...The compromise welfare reform bill in the io4th Congress had Blue Dog origins...

...As a way perhaps to keep him in the fold, House Democrats held their February party retreat at a resort in Goode's southern Virginia district...

...I t is virtually impossible to predict the post-impeachment fallout and how it will affect this session of Congress...

...By and large the Blue Dogs are conservative on The American Spectator March 1999 51 social issues—against abortion and gun control...

...And he tapped third-term congressman Patrick Kennedy to head it...

...54 March 1999 The American Spectator...

...As 1996 proved, the passage of popular legislation, no matter who wrote it, will only benefit incumbents, regardless of their party...

...In 1995 the group introduced its own budget, receiving just 72 votes...

...Take Mississippi's Gene Taylor, for example, a Blue Dog who was among the five Democrats to vote for impeachment...

...As Gingrich proved with his Contract With America in 1994, it takes a caucusunited behind ideas...

...But their 1996 plan mustered 130 votes, surpassing Clinton's...

...Besides, he had installed Frost as head of the DCCC four years ago...

...Given that more seasoned Democrats had long waited in the party's wings, Kennedy seemed ill-fit for the high-profile job ahead of him...

...The group has its own PAC, and a two-thirds vote by the members is required before legislation receives the Blue Dog stamp of approval...

...We had some people more liberal than the districts they were representing," says a long-time aide to Frost...

...With such an evenly divided House there's no doubt the moderates of both parties are in the catbird's seat...

...he seeds of discontent go to the T summer of 1994, when a frustrated group of about 20 Southern conservative Democrats began talking about forming their own group...

...Indiana's Tim Roemer, along with Cal Dooley of California and Jim Moran of Virginia, heads up this group of about 6omembers...

...Otherwise "they may vote with the Republicans or just be quiet....You need them to be enthusiastic...

...Though less visibly so than the GOP, the Democratic Party is —and has been for several years—a disgruntled mass of factions...

...Frost "was elected largely because of his performance as head of the DCCC," said Bonior, who had backed DeLauro...

...And Taylor advises they should be recruiting more conservatives and moderates to run because "who controls the South, controls Congress...

...We're not nearly as close to winning back the House as everyone thinks," the staffer added...

...New members must be voted in, and weekly meetings are for members only...

...Though the Missourian did not publicly renounce his presidential ambitions until early February, Democrats sensed that, since his party's relatively strong showing last November, LINDA KILLIAN, a Washington journalist, is author of The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution?, out in paperback this spring (Westview...

...Bill Clinton loves policy," says Roemer...

...We have learned how to work from the middle out," he adds...

...Frost, too, says he has assured these conservative and moderate Democrats they will have a voice...

...We need to prove that we can get one from our ranks to a leadership position...

...he asks...

...It's not a slam dunk...

...Publicly Democratic leaders say Social Security, Medicare, HMO, and education reform are their most important items and that they plan to move forward on their agenda with or without the Republicans...

...Even now, "I'm not sure that people still see themselves as being in the minority," one Democratic staffer says...

...G iven their razor-thin six-vote margin, winning the votes of dissatisfied Democrats like Taylor and Roemer will be a top priority for the GOP...

...for things like school prayer, a flag-burning amendment, and increased spending for military and agriculture programs...

...of Tennessee, Anna Eshoo and Bob Matsui of California, and Carolyn Maloney, who represents the Upper East Side of Manhattan...

...Roemer predicts the upcoming "battle for the gavel" will be so intense that this will undoubtedly be "the most expensive and contentious House election in history...

...Kennedy's public performance has improved of late, and among the Democratic faithful—the kind of people who give money—the Kennedy name can fill the DCCC's coffers like none other...

...House Democrats applaud his decision and say it's their best shot...

...In late January Gephardt transferred two of his top staffers to the committee...

...The inspiration for their colorful name (a play on the term "yellow-dog" Democrat, a Southern Democrat so loyal he would vote for a yellow dog if it had a "D" by its name) reflects their frustration...

...He won that race because people felt he deserved it," particularly given that the Democrats' performance last November exceeded expectations...

...Frost, who headed the DCCC since 1995 and is slightly more moderate than other Democratic leaders, eked out an 11-vote victory over DeLauro, thanks largely to the support of the party's moderates and conservatives and members of the Congressional Black Caucus...

...It's an exclusive club, these Blue Dogs...

...Though his gut feeling is that Frost's election as caucus chairman is "more of the same" and will simply "bridge the gap from the extreme left to the far left," Taylor recognizes that Frost is making an effort to listen to the moderates and conservatives...

...It took a couple of years for most Democrats to come to terms with the Republican Revolution of 1994...

...He also thinks there should be "a conservative in one of the top three leadership positions...

...Ashead of the caucus, Gephardt had to stay neutral...

...Gephardt and Bonior assuaged the women by creating a position for Rosa DeLauro...

...If you just look at the leadership you could draw the conclusion" that no moderate Democrats remained in Congress after the '94 election, said Taylor...

...His speeches were awkward, too...

...Though largely a liberal, people who know Frost well often describe him as "pragmatic...

...When Frost took over the DCCC in 1995, he called it a job "no one wanted...

...This may prove a daunting task...

...You can talk to Dick Gephardt and he says, 'I hear you' — that's Gephardt's favorite line, 'I hear you' — but I don't think he does," says Taylor...

...There's a real strong belief that if we hold together we take back the House," said Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio...

...Frost said the pickups in 1998 have "emboldened the Democrats" about their chances in two years...

...Very few Democrats, with the exception of those from urban districts, still get away with calling themselves liberals...

...The Clinton legacy would be dramatically affected— and not for the better—if the Democrats lose the presidency and fail to recover Congress in 2000...

...It's also clear that the one thing unifying the Democrats is their desire to win back control of Congress...

...The choice was surprising...

...Minority Leader Richard Gephardt stands to gain the most should his party recapture the House next year...

...If the Republicans want to hold the House they'll need to accomplish some things so voters have a reason to keep them in power...

...That haunts him as much as his substantive legacy," says Bonior...

...But he differs from Taylor on the Democratic leadership's commitment to the moderates, noting that, including the Blue Dogs, they make up roughly 4o percent of the caucus, much too large a percentage to ignore...

...Democrats say their caucus is more united than it's ever been, butwhether that will stick is the big question...

...Assuming he stays in office, Clinton may be so desperate to erase the memory of impeachment and leave a legislative record to posterity that he will work with the Republicans...

...And his election as caucus chairman seems to indicate some new-found clout for the more moderate wing of the party...

...It was a job tailor-made for DeLauro, who insisted on being elected—not appointed—but ran unopposed for the job...

...the Democratic Dogs, on the other hand, tend to lick their wounds in a corner when the liberals ignore them...

...Gephardt is less worried about policy dividing us and more worried about politics dividing us," says Roemer, adding, "Our greatest weakness going into 2000 is our disunity...

...But he managed to recapture some seats by recruiting more moderate candidates...

...A bit to the left of the Blue Dogs are the so-called New Democrats, or "New Dogs...

...But whether he sees any hope of such legislation passing a Republican Congress is another matter...

...A Blue Dog, suggests an aide to Tennessee's John Tanner, one of the founders of the group, is a Democrat choked by the extremes of both parties until he turns blue in the face...

...When GOP moderates have a disagreement with conservative colleagues, they often run to the New York Times...

...The American Spectator • March 1999 53 One Democratic member said Bill Clinton and other administration officials were "stunned" by their level of success with the budget in late 1998, the Republicans' willingness to give the Democrats virtually all the spending they wanted, and the GOP's inability to agree on tax cuts before the election...

...We all understand that when we take over in 21 months—and I have great confidence that we will—that we'll have a narrow margin," House Minority Whip David Bonior said in a recent interview...

...Rather than catering to the senior members and liberals in the party, Taylor says, his leaders "need to do a thousand-times better job of taking care of the young people from tough districts like they've taken care of people from safe seats...

...One of Taylor's chief complaints is that conservative Democrats don't get their share of the prestigious committee assignments...

...The group currently comprises 29 members...

...They note, for example, the minority leader's increased attention to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC...

...Democrats will need more than money to recapture the House, though...

...Of the 12 non-incumbent candidates it endorsed last year, half were elected...

...The Democrats are counting on Hastert not being able to hold together his conservative and moderate wings, and Bonior is eagerly predicting the Republicans "will implode" in this session...

...Gephardt and Bonior assuaged the women by creating a fifth leadership position, called "assistant to the minority leader," with responsibilities for communications, research, and policy planning...

...We got pretty out of sync after 40 years," he says...

...One of them, Virgil Goode, is rumored of late as a possible party switcher...

...There's a sense that we're just waiting out the clock until we take back the field...

...They're more geographically diverse than the Blue Dogs, focusing on more suburban and pro-business issues, such as hi-tech, education, trade—even a capital gains tax cut...

...Several months later, after Democrats were decimated in the November election, they mobilized: The Blue Dogs were officially born in February 1995...

...These "Blue Pups" hail from Indiana, Kansas, Illinois, and California, as well as the rural Old South, their traditional bastion...

...As we move to take those seats back, we need to get candidates who are more moderate...

...In his State of the Union address Clinton was obviously playing to his liberal base, licking his chops over the budget surplus and loading up the speech with programs for every conceivable interest group that could see him through impeachment...

...T ensions between conservative and liberal Democrats flared up in November when women found themselves locked out of a leadership position in the current io6th Congress...

...In fact, they now prefer to be called "progressives...

...Of course, the same could be said of the Republicans...

...While there are fewer conservative Southern Democrats in Congress today than there were in 1993, Democrats elected in '96 and '98 were decidedly more moderate than their leaders...

...Taking a page from the GOP playbook, he sought wealthy candidates with business as well as government backgrounds...

...Democratic women, however, felt left out in the cold, a slight that was voiced in a heated two-and-a-half-hour closed-door meeting with Gephardt and Bonior the day after the leadership vote...

...I think we're making incremental progress, but I think we have a long way to go," jays Roemer...

...On the other hand, electorally Clinton's presidency has been a bleak time for Democrats: Both houses of Congress as well as a number of governorships and statehouses have been lost...

...But a productive session probably won't serve the Democrats well...

...No matter how conservative he is, Taylor is still a Democrat who says he has no plans to switch parties...

...0 0 W ith so much attention focused on the impeachment dance and the Republican House leadership's game of musical chairs, scant notice has been paid to changes within the House Democratic Caucus, despite the enormous implications they have for future control of the chamber...