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February 4, 2002
The Battle Back Home
On the eve of the State of the Union address, the Democratic leader
looks for chinks in a popular war president's armor
Author: Howard Fineman
With Debra Rosenberg and Martha Brant
Edition: U.S. Edition
Section: National Affairs
Page: 28
Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text:
Dick Cheney was on the line,
and it wasn't to chitchat. The vice president rarely calls the Senate
leader--a Democrat he dismisses as an "obstructionist"--so Tom
Daschle knew the topic was important when he hurried into his Capitol
office. What he heard was a plea, and a warning. The Senate will soon
launch hearings on why we weren't prepared for, and warned about, September
11. The intelligence committee will study the matter, but mostly behind
closed doors. Cheney was calling to pre-emptively protest public hearings
by other committees. If the Democrats insisted, Bush administration
officials might say they're too busy running the war on terrorism to show
up. Press the issue, Cheney implied, and you risk being accused of
interfering with the mission. Daschle was noncommittal and, after the call,
unmoved. "Intelligence is just a piece of it," he said.
"People need to know what happened."
As the president rehearsed
his laboriously crafted State of the Union address last week, this was the
State of the Capital: on the verge of open hostilities. President George W.
Bush's standing in the polls remained remarkably high, thanks to his
handling of the war. The speech was designed to highlight his commander's
role, and his costly (and probably popular) battle plans at home and
abroad. But his Republican Party isn't as well liked as he is. War aside,
Congress and the country remain sharply divided. At a time of recession,
when government aid is back in fashion and "free market" answers
look shaky in an Enron-ized world, Democrats are gathering the will to fight
Bush on a host of domestic issues.
That puts the focus squarely
on Daschle, who controls--barely--the only part of the capital in
Democratic hands. In an interview, he sketched his agenda. Seeking
revisions in Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut isn't part of it.
Daschle was clobbered by some of his own colleagues for suggesting last
month that the measure (which 12 of them voted for) was excessive. Now he
makes it clear he won't attempt to change it this year. He was noncommittal
on Bush's request for a $48 billion increase in defense spending. But
Daschle's Democrats will fight for a universal, feder-al prescription-drug
plan--not the narrower one Bush will propose. With John McCain, they will
push the soft-money ban the White House loathes. They will press for more
education spending than Bush wants, and refuse to accept further income-tax
cuts--citing Alan Green-span's declaration that more "stimulus"
isn't needed right now. Democrats won't insist that the government balance
its books this year. But they'll cry havoc about the risk that ballooning
deficits pose to Social Security and Medicare. "How is the president
going to pay for what he wants to do?" Daschle asks. "Who
pays?"
It's a tough hand to play:
decrying deficits is rarely a way to win elections. And the Bush White
House isn't inclined to go easy on him. It and its allies are dropping
daisy cutters--including ads in Daschle's home state of South
Dakota--portraying him as a power-hungry Machiavelli of the Plains. GOP
consultant Frank Luntz suggested in a memo that candidates attack
"Daschle Democrats." An ad by a conservative group compared him
to Saddam Hussein. GOP Senate Leader Trent Lott, normally a collegial soul,
accused him of wanting to "Daschle-ize" the budget with tax hikes.
Campaigning in South Carolina
for a Senate candidate last week, the soft-spoken Daschle hardly seemed
demonic. A career politician and a master of inside maneuver--and, like
Bush, a dedicated jogger--he has a history of winning narrow victories with
doggedness and patience. He's also among, if not the most active of, the
many Senate Democrats eying a presidential run, saying that he's keeping
the door open "just barely." In the meantime he oversees every
detail of his party's drive to increase its 50-49-1 semi-majority. At a
fund-raising dinner for Judge Alex Sanders at the zoological gardens in
Columbia, he noted the torch-lit paths, which made the place look like the
set of "Survivor." "I'm the last guy on the island," he
said, and seemed happy at the thought.
Record Number: NA0105D
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