November 2002

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Departures Make Senate a Different Place 11/27/2002 3:13 PM Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms are leaving the nation's capital - the last remnants of a bygone Southern political bloc marked by outsize personalities who wielded overwhelming influence over the Senate for decades. In careers that stretched 48 years for Thurmond and 30 years for Helms, the retiring senators came to represent the last links to an age in which Southern filibusters prolonged the national ordeal over civil rights and Southern committee chairmen held life-or-death power over legislation and nominations. Southern influence over the Senate remains strong, but now more often it is moderates such as Louisiana Democrat John Breaux or Tennessee Republican Bill Frist trying to bring the two parties together rather than old-line conservatives determined not to give ground on states' rights or integration issues. Read the article New Senators, Old Faces 11/27/2002 3:12 PM Every two years, a group of newly elected U.S. senators comes into office that reflects larger national political themes. In 1974, public disgust over Watergate thrust Democratic non-politicians into Congress by the busload. In 1994, Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution" swept young conservatives into office. And 1992 was dubbed the "Year of the Woman" because of the large number of female candidates elected in the wake of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. In many ways, the Class of 2002 could be dubbed "The Year of the Resumé." The ten new senators who will be sworn-in on Jan. 3 are a mix of high-profile veteran politicians putting capstones on their careers and young Turks reaching what could be the pinnacle of their careers before their 40th birthdays. But even the younger members of the class have spent a decade or more in public office, elected or otherwise. The group includes a former governor, a two-time Cabinet secretary, four current or former congressmen and one so-called freshman who isn't a Senate rookie at all. Every one of the ten has run for office before, and two have even made unsuccessful bids for the White House. Read the article Senator Talent Takes Oath 11/25/2002 3:40 PM Sen. Jim Talent was scheduled to take an administrative oath Monday in St. Louis, allowing him to set up office, hire a staff and manage his budget. The swearing-in at 3 p.m. at the Eagleton Courthouse is a procedural step, a common practice that allows elected officials to do the work needed to set up shop. Talent officially became senator on Saturday, the day after Congress adjourned its session. His situation is unique from other freshmen senators because he won a special election. The Republican, a former congressman, beat incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan in the Nov. 5 election. Read the article Report: Secretary of State Blunt to Run for Missouri Governor 11/25/2002 12:58 PM The dust has settled on the 2002 election, and the race has already begun for Missouri's grand prize in 2004. Secretary of State Matt Blunt has placed phone calls to GOP brass, declaring his intention to seek the Republican nomination for governor. Blunt has seen polls that show incumbent Gov. Bob Holden in a weakened position against most challengers and would like to head off a costly primary fight. He has already tapped one of the top Republican fund-raising consultants in the state, Karen Mohan-Day, who racked up big bucks for newly elected Sen. Jim Talent. As the only Republican to win statewide office in 2000, and with pop Rep. Roy Blunt of Springfield now the House majority whip in Congress, Blunt the Younger might appear to some to have an early lead over potential contenders, including Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Columbia, Missouri House speaker-in-waiting Catherine Hanaway of Warson Woods, and Missouri Senate prez Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau. Read the article FEC: Candidates Can Collect Campaign Salaries 11/25/2002 12:50 PM For the first time in its quarter century history, the Federal Election Commission on Monday agreed to let candidates for federal office pay themselves salaries from the political donations they gather. By a 5-1 vote, the commission that regulates election laws approved the proposal that will allow candidates to pay themselves at a rate equal to the salary of the job they held when they decided to run, or the salary for the federal office they are running for, whichever is less. U.S. House and Senate members make $150,000 a year. The president earns $400,000 a year. Commissioner Michael Toner, who sponsored the idea, said it would help scale back some of the advantages of incumbents and wealthy candidates and perhaps encourage average Americans who otherwise couldn't afford to give up their jobs to run for office. Read the article Disputed Ballots Could Decide Maine Senate 11/25/2002 12:48 PM In the midst of a ballot recount that will determine control of the state Senate, Republicans asked a court Sunday to force disputed ballots to be included in the tally. At last count, Democrat Christopher Hall led Republican opponent Leslie Fossel by nine votes, widening his unofficial election day lead of two votes. But Republicans said in legal briefs filed Sunday that 63 disputed ballots would put Fossel ahead. The briefs support a lawsuit filed Thursday asking Cumberland County Superior Court to intervene before Monday's scheduled resumption of the recount, which was halted last week. Read the article Election Redux: Bush to Hit Campaign Trail in Louisiana 11/25/2002 12:46 PM Less than a month since Election Day, President Bush will be back on the campaign money-raising trail next week looking to bolster the GOP Senate majority. Bush travels Dec. 3 to New Orleans and Shreveport, La., in advance of a Dec. 7 runoff to decide the state's one open House seat and the re-election hopes of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. The two races remained unsettled after the Nov. 5 nationwide elections because no candidate won the 50 percent of the vote required by state rules. Read the article Candidates Wait for Results of Recount 11/25/2002 12:41 PM Overtime continues in Colorado's new 7th district, where the closest House race in the country took place. Former state GOP Chairman Bob Beauprez now leads state Sen. Mike Feeley (D) by 122 votes. Beauprez's earlier lead of 386 votes was whittled down after the three counties covered by the 7th finished counting their provisional ballots Thursday. Because the current margin is less than half of 1 percent, state law mandates that an automatic recount now take place. The recount must be completed by Dec. 15. Read the article Lucas Mulls Party Switch 11/25/2002 12:30 PM After a meeting between Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Rep. Ken Lucas (D-Ky.) before lawmakers left town, Republicans expect a decision as early as today about whether the Kentucky Democrat will switch parties. House Republicans are keeping the details about the potential political coup close to the vest and would only speak anonymously about what one GOP aide called "very serious discussions" between Lucas and House GOP leaders. Read the article Not All Numbers Are Rosy for GOP Governors 11/25/2002 9:46 AM Republicans gathered at an oceanside resort this weekend to celebrate the biggest surprise of the midterm elections -- the preservation of their majority among the nation's governors. But numbers alone won't ensure that the governors continue to play a dominant role in shaping the future of their party. Over the past decade, Republican governors have provided innovative ideas on welfare and education. Collectively, they projected a more appealing model of conservative governance than the party's hard-charging congressional wing. It was their political muscle that made George W. Bush the consensus choice for GOP nominee and ultimately helped make him president. Former party chairman Haley Barbour, who is likely to run for governor of Mississippi next year, calls the governors "the most influential and popular people in the party except for the president himself." But with many of their best and brightest either working in the Bush administration or retiring, the new GOP governors will be challenged to match the influence of their predecessors. Read the article To the Defeated Go the Pink Slips 11/25/2002 9:45 AM No staff job is safe these days on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Many Democratic staffers, of course, will be forced to hunt for new employment when Republicans take over the Senate and command the majority's share of committee budgets, staff jobs and prime office space. But longtime GOP hands, who ordinarily might be preparing to move to a room with a view, have reason to fear for their paychecks as well. The governmental affairs panel's top Republican and past chairman, Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, is retiring, clearing the way for Susan Collins of Maine to wield the gavel and dispense plum staff positions to people of her choosing. Read the article Talent May Join Senate as Early as this Week 11/19/2002 10:54 PM Republican Jim Talent could become the newest member of the U.S. Senate as early as this week, when Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt is scheduled to certify the Nov. 5 election results. Blunt, whose father is U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri and the new House majority whip, is scheduled to certify the results at 1 p.m. Thursday in his state Capitol office. Election results are due from local election authorities to Blunt's office on Tuesday. By law, Blunt actually has until mid-December to certify the results. Democratic Gov. Bob Holden and Blunt, a Republican, are required to sign a certificate of election that must be sent to the president of the U.S. Senate. Read the article Alabama Governor Concedes Race to GOP Candidate 11/19/2002 10:48 PM Saying he didn't want to "hurt Alabama," Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman gave up his bid for a second term today and conceded the nation's last undecided governor's race to Republican Rep. Bob Riley. The announcement cleared the way for Riley's inauguration Jan. 20, when he will become the third Republican governor in Alabama since Reconstruction. It also gave the GOP a 26-24 advantage over Democrats nationally. Read the article Who Wants to Be a Senator? 11/19/2002 10:47 PM Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) has released his, er, short list of possible replacements in the Senate for when he returns to the state next month to be governor. The list includes more than two dozen names -- including his daughter, the son of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R), a retired archbishop, NATO commander Gen. Joseph Ralston and enough past and present state legislators to field a baseball team. And, the senator told the Anchorage Daily News, he reserves the right to add more names to the list. Read the article Thurmond Aide Gets U.S. Judgeship 11/19/2002 10:45 PM In a nod to Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond at the close of his 48-year Senate career, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Tuesday approved the nomination of a Thurmond protege to a U.S. appeals court. The Senate voted 55-44 to agree to the promotion of U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Shedd to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., despite accusations that the South Carolina federal judge had been insensitive in civil rights and employment discrimination cases. It was the closest vote on a federal appeals court judge since the Democrats took over the Senate in June 2001. They had enough votes to filibuster the nomination and hold confirmation up until next year, senators said, but decided against the action in deference to Thurmond. Read the article All Eyes on How Louisiana Senator Votes 11/19/2002 10:43 PM Faced with a difficult choice in the Capitol and a difficult election in Louisiana, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu stood in the well of the Senate until time to vote had nearly expired. Finally, with the issue already settled, she cast her vote with President Bush and the Republicans, and against a last-minute Democratic attempt to change legislation creating a new Department of Homeland Security. It was important, she said afterward, "for me to be able to express that I'm for the creation of this department and I've been for the creation of this department." Other senators were unusually blunt in describing the political forces at work. "I think she did the right thing," said Louisiana's other Democratic senator, John Breaux, who supported the proposal that Landrieu opposed. If Landrieu had voted the other way, "It would have created a new issue for a whole new set of ads" for Republicans to air in her runoff election on Dec. 7, he added. Read the article Minnesota's Dean Barkley Has Just Two Months to Make His Mark on Washington 11/13/2002 1:28 PM "Look, we've got a sign and everything!" the newest U.S. senator says as he bounds past the "Dean Barkley, Minnesota" placard outside his temporary office. His desk is clear except for a Senate rule book and a small dictating machine that he's using to record impressions during this "business trip" to Washington. He is a wisecracking rugby player with big red cheeks, who has strong opinions about welfare reform, campaign finance and homeland security. Citizens can't learn about Barkley's views on his Senate Web site, because he has no Senate Web site yet. And he might not before Minnesota's Sen.-elect Norm Coleman takes over in January, at which point Barkley will be back in Minnesota "looking for a job." Read the article Freshmen Get Orientation on Capitol Hill 11/13/2002 1:12 PM While the 107th Congress is still limping its way through a lame-duck session, newly elected members of the 108th Congress were in town Tuesday to attend orientation. And they are finding that there is much to learn. "It's very much like being a freshman in high school, where you have to learn where the elevators are -- perhaps even the restrooms," said Katherine Harris, R-Fla. Harris is perhaps best known as Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 presidential election. But now, she is just one of 56 new members of the House who will take office next year. She's fine with that. Read the article Thune Concedes South Dakota Senate Race 11/13/2002 1:09 PM Republican Rep. John Thune has decided not to seek a recount in South Dakota's U.S. Senate race. The official vote count on Tuesday gave incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson a 524-vote margin over Thune. Thune said he believes some irregularities occurred during the election, but resolution of those irregularities would still not change the outcome in a recount. The Republican congressman said the Senate campaign has been lengthy and he decided it would be best not to put South Dakotans through an extended recount. Read the article No Surprises as Republicans Elect Party Leaders on Hill 11/13/2002 1:08 PM Triumphant Republicans yesterday elected their leaders for the 108th Congress that will take office in January and vowed to enact much of the legislation that stalled after the Democrats took over the Senate last year. There were no surprises and few contested elections for the GOP leadership posts whose occupants will guide the national legislative agenda during the next two years. Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) was reelected Senate Republican leader and will become majority leader when the GOP retakes control of the Senate. In the House, where gains in the Nov. 5 elections will increase the GOP majority, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was reelected GOP leader and will remain speaker in the next Congress. House Republicans also elected Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.) to be the next majority leader, replacing the retiring Rep. Richard K. Armey (Tex.), and picked Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.) to replace DeLay as majority whip. Rep. Deborah Pryce (Ohio) defeated two male opponents for the chairmanship of the House Republican Conference. She will be one of two women in the GOP leadership in Congress. Read the article Newest Senator Was a Party Founder 11/4/2002 9:33 PM The nation's newest senator ran Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial campaign while managing a car wash -- a cigar-chomping, plain-speaking type who schmoozes reporters as much as the governor disparages them. In Dean Barkley's early third-party Senate runs, he hauled fake donkeys and elephants in cages to ridicule the big parties. On Monday, after Ventura unexpectedly appointed Barkley to Minnesota's vacant Senate seat, the man credited with founding the state's third-party movement put his feet up on his desk and took calls from Senate power brokers. First was Sen. Jim Jeffords, the Vermont independent who usually sides with Democrats, tilting the chamber their way. "What do you think is going to be coming my way in the next week? What should I be looking out for?" Barkley said he asked the senator, getting the reply: "Don't commit to anything." Twenty minutes later, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., called Barkley's cell phone. Lott did most of the talking and raised the issue of bottled-up judicial appointments, and the two agreed to meet. Read the article Athletic Names Do Well in Elections 11/4/2002 6:54 PM Steve Largent understands a basic rule: Athletes making the jump to politics hold one big advantage - name recognition. "They start with something that costs a lot of money," said Largent, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Republican candidate for governor in Oklahoma. The former University of Tulsa and Seattle Seahawks star is one of several sports figures up for election Tuesday. Others include Salt Lake City Olympics organizer Mitt Romney, a Republican running for governor of Massachusetts; and runner Jim Ryun (Kansas) and former Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne (Nebraska), two Republicans seeking re-election to the House. Read the article Bush Family Milestones Lost in Election Politics 11/4/2002 5:23 PM There may be no worse timing for a political spouse than to have an early November birthday %u2014 that annual day in the sun is guaranteed to be overshadowed by the need to hustle for votes on Election Day. This year, Laura Bush may have it worst of all. The first lady turned 56 on Monday, one day ahead of Tuesday's voting. And her 25th wedding anniversary with President Bush falls on Election Day. With so much of her husband's attention riveted toward the outcome of the midterm elections, there's not much time left for special observances. Read the article No Knockouts in Minnesota Senate Candidate Debate 11/4/2002 5:20 PM Neither candidate threw any clear knockout punches in Monday's Minnesota Senate debate between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Walter Mondale. Hitting heavily on corporate scandals, prescription drugs, war with Iraq, late-term abortions and federal judges, the two candidates seeking to replace the deceased Sen. Paul Wellstone did tug at one another's personal ties with special interests. Mondale frequently accused Coleman of being a slave to corporate donors who have given money to Coleman's campaign in hopes of influencing future Senate votes. Coleman turned around and suggested Mondale wouldn't pass a terrorism insurance bill because he was a tool of trial lawyers. Read the article Pryor Denies Charge He Hired Illegal Employee 11/4/2002 5:19 PM Senate candidate Mark Pryor said a Hispanic woman who worked as his housekeeper provided documents proving she was in the country legally, denying a report that he had been hit with claims he hired an illegal immigrant. Pryor, Arkansas' Democratic attorney general, blamed Republicans for the accusation. He called the claim that he hired an illegal immigrant, carried by Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge and some cable stations, "a shameless attack from Tim Hutchinson and his party." Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., said Monday he was not at fault and that his campaign and party were not behind them. Read the article Ventura Names Barkley to Succeed Wellstone 11/4/2002 2:13 PM On the eve of one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate elections in decades, Gov. Jesse Ventura today appointed state Planning Commissioner Dean Barkley to complete the term of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash on Oct. 25. Barkley "has a keen sense of what is in the best interest of ordinary Minnesotans," Ventura said. "He will put the people's interest before the party's interest." Ventura announced his plans for filling the vacant seat at 10 a.m., just as a scheduled debate between Democrat Walter Mondale and Republican Norm Coleman began. Ventura said he was appointing Barkley in "direct protest" to the debate organizers' exclusion of other candidates. "Today, three very powerful institutions -- the Republican Party, the Democratic Farmer-Labor party and the Minnesota media -- are conspiring to limit the hard-earned rights of ordinary citizens to rise up and compete for elected office without having to be a Democrat or a Republican," Ventura said. Read the article Independent Stays in New York Governor Race 11/3/2002 9:19 PM Billionaire third-party candidate B. Thomas Golisano said Sunday he was staying in New York's race for governor, ending days of speculation that he might quit and endorse Democratic challenger H. Carl McCall. Golisano made his announcement during a paid, two-minute address broadcast Sunday night. "A vote for me is not wasted. I have been and still am a candidate for governor," he said. Speculation about Golisano's intentions began on Thursday when his campaign began cutting back TV advertising. Since then, his campaign had been sending mixed signals. The businessman ordered his pollster, John Zogby, on Saturday to begin checking on how the race might change if he pulled out and researched the legality of endorsing McCall. Read the article Mrs. Bush Wraps Up Campaign Tour 11/3/2002 9:17 PM First lady Laura Bush capped a day of appearances Sunday with Senate candidate John Thune and urged South Dakota voters to elect him and other Republicans on Tuesday. "President Bush sends his very best regards to everyone, but he sends you a reminder as well," she told about 2,000 people at a rally. "As soon as this rally is over you've got to get back to work to elect John Thune your next senator." The White House, mindful of the stakes in Tuesday's midterm elections, sent Mrs. Bush out to rally the troops in South Dakota and other key states on the final weekend of the campaign. Read the article Bush: Coleman Is Minnesota's Future 11/3/2002 9:16 PM President Bush paid solemn tribute Sunday to Sen. Paul Wellstone, the Democrat killed last month in a plane crash, but fought to derail Walter Mondale's bid to succeed Wellstone, telling Minnesotans that Republican Norm Coleman is the state's future. "Believe me when I say, we need fresh air in the United States Senate," Bush said, an apparent reference to the fact that Mondale already served in that body, from 1964-1976. "The future of Minnesota rests with Norm Coleman." Read the article Polls Split on Minnesota Senate Race 11/3/2002 6:43 PM A week after Sen. Paul Wellstone's death in a plane crash, the man who replaced him on the Democratic ticket and his Republican challenger are running neck-and-neck in the polls. Former Vice President Walter Mondale, chosen just Wednesday to take Wellstone's place, had 46 percent to 41 percent for Republican Norm Coleman in a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll released Sunday. The poll's margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Another Sunday poll, conducted for the Pioneer Press/Minnesota Public Radio, showed Coleman with 47 percent to 41 percent for Mondale, also within the margin of sampling error. Read the article GOP Try to Break Mid-term Trend 11/3/2002 6:40 PM Four years ago, Bill Clinton and the Democrats defied history and gained House seats in midterm elections. Now it's time for George W. Bush and the Republicans to try. Whatever their success, the midterm curse that afflicted both political parties over the past century is waning, weakened this year by congressional redistricting that accounts for population shifts, as well as the terrorist attacks and even Bush's no-coattails victory of 2000. "We haven't beaten the curse yet," said Rep. Tom Davis, the Virginia Republican in charge of the House GOP campaign committee. "I remember working in the Nixon White House in the 1970s thinking we might pick up a handful of seats." It didn't happen. But whether the GOP wins or lose seats Tuesday -- or holds or surrenders control of the House -- not even the most partisan Democrat is forecasting a midterm swing that approaches the 30-seat average of the past century. Read the article Latest Poll Shows Undecided Voters May Decide Missouri Senate Race 11/1/2002 6:27 PM A new poll shows Republican Jim Talent leading Democrat Jean Carnahan 46-41 percent in Missouri's red-hot U.S. Senate race, although a high number of undecided voters suggests either candidate could win. "This election is about a dead heat," said Ken Warren, a St. Louis University political scientist. "If I'm Talent, I'm glad to be ahead, but the number of `undecideds' is huge." The poll, conducted by the marketing research department of The Kansas City Star in conjunction with the Market Research Institute, said 12 percent of voters remained uncertain about their choice. Read the article Tragedy May Reshape Minnesota Governor's Race 11/1/2002 5:36 PM The tragedy that struck Minnesota's Senate race could reshape the contest for governor as well, with some saying the sorrow over Sen. Paul Wellstone's death could help carry fellow Democrat Roger Moe to victory. Democrats "will go to the polls with a heavy heart," said Joe Peschek, a political science professor at Hamline University in St. Paul. "All of this has underscored the commitment people will feel to get out and support their ticket." For months, the governor's race had no clear favorite. Moe was running even with Republican Tim Pawlenty and Independence Party member Tim Penny in the contest to succeed Gov. Jesse Ventura, who is not seeking a second term. Read the article Ventura Rules Out Appointing Democrat to Senate 11/1/2002 5:27 PM How would you like to be United States senator for a fortnight? That is the challenge Gov. Jesse Ventura has issued to nonpolitical "John Q. Citizen'' Minnesotans, and they are responding. Ventura's staff has received hundreds of calls, emails and applications from people promoting themselves or someone they admire as a temporary replacement for the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone. "Applications are coming in, plus I have a few people in mind,'' Ventura said Thursday. "Saturday night, I was at a party where I ran into an old friend who's a garbage man, and he said he might want to do it. And I thought it was kind of appropriate. A garbage man certainly can spot garbage when they see it.'' Read the article