Dems Rebuild Party on 'Change' Theme
Don't jump yet, gloomy Democrats. That suicidal feeling you've got over the party's failure to take advantage of the political woes plaguing President Bush and the GOP may soon have a cure. Strategists tell Whispers that party leaders are drawing up a theme of community and change aimed at seizing voters upset with what they see as government ineptness, selfishness, and cronyism.
"This is about being in it together," says Democratic National Committee pollster Cornell Belcher. His research--provided to Whispers--shows that even Bush voters are eager for change and anxious to rebuild that old community feeling, especially after Hurricane Katrina. "Americans didn't like what they saw," he says. "This isn't their idea of America." There's more, he says: From the war in Iraq, to energy prices, to the budget, those he polled felt "they were sold a bill of goods." Still, they don't want to play the blame game. "They want to roll up their sleeves and get to work," says Belcher. Hill Democrats have just started on the effort, offering new legislative proposals and assailing Republican cronyism. And look for party chief Howard Dean to expand the change theme with a call for "Democratic values": You know, that it's morally right to take care of the poor, provide healthcare and other stuff. The timing couldn't be better, says Belcher. "This is the opening for a sea change."
Scalia Asks: What Does France Know?
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is stepping up his campaign against judges using foreign laws to decide cases at home. And he's doing it with tart sarcasm. We ran into him last week at an American Spectator dinner, where he poked fun at fellow justices who like overseas opinions. "It will seem much more like real legal opinion if one can cite a foreign opinion to support the philosophic, moral, or religious conclusion or pronouncement," he said with a sneer. "You can put it right there in the opinion. It looks like legal opinion. It says so and so versus so and so." The justice considered the most conservative on the court added, "I dare say that few of us here would want our life or liberty subject to the dispensation of French or Italian criminal justice."
2008 Buzz-O-Meter Rockets on Allen
If the chatter over Sen. George Allen 's potential presidential run gets any hotter, we're going to have to dismiss the 2008 GOP primaries and go right to a general election campaign pitting the Virginia lawmaker against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just last week, the right's leading media voices, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, blew him kisses on the air, and he tops our Whispers poll. What's to like? Republicans say he's most like Bush, right down to the cowboy boots, but enters the race with better conservative credentials--and he's a good fundraiser.
How Hillary Wins the White House
Many more Republicans than Democrats are talking up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's chances in the 2008 presidential race. While Democrats say she's too polarizing to win, Republicans fear it's hers to lose. A House GOP leader explained it this way: First, she easily wins the states Sen. John Kerry took in 2004. Then all she has to do is pick off one or two politically split states, like Ohio, New Mexico, Colorado, Iowa, or Florida. Here, she can get some help by choosing a veep from one of those.
Hurricane Haley Storms Washington
Here are two more reasons why Republicans are buzzing about Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour 's chances for higher office. First, the Republican Barbour and some Washington pals hastily organized a bipartisan Hurricane Katrina fundraiser at the Chamber of Commerce HQ last week. The take: $1 million. Next, at a private lunch with GOP senators, he urged spending restraint, even decrying Washington's $200 billion hurricane relief as bloated.
College Picking 101: Get the 'Feeling'
Being an education secretary with a college-age daughter, Margaret Spellings knows exactly what parents go through picking a university. You research schools, visit campuses, and size up the costs. Then your kid ignores it all and makes a gut call. It happened with her daughter. "It's a highly confusing process," Spellings reports. "It's one of the most important decisions a family is going to make," she says. "How did we do it? She got 'the feeling.' " Spellings's idea for easing the decision: She's created a commission on higher education that will report back next August on ways to help families pick schools and judge if they're worth the price of tuition.
It's 15 Years for the Networker-in-Chief
Kathy Kemper might be the most important Washingtonian you've never heard of. A tennis coach to the important and famous, she parlayed those connections into a networker's dream and this fall celebrates her 15th year hosting a regular power-broker meeting she calls the INFO Breakfast. Her goal: Bring politicians, newsmakers, business people, even reporters, for an off-the-record exchange of ideas. She's held 160 so far. For her anniversary gaggle, held last month in the Capitol, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg regaled the group with insider tales of how judges host yummy potluck lunches for birthdays and play bridge together. "She described it as the most collegial court in 100 years," said Kemper.
Time for a Revival on Foreign Policy
Looks as if President Bush needs to host a good old-fashioned revival, this time on foreign policy, or face losing core constituencies. GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio tells us that he just completed a poll on the president's foreign policy and found that 41 percent of born-again Christians, 34 percent of conservatives, and 44 percent of voters concerned about terrorism feel Bush is on the wrong track. "To have over one third of your base saying we are on the wrong track on one of your core issues is problematic," says Fabrizio.
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With Edward T. Pound
This story appears in the November 7, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.