The New Republic

I've slighted my share of Republican senators in print. But I can only think of one to whom I owe an apology. In fact, I may even owe him my life. Let me explain: Back in 1996 I was a smart-alecky TNR intern eager to wisecrack my way into print. Richard Lugar was a Republican senator running one of the most hopeless presidential campaigns in modern history. Lugar was an awful candidate. His grimacing, mechanical approach to primary-state retail politics made Steve Forbes look like Warren Beatty. Stating the obvious READ MORE >>

The prescription-drug debate has returned to Capitol Hill, and, depressingly, things have picked up pretty much where they left off before the last election. Last week, after House Republicans advanced an unrealistically thin $350 billion plan to subsidize drug costs for the elderly, Democrats pounced. House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt doubted that "anyone can take Republican claims seriously" and flayed the GOP's "sham bill." In the party's weekly radio address, Michigan Democrat John Dingell mocked the Republicans' "phantom benefit" and compared GOP leaders to shady car dealers. READ MORE >>

At an early June meeting of Republican activists in California, White House political director Ken Mehlman set the stage for the November congressional elections. Delivering a slick PowerPoint presentation with 27 slides bearing short, declarative sentences and nifty national maps, Mehlman summarized the parties' competing approaches with boardroom efficiency. First he explained the by-now-familiar Democratic strategy: Support George W. READ MORE >>

With Democrats pressing their case (albeit more subtly than at first) for tough investigations of the Bush administration's pre-9/11 failures, the White House is determined to depict the criticism as cheap election-year partisanship. Which is why the most irritating figure to the Bushies right now is not Dick Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, or Tom Daschle--it's Richard Shelby.Shelby isn't known for making news. The Alabama Republican senator's profile tends to be as plain as his burly Southern-sheriff looks, READ MORE >>

With democrats pressing their case (albeit more subtly than at first) for tough investigations of the Bush administration's pre-9/11 failures, the White House is determined to depict the criticism as cheap election-year partisanship. Which is why the most irritating figure to the Bushies right now is not Dick Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, or Tom Daschle--it's Richard Shelby. READ MORE >>

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA READ MORE >>

If Terry McAuliffe has been known for one thing since he became chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), it is his obsession with a building. From the day he took over the DNC in February of last year, McAuliffe has pursued an audacious plan to build a shiny, spacious, new party headquarters--at an estimated cost of $32 million. Although the party's current offices are cramped and run-down, it's more than a question of aesthetics. The current building, McAuliffe argues, lacks the technological READ MORE >>

Call it springtime for Daschle. Lately the Democratic Party's fortunes have been looking up. The Dems are gaining traction on George W. Bush over his handling of the Middle East, and last week they successfully shot down his plan to drill for oil in Alaska. White House hopefuls like Al Gore have been getting great press for their increasingly tart Bush-bashing. And the president's poll numbers are finally cooling off: For the first time since September READ MORE >>

When a parade of Democratic heavyweights spoke up about the war on terrorism last week, it sure sounded as though the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had faxed a new set of talking points around town. Democrats Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings, Joe Biden, and Charles Rangel kicked things off on Wednesday, February 27, with questions about the defense budget and the progress of the war. Responding to reporters' questions the next day, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle fretted that "there is expansion [of the war] READ MORE >>

When the house finally passed, like a kidney stone, a campaign finance reform bill last week, Democratic leaders were radiant. Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt wore huge grins at a celebratory press conference the next day, basking in the national media's adoring glow. But, behind the scenes, Democrats aren't grinning at all. "It's going to be ugly for us. It's pretty devastating, " says an experienced party operative. "It's very possible we've consigned ourselves to minority status," says a senior campaign strategist. READ MORE >>