Dems in search of fresh faces and fresh ideas
11/11/2002 - Updated 10:03 PM ET
URL:http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-11-11-dems-usat_x.htm
News analysis by Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Democrats ran for election this year on old ideas and could be looking at a 2004 presidential field rife with retreads. But a push is on within the party to come up with new leaders and new proposals.
Analysts say last week's Republican gains prove that cozying up to President Bush on foreign policy and tax cuts doesn't win elections. Nor does what some call the Democrats' "default agenda" on the next level of issues, prescription-drug coverage and Social Security preservation. One poll showed those issues didn't even net Democrats a majority of senior citizens.
As for the party's prospective leaders, CBS' David Letterman said it all in a crack about New Jersey's ex- and once-again senator, age 78: "You know you're in trouble when your bright young star of the future is Frank Lautenberg."
Democrats do have some new faces. The name that seems to crop up most often is Ed Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor who once ran the national Democratic Party and won a decisive victory Tuesday in the Pennsylvania governor's race. He's a natural schmoozer from a big state, and his political profile is the one some Democrats say they need to win national races: a socially liberal, pro-business fiscal conservative.
But Rendell and other potential stars in last week's winner's circle — including Govs.-elect Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Bill Richardson of New Mexico — are too new to be national players in 2004.
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., thrust himself onstage Friday with what amounts to a symbolic candidacy against Rep. Nancy Pelosi for House minority leader. Ford, 32, is a moderate black lawmaker who calls himself "something new and different." He may be headed for a national ticket, but not quite yet. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is another prospect, but he has taken himself out of contention in 2004.
There are a few people who could claim outsider status on the near-term list of presidential possibilities: Govs. Tom Vilsack of Iowa and Mark Warner of Virginia (they live outside the nation's capital), former NATO commander Wesley Clark (his career was outside politics) and former senator Bob Kerrey, president of New School University in New York. (His maverick personality made him an outsider even when he was an insider.)
In the next ring of almost-contenders are the few establishment Democrats who haven't run yet on a national ticket: Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Then there are the horses that have been around the track: Al Gore, the 2000 nominee; Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, Gore's running mate; and Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, who ran in 1988.
Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, soon to be demoted from majority to minority leader, has never run nationally, but he's had so much exposure it seems like he has. The same can be said of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Increasingly over the next year, the Democratic message will be delivered by presidential hopefuls. The question is what will they — or should they — be saying? Even the old messengers argue for new messages. "These are new times, and they call for new ideas and bold action," Gephardt said in announcing Thursday that he would step down as House minority leader and turn to "other possibilities."
As for new approaches to issues, columnists, politicians and think-tankers are offering up ideas as broad as reducing the payroll tax and as narrow as giving tax cuts to investors in high-tech firms. Gov. Gray Davis of California, a state that is a fertile incubator for trends, recently signed two laws that could become rallying points for larger crusades: One says businesses must provide paid family leave for new parents (federal law requires only unpaid leave). The other restricts auto emissions of pollutants linked to global warming.
Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank of self-described "new Democrats," says his party needs a "growth agenda" that contrasts with Bush's "one-note agenda that tax cuts solve every problem." He says Democrats should propose restoring progressivity to the tax code, so wealthier people shoulder more of the costs of government, and "serious investments" in transportation, health care and broadband Internet access.
Ruy Teixeira, a Democratic analyst at the non-partisan Century Foundation, says Democrats need to counter Bush's "aggressive unilateralism" with a more internationalist, though not anti-war, foreign policy. "They can't let the Republicans own Sept. 11 and national security," he says. "They need an alternative that's tough, credible and competitive."
There's widespread feeling that in the campaign that just ended, Democrats failed to capitalize on issues they feel strongly about and usually do well on, such as education, energy and the environment. Analysts strongly suggest the party or candidates come up with an education package that sets specific goals such as better teachers, smaller classes and universal preschool, with a way to pay for them.
Another developing consensus is that the Social Security-prescription drugs campaign formula Democrats used this year needs to be scrapped. A major theme of Democratic campaigns was that Republicans' plans to invest part of the Social Security tax in private investments would endanger the Social Security system. It didn't work politically, and it didn't advance the policy debate, either.
"We have one last presidential election before baby boomer retirement is at the center of American politics," Marshall says. "It's really critical that the Democrats have something other than negation to offer. They need their own plan that addresses concerns about the future of the system."
Teixeira is co-author of a new book called The Emerging Democratic Majority. He says the Republican sweep last week did not change his mind about that prediction. But he has one caveat: "Making those opportunities become real does depend on political leadership." |
