At Senate Helm, Daschle 
Isn't Shying From Fight
Rhetoric and Agenda Rile Republicans 

By John Lancaster, Washington Post Staff Writer

Just six weeks after assuming power, Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle's aggressive opposition to the White House -- on patients' rights, energy, missile defense and Social Security privatization, among other issues -- has put to rest any doubts that may have existed in the GOP about whether he has the stomach for a fight.

Predictably, some of his Republican colleagues are starting to get steamed.

While praising Daschle's organizational and political skills, some Republican lawmakers and strategists have begun to suggest that the low-key career politician from Aberdeen, S.D., is falling into the trap of excessive partisanship and, in doing so, undermining his pledges of "fairness" in dealing with the minority.

They say that in choosing to aggressively pursue Democratic priorities in the face of presidential veto threats, such as the managed-care bill that passed the Senate last month, Daschle, 53, is proving himself less interested in governing than in positioning himself, or at least his party, for a presidential run in 2004.

Daschle's sharp criticism of President Bush's foreign policy while Bush was en route to Europe last week, they say, shows a similar predilection for political gamesmanship.

"He looks to me like a guy who's running for president," said Republican pollster Robert Teeter. "If you think you're going to run for president . . . you position yourself at the extremes, because those are the people who go to the primaries."

Demonizing the opposition -- conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh recently compared Daschle to Satan -- is a time-honored tradition in politics. In fact, Democrats often accused Daschle's Republican predecessor, Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.), of being overly partisan in the way he ran the Senate.

Whatever the merits of the GOP charges against Daschle, they underscore a central challenge for the Democratic leader: how to effectively promote a Democratic agenda without being perceived as obstructionist and more concerned with scoring points than getting things done.

"We are absolutely determined not to get into payback and not to get into the kinds of political exchanges that occurred all too often in past Congresses," Daschle told reporters Wednesday.

Since taking the majority leader's job, Daschle has met three times with Bush -- once over chicken enchiladas at the White House in the company of Daschle's wife, Linda -- and has gone out of his way to praise the president's personal and political skills.

Notwithstanding their frustration over losing control of the Senate last month, many of Daschle's Republican colleagues like him personally and admire his abilities as a leader. Thus far, the South Dakota Democrat has prevailed in a key organizational dispute over the handling of judicial nominees, kept the Senate on a rigorous schedule -- albeit one that has slipped a bit lately -- and generally avoided the kind of open and bitter partisan warfare that often characterized the last Congress.

Democrats are understandably delighted by Daschle's early performance. "I would give him an A-plus," said Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who chairs the Senate's Democratic campaign organization. "He's done such a good job of trying to accommodate everyone and in the process has moved an agenda forward."

Yesterday, Daschle won his first filibuster battle with the GOP when 19 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to end delaying tactics over proposed restrictions on Mexican trucks entering the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"As minority leader he clearly demonstrated his abilities and I think he's demonstrating his abilities as majority leader," Sen. Larry E. Craig (Idaho), who chairs the Republican Policy Committee, said earlier this week. Daschle, he added, is "doing exactly what he ought to do, and that's push very, very aggressively to get the work of the Senate done."

Daschle, who routinely declines to comment about whether he harbors presidential ambitions, is keenly aware that his job requires a delicate balancing act, according to associates. In addition to advancing Democratic goals, one said, "there is also pressure to . . . make the Senate work, [to] pass the appropriations bills to show that he -- and by extension the Democratic Party -- can govern."

Daschle's early tenure as majority leader has not been free from stumbles. Racing to finish patients' rights legislation before the July 4 recess, for example, the usually even-tempered Daschle lost his cool and implied that a colleague, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), was more interested in going fishing than in finishing the work of the Senate. Stevens was furious; Daschle promptly apologized.

More recently, Daschle's criticism of Bush's foreign policy as the president embarked on his trip to Europe opened him up to withering attacks from Republicans -- "disgraceful," said Republican National Committee Chairman James S. Gilmore III -- who accused him of breaking the unwritten rule against criticizing a president while he is abroad. Daschle acknowledged an error in timing but not in the substance of his remarks (meanwhile, his staff rounded up examples of Republican attacks on President Bill Clinton while Clinton was overseas).

To his critics, Daschle's attack on Bush's foreign policy belied his June 6 declaration that "bipartisanship isn't just a formula [but] . . . a recognition that with divided government, with divided leadership comes a responsibility for united governance."

Many Republicans say they have not been surprised by what they regard as Daschle's displays of partisanship, given his background as a protégé of former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine). In particular, said a senior Republican aide, Daschle has been "very aggressive" about establishing a floor schedule that favors Democratic priorities.

Republicans, for example, want to confirm as many of Bush's political appointees as possible before lawmakers scatter for the August recess. Daschle has placed the emphasis on appropriations bills and has threatened to postpone the recess if Republicans do not cooperate in passing at least a few more of them by the end of next week.

"When we stand up and object to certain issues because we need to move others, he seems to be quite resistant," Craig said. "My guess is he'll recognize in time that there are participants in that process and they happen to be 99 other senators."

The biggest fights may lie ahead. Daschle has indicated, for example, that he will soon schedule debate on legislation to raise the minimum wage and wants to advance a proposal to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.

He also has suggested that when the Senate considers Bush's request for $18 billion in additional defense spending in the coming fiscal year, he will insist that Republicans stay within the budget limits established last spring to make room for Bush's tax cut. Republicans say the requirement is aimed at forcing Bush to take the blame for any spending cuts that might occur.

"Daschle has always been very political in trying to advance issues and create issues for his people to run on," said a senior GOP leadership aide.

Daschle's aides say the majority leader has demonstrated his willingness to work with Republicans on any number of occasions. They note, for example, that the Senate has in recent days confirmed scores of Bush appointments and that Daschle has expressed a willingness to take up energy legislation -- a White House priority -- when the Senate returns after Labor Day.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company