BELL HOPS
Democratic leaders attempted to derail what should have been a
collegial, bipartisan event in New York last Friday, when Congress
held its historic session there to honor New York a year after
September 11.
Friday morning, House Speaker Dennis Hastert
and Republican Senate leader Trent Lott rang the
opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and later told the
Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that both Democrat
leaders, Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt, were
expected to be there, but pulled a no show.
Not so, shot back Democratic operatives: neither man had been
invited, and due to previous obligations, neither could have made
it downtown to Wall Street in time anyway.
In fact, the NYSE had been negotiating with Gephardt and Daschle
up until about midnight on Thursday, attempting to get the four
leaders onto the balcony to ring the bell. Initially, Daschle had
agreed to appear with the Republicans, and then do a brief solo
interview on CNN and CNBC. But when Gephardt balked, the Senate
Democrat did too. Instead, Daschle did multiple TV appearances from
the congressional meeting site at Federal Hall. Neither of the
Democrats wanted to be seen in the center of all things
capitalistic.
“You could just see the Republican ads showing tight camera
shots of Daschle and Gephardt ringing the bell, smiling as stock
sales took off,” says a Democratic House staffer. “We’re the party
of corporate responsibility and stock market reform. To ring that
bell would make us look like hypocrites. Obviously our Republican
colleagues just don’t get it. Which is the point we’ve been making
all along on those issues.”
MR. MEHLMAN
Even before the real mid-term elections take hold, the White House
appears to be positioning itself for its own campaign in 2004. Bush
administration sources say that Karl Rove, the
mastermind behind Bush’s win in 2000, has dubbed
protégé Ken Mehlman, currently White
House director of political affairs, to be the campaign manager for
the Bush 2004 run.
“It’s probably anticlimactic,” says a political consultant with
ties to the Bush administration. “Ken is probably the only guy
right now, other than Rove, who could take this on down the road.”
Mehlman probably will stay on with the administration until the
presidential campaign season really kicks in.
Mehlman directed much of the Bush 2000 political grassroots
operations around the country. When Bush blew away the competition
in the Iowa caucuses, Mehlman was credited with doing much of that
heavy lifting, and later served as Bush’s national field director
in the fall campaign. “He’s going to have to get that same
grassroots network up an running again in 2004,” says the
consultant. “But he’s got the background to pull it all together,
and it’s obvious Rove trusts him.”
If there are any questions about Mehlman, they have to center on
this White House’s ability to rally broadbased public support for
administration legislative initiatives. That task has fallen
largely to Mehlman and his team, and to date, their success has
been mixed. They get high marks for building grassroots support for
the initial Bush economic stimulus and tax cut package, but have
had difficulties selling the Department of Homeland Security across
the country, let alone on Capitol Hill. What’s more, they’ve failed
to win attention for what’s been a pretty good summer of
legislative successes, highlighted by the passage of “fast track”
trade authority.
Criticism aside, Mehlman is in the best position to take the
reins of the campaign. Joe Allbaugh, now head of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, managed the 2000 campaign
and isn’t expected back. And it isn’t like Mehlman won’t have help.
White House sources say Rove will most likely return in his
capacity as chief strategist, along with longtime Bush confidante
Karen Hughes.
