The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> ALL EYES ON WILLIAM JEFFERSON br> Thanks to Trent Lott and Nancy Pelosi , the Congressional Black Caucus, which for months had been as irrelevant as the other caucuses in the House, has suddenly become front-page news. With Lott's comments on Strom Thurmond filling up the news sections in what should have been a slow news period leading into Christmas, the CBC has been all over the place, calling for his stepping aside as leader, giving interviews to all of the network and cable news shows, and sending out press releases faster than Al Gore can say, "Recount." /p>

But perhaps more important -- to Republicans in the long-term -- is the influence the CBC is attempting to wield in the appointment of the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They continue to press House leader Pelosi to appoint Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson to the DCCC slot, despite his lack of experience in House leadership. And Pelosi apparently has big doubts.

"She just doesn't know that he's up to the job," says a staffer in her leadership office. "She seems to realize that this is a critical couple of years. We don't want another election cycle like the one we've just had with [Rep. Nita] Lowey."

Jefferson, whose campaigning in the recent Louisiana runoff helped Democrats win key Senate and House seats last Saturday, is being pushed by the DCCC, as well as by outside Democrats like Clinton and Gore adviser Donna Brazile. Pelosi, with the Lott furor continuing to bubble, now finds herself in a tighter spot than she was a week ago, when she was only being criticized for not moving fast enough on the DCCC appointment.

"Now it looks like she's dawdling over Jefferson specifically, and with everything going on with Lott, that isn't good," says the leadership staffer. "She may not want Jefferson for very strategic reasons, particularly if she thinks she can get a more experienced hand there. But the Black Caucus won't buy that, and right now they have a lot of momentum behind them."

The "more experienced hand" is thought to be Rep. Martin Frost, who briefly challenged Pelosi for leadership, and who previously has been a successful DCCC chair. Frost hasn't indicated whether he's interested in revisiting the job, though moderate House Democrats have been pressing Pelosi to pick him over Jefferson.

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