Word: gephardts
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Recent years have seen changes in Democratic caucus rules that make it easier for the leader to rein in headstrong chairmen. With the credibility of his agenda on the line, Gephardt has hinted he is likely to use that power in a Gingrichian way: by becoming the first Democratic Speaker in more than 20 years to set aside seniority in selecting his chairmen. If the Democrats win back the House, the erratic Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas appears almost certain to be unseated as head of the Banking Committee, and Conyers' position at Judiciary is far from secure...
...Gephardt also has sought to diffuse power by spreading it around. As many as 50 Democrats meet daily with him to plan both strategy and policy, and he has put some of the caucus' most conservative members in critical positions. Only weeks after the election, he recruited Texan Chet Edwards to take charge of part of his vote-counting operation; Edwards himself would later vote for three-quarters of Gingrich's Contract with America. And when it came to developing anticrime policy for the caucus, Gephardt turned not to Conyers but to Bart Stupak of Michigan, an ardent...
...Speaker in a second Clinton term, Gephardt would have to find common ground with the Democrats in the White House too, and that may be complicated by the Missourian's strained relationship with the President. Gephardt is a straight arrow who looks like he walked out of an episode of Happy Days and is said to disapprove of the President's baby-boomer propensity for self-indulgence. On a political level, Gephardt also resents Clinton for his "triangulation" strategy of distancing himself from congressional Democrats. To this day, Hill Democrats argue that Clinton owes his political resurrection not to adviser...
More of a problem for Gephardt could be the Vice President, Al Gore, the man Gephardt will have to beat in the Democratic primaries if he runs for President in 2000. The two men have a bitter rivalry dating at least as far back as the 1988 presidential primaries, when they assaulted each other with insults and negative ads. If Clinton wins, all Democratic politics will again revert to presidential politics: every move Gephardt makes will be judged in the White House for its impact on Gore, while Gephardt will have to worry constantly about being steamrollered by the White...
...last week Republicans agreed to meet Clinton's demand that they restore the $2.3 billion they had earlier cut from education spending. If what people are asking is not to tear down the House but to make it perform, it may not make a huge difference whether Gingrich or Gephardt is Speaker in January. Either way, the winners of this election may be the voters...