Word: lott
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...When Lott became Senate majority leader last summer, he found a new model of pragmatism in a slim volume called First Among Equals, which included a chapter on Robert Taft, the Ohio Republican who led the Senate during the Truman Administration. Like Lott, Taft was a staunch conservative who forcefully stated his views and didn't compromise on matters of principle--but who also worked to achieve the best deal available. "You can't usually get 100% of what you want in politics," Lott says. "But if you can get 80%, or most of what you want, that's usually...
Which helps explain why Clinton and Lott regularly meet and talk on the phone and enjoy the easy rapport of two pros at the top of their game. Leon Panetta, who recently resigned as Clinton's chief of staff, said the two "like playing with each other, trying to find out as much as possible while giving as little as possible away." As in any productive negotiation, both Lott and Clinton will occasionally say, "Now, if I were to do X, what would be your response? Could you do Y?" Each man is also listening for clues to the same...
...Lott wonders how much Clinton's dealmaking will be constrained by the President's desire to help Vice President Al Gore in the Democratic primaries of 2000. Almost any compromise with Lott and his Republicans is sure to bring Gore under attack by House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt and others on the left of the party. For his part, the President wonders whether Lott is positioning himself to run for the G.O.P. nomination in 2000. Clinton knows Lott keeps an active fund-raising schedule...
There is reason to believe, however, that the two men will fall back on their instincts for cautious progress. Assessing Lott's legislative successes last summer, Republican strategist Ken Duberstein observes that "Trent understands that we're a nation of incrementalists who like our progress in bite-size portions." And Clinton, after the failure of his massive health-care program in 1994, seems to have reached the same conclusion. So it is likely that the courtship of Washington's hottest couple this year will look like this: Trent and Bill, holding hands and taking, if not a leap, then...
...GOODGAME, our Washington bureau chief, grew up in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the only son of a shipyard machinist. So we thought he might be well suited to report and write this week's profile of Senate majority leader Trent Lott, who also grew up in Pascagoula, the only son of a shipyard pipe fitter. Goodgame is so familiar with Lott's milieu that many sources he interviewed began by asking him "So how's your mama?" When one source wasn't in, he was found at a meeting with Goodgame's uncle. "Everyone back home is so proud of Trent Lott...