Word: lotte
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...scratching on the surface to discover that practically every member's vision of bipartisanship is different. Like defining truth and beauty. "There clearly is a lot of leeway in what people have in mind when they talk about bipartisanship," Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman deadpans. Conservative Republican senators in Trent Lott's leadership team, such as Majority Whip Don Nickles and GOP Conference Chairman Rick Santorum, are singing the bipartisan anthem, but they are committed right wingers with aggressive staffs that haven't mellowed...
...Leadership in both parties bow equally deeply to the twin deities of conservatism: Tax cuts and less government. And certainly Bush's confabs with Speaker Laney, long considered a key broker of bipartisan support for Bush's proposals, have not prepared him for debates with Dick Gephardt or Trent Lott, congressional leaders who are making conciliatory noises now - but who are also known for their fierce partisanship...
...determined to keep counting until he got a result he liked. Gore's Democrats were, for the first time in a long campaign, united behind their leader last week, if only out of shared disgust at his enemies. Democrats kept finding new fuel for their indignation: when Trent Lott denounced the Florida Supreme Court's "unelected judges" for usurping the rights of the people by letting the recounts continue; when Florida Republicans threatened to name their own set of electors to send to the Electoral College and count on House Republican strongman Tom DeLay to make sure they get seated...
Barring that, the Democrats want the Senate treated like community property. Minority leader Tom Daschle will probably meet with majority leader Trent Lott this week to demand that the two sides share power in the chamber. Even if Al Gore ends up President--which would mean Joe Lieberman's giving up his Senate seat, Connecticut's Republican Governor's appointing his replacement, and the G.O.P.'s getting a 51-49 majority--Democrats still want to be considered almost as equals, and Republicans realize they don't have room to run roughshod. "With this narrow margin in the Senate, there...
Daschle is proposing far more bipartisanship than Lott will ever swallow. The Democratic leader will begin his summit with Lott by demanding that committee membership be split evenly--if that turns out to be the case in the full Senate--and that Democratic vice chairmen serve alongside Republican chairmen. Lott has already ruled that out, and even Democratic Senators say privately they wouldn't be charitable if the tables were turned. The best Daschle will probably get is a one-vote Republican majority on committees instead of the current two, and more influence over legislation that gets to the floor...