Word: straussed
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...this program as the party's policy was by simple and enthusiastic voice vote. Harmony was not so easily attained in the matter of adopting the party charter for 1980 and be yond. As the convention gathered mo mentum and delegates of like mind began to caucus, Strauss started worrying that the compromises that he had so laboriously and skillfully put together for the party charter would come apart at the last moment. The most ex plosive issue in what Strauss called "a political minefield" was how explicitly the party charter should guarantee the representation and vote of individual...
Affirmative Action. The party left wanted a system of specific quotas, as in 1972; the party right - notably the AFL-CIO - desired no hint of quotas that might dilute its traditional power in par ty affairs. Going into Kansas City, Strauss had managed to get both sides to agree to a compromise that had been worked out by a commission headed by Mikulski in drawing up the 1976 rules...
Joking, cajoling, bullying, mediating, Party Chairman Robert S. Strauss, 56, was clearly the impresario at Kansas City, a Texas-style wheeler-dealer of the old school who knew how to get things together. At times, he would lick the tips of his fingers, like a quarterback getting ready to throw a touchdown pass. Strauss liked the role and the praise, and he exulted unashamedly in the power that he wielded as the man who, more than any other, was holding the disparate Democrats together...
...ought to be doing well, as hard as I'm working," Strauss said privately at one point with characteristic bluntness. "I've got talent too, of course, but I work damn hard. I've made a success of my marriage, my family, my business, my law practice and now my politics. If they wanted a loser, they got the wrong man. I'm a winner...
Garrulous and profane, an almost compulsive talker, Strauss is a throwback to the era of the smoke-filled rooms. At a time when the far-out liberals and the deep-dyed conservatives threaten to pull the Democrats apart, Strauss is the great compromiser who is dedicated to strengthening the center, which he defines as the "progressive middle" of the party. The job is ticklish, but Strauss points out: "A poor Jewish kid from West Texas learns early how to survive...