NEWT'S THIRD LAW

Dems not a hardy party (MELANIE EVERSLEY, 6/13/03, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Looking back on the wreckage of 10 years of lost elections, Democrats in Congress know it's broke. The question is how to fix it.

As they look to next year's House races, various Democratic factions -- the moderate Blue Dogs, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific-American Caucus -- are joining to tackle such issues as President Bush's tax cut and changing priorities in the federal budget.

"We're much more unified than we were in the past," said Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a fund-raising organization.

Matsui says Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who is House minority leader, is pulling the party together by taking steps such as appointing Rep. John Spratt, a South Carolina conservative Democrat, as ranking member on the House Budget Committee. Matsui also credits the aggressive style of Steny Hoyer, the Democratic House whip from Maryland.

"I think we just needed a breath of fresh air, new leadership, and it's gotten the caucus to get in concert with one another," Matsui said.

Pelosi, in an interview, said the Republicans have actually helped her party find focus.

"One hundred percent of the Democrats voted against the Bush budget -- 100 percent," she said. "Almost 100 percent voted against the Bush tax cut. Our coming together is around issues, and the Republican proposals have been so outrageous that they've helped unify us, quite frankly."

It's always easy for a minority party to unify in reaction to the governing pary, the problem for Democrats is that in today's politics, unlike physics, for every [Republican] action there is an [un]equal opposite [Democratic] reaction. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 14, 2003 10:29 AM