The legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) haunted me even before his death.
The senator rarely visited the Senate since his diagnosis with brain cancer last year.
But I felt his presence, and more importantly, his absence, during my daily journeys around the U.S. Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol pulsates when Congress is in session. To the uninitiated, it’s a cyclone. The pace churns with such velocity that many struggle to keep up.
Frenetic schedulers apologize to scores of constituents and lobbyists, cooling their heels in Congressional offices because, well, the Congressman simply isn’t in. He could be stuck on the floor. Or maybe he’s at that Armed Services subcommittee hearing. Or he’s running late from that state delegation breakfast over in the Dirksen building.
They all lament that the Congressman isn’t cloned. Or they wish they could just beam the representative around from place to place like they do on Star Trek.
Press secretaries hustle to get their boss to a live CNBC hit in the Cannon Rotunda at 4:21. And then to a meeting in the Majority Leader’s office. They volunteer their combs to the boss tame a few stray hairs and brief him as they walk.
The aides are about to explode. Dozens of emails and phone calls go unreturned. It’s 4:45 and no one’s gotten lunch.
The lawmakers themselves are frazzled. They toggle back and forth on issues ranging from health care to Afghanistan to the CIA to meeting a Girl Scout Troup from the district.
Meantime in the Senate, personal aides hustle alongside their bosses as they make the brisk walk from the Russell building to the Capitol. They can barely keep up as the senator barks an order to one who types feverishly on his BlackBerry. The other one frantically dials his cell phone.
Back in the office, aides serve as corner men in a prize fight. The boss comes in after a round at the Judiciary Committee, bloodied and beaten. The aides carry parliamentary Q-tips behind their ears, ready to apply Vaseline and ice to the lawmaker’s cuts. Then the bell rings. There’s a vote on the floor. They arm the lawmaker with some more talking points, tighten his gloves and send him back out to fight in the next round.
None of that is going on this week on Capitol Hill. Or next. Or has gone on the previous three weeks. Congressional aides share something in common with first graders. The most hallowed word in their respective lexicons is recess. And Congress is on recess right now.
The key to winning political campaigns is good advertising. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling a candidate or soap. Market your product well and people will buy it.
Marketing of politics is ethereal. People embrace a candidate because of how it makes them feel inside. Safe. Secure. Good about themselves.
Kind of like the credo exuded by suave ad exec Don Draper on the TV hit “Mad Men.”
“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness,” says Draper. “And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is okay. You are okay.”
Vintage McDonald’s “You deserve a break today” or Budweiser’s “This Bud’s for you.”
President Obama capitalized on Draper’s thesis in 2008. Mr. Obama’s packaging was near-perfect. A poised, handsome, young candidate pitted against the grey Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Had voters tapped McCain, he would have been the oldest person elected president.
Mr. Obama truly didn’t run a campaign. He organized a movement. People were weary of the super-secretive Bush administration and a lingering war in Iraq. The economy was on the fritz. Team Obama marketed itself as “Change you can believe in.” The slogan engendered a euphoria with people who had never voted or bothered to register.
And people dialed-in to a candidate in ways they were never connected before.
It’s often said that politics is a lot like sports.
So for a moment, let’s start with sports.
Imagine you work at ESPN. It’s late November. And the feeds of dozens of games are funneling into the network’s Bristol, CT headquarters. College football. College basketball. The NBA. NHL contests. And you’re assigned to log a game between the Minnesota Wild and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
You take notes during the entire game. Anything exciting happens, and you’ll flag those highlights for SportsCenter.
A hockey match is 60 minutes long. And in this particular game, there’s 59 minutes and 55 seconds of brilliant skating, pinpoint, tape-to-tape passing, acrobatic goaltending, lightning-fast goals and bone-rattling checks.
But none of that makes the show.
That’s because Derek Boogaard of the Wild and Colton Orr of the Maple Leafs drop the gloves and just start whaling on each other at center ice.
They trade jackhammer rights. Blood flies from Boogaard’s nose. Orr absorbs an uppercut. And then after a few moments, both fighters tire and switch hands. They’re at it again, firing lefts. The announcer yells “Wow! Watch out, Don Cherry!” It’s a reference to legendary Canadian hockey announcer Don Cherry who produces annual highlight reels of the league’s best brawls.
The Viet Cong were masters at it. So was the FARC in Colombia. The Zapatistas bloodied the Mexican government in the southern state of Chiapas in the mid-1990s. Snipers converted Sarajevo’s alleys into a shooting gallery. And the Mujahedeen nearly annihilated Soviet army from the caves and crevices of Afghanistan.
Guerilla warfare is the use of unconventional, ambush tactics to combat a more formal, organized opponent. And even if guerillas aren’t completely successful, they can antagonize their adversary, prod them into errors, strain resources and force rival casualties.
The approach can demoralize an opponent. And produce results.
Guerilla strategies can be successful in the political arena, too. And this August, Republicans are waging guerilla combat on Congressional Democrats and President Obama’s health care reform plan.
It's the dog days of August. The pennant races are on. The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants are jockeying for a wild card spot. The Boston Red Sox are imploding. And the Tampa Bay Rays are surging.
But those aren’t the biggest stories in baseball.
The top news is that Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz is defending himself against charges that he used steroids.
The pennant races may simmer. But the discussion of performance enhancing drugs in the national pastime remains white hot.
And it’s all because of an historic Congressional hearing more than four years ago.
It’s folklore. But politicians enjoy invoking the myth that the Chinese character for crisis is comprised of the symbols that also represent “danger” and “opportunity.”
Politicians crave political scenarios that present both danger and opportunity. Those situations offer these individuals a chance to test their mettle and prove their worth as a public figure.
Such is the case when the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) makes its periodic recommendations to shutter under-used military installations. In 2005, BRAC suggested slashing about a fifth of all U.S. bases.
Threatened closures present danger and opportunity for lawmakers. Those bases bring thousands of jobs to their districts and states. A member of Congress risks appearing feeble if they can’t salvage the base. But save the base, and the lawmaker bolsters his or her reputation.
As an early nineteenth century writer/humorist famously said, "Politics ain't beanbag," and that has surely been true recently as many Democratic lawmakers have been inundated with protestors at their hometown meetings on health care reform, many confrontations underscoring the bitter underbelly of opposition.
And Senate Democrats Thursday called in some high level help from the White House. Senior Adviser David Axelrod spent one hour with members at their weekly Thursday policy lunch giving pointers on how to deal with opposition, with members watching a YouTube video of Cong. Lloyd Doggett, D-TX, that has become a viral sensation.
Hundreds of protestors surrounded the congressman at an outside health care event, with posters proclaiming "No Government Counselor in My Home!", pictures showing Doggett with red horns added to his head, and a resounding chorus of shouts, "Just say no!" repeatedly, until Doggett gave up and left.
Axelrod would reveal no strategy but suggested that some of the protests, which have allegedly included a life-threatening call to a member's office, as well as the lynching of an effigy of one member, are coordinated, "I think that there's obviously some evidence that there are some groups out there promoting this. But I'm not going to disparage this. I believe in freedom of speech."
Democratic leadership also distributed a playbook of sorts to help members deal with not only unruly protestors but confused constituents. Basically, the answer appears to be: give them a (Democratic) education.
The 25-page booklet, obtained by Fox, is entitled, "Responsible Reform for the Middle Class," and is chock-full of tidbits on legislative efforts, with a specific section titled, "Responding to Opponents of Health Insurance Reform."
This section deals with hot button issues, like funding for abortion, cuts to Medicare, and a government takeover of health care. On abortion, the book tacitly acknowledges what enrages some on the right -- that abortion could be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
The book says merely that "abortion coverage is not mandated...Just like today's private insurance market, reform will not force or prohibit health plans from covering abortion." But there is nothing stating that taxpayers funds will not be used, though reform effort negotiators have said they are attempting to deal the issue.
Some members were clearly anxious about raucus townhall events.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-AR, leaving the meeting, clutched her booklet and said to an aide, "I'm ready!" Lincoln told reporters, "You just have to go back to your basics. I plan to deal with them in a very ladylike way, showing them respect, but also demanding respect," adding, "The disrespectful way that I think a lot of the disruptive people have approached this is not just unpleasant to us but to our other constituents who really want to engage in a substantive conversation."
One problem, the Senate has not yet completed a health care bill. Members are still waiting for one committee to finish its work on the only bipartisan reform bill expected to emerge from Congress.
Some of the most vocal opponents at these townhalls decry what they fear are Democratic attempts to socialize health insurance. The bipartisan bill emerging from the Finance Committee is not expected to have a government-run health care program, something many Demcocrats want, but more conservative Dems are not able to say much about it, as the details are not yet available.
No problem. The handy playbook deals with that, too. "A government takeover of health care is NOT an option. If you like your health insurance, you can keep it. Senate health insurance reform will increase choices -- not take them away. Health insurance reform will actually result in MORE competition and options than what exists today," the booklet teaches.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA, said, "I think there are people out there that have real questions. We just have to tell them the facts." Casey said, "There's going to be conflict and combat, but there are still people out there who want answers. We cannot allow a vocal, well-organized minority to drown out, not just a message from a member of congress, but the questions from members of the public."
Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-IL, said he doesn't even hold town hall meetings. "We shouldn't fall for these sucker punches," Durbin said. A spokesman said Durbin holds more structured events with a clear sponsor, like a hospital. If anyone tries to shout down the senator there, there are people to remove them.
"We're going to have meetings, but they're not going to be meetings that they want," Durbin said, referring to the protestors.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, a member of leadership, counseled a more nonchalant approach, though, chalking up all of the tension to "politics." Schumer said, "We're just basically going to ignore them...They can do what they want to do. The facts will win the day."
The National Weather Service predicts it will be a little cooler than normal in Dover, OH the next few days. At least meteorologically speaking. The highs through Friday are forecast to be in the low to mid-80s.
In Seymour, IN, the Weather Service predicts highs in the mid-80s. And there’s a chance of thunderstorms.
Again, speaking meteorologically, of course.
It will be a scorcher in Prescott, AR. The mercury could kiss the upper 90s.And in Murfreesboro, TN, the temperature is expected to flirt with 90.
However, the political temperatures will be much hotter. And expect unstable political air to spawn storms.
Meantime, the political weather in Salt Lake City, UT, Savannah, GA and Napoleonville, LA, will be rather calm.
Reps. Zack Space (D-OH), Baron Hill (D-IN), Mike Ross (D-AR) and Bart Gordon (D-TN) reside respectively in Dover, OH, Seymour, IN, Prescott, AR and Murfreesboro, TN. They’re the four conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats who voted for a health care reform plan approved late last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Reps. Jim Matheson (D-UT), John Barrow (D-GA) and Charlie Melancon (D-LA) are the three Blue Dogs on the committee who didn’t back the plan. They of course hang their hats in Salt Lake City, UT, Savannah, GA and Napoleonville, LA. But courting the foursome of Space, Hill, Ross and Gordon was essential to driving the controversial health plan out of the committee. Otherwise, the bill remained in a stasis. And bypassing the usual committee process would have inflamed the entire 52-member Blue Dog Coalition, which possesses the votes to torpedo the health care bill on the House floor.
Some Senate Republicans sound like they're on the cusp of a filibuster of the "Cash for Clunkers" bill that passed out of the House last week, but none are ready to pull the trigger and some just plan to oppose the bill.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, said he hopes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, will wait until September to put forward the House-passed bill that extends the existing program with $2 billion, but he says he will wait to see what Reid does before making any decisions about a filibuster.
When asked what he thought of the favorable Clunker numbers coming out of the Administration showing a 60% increase in the purchasing of more fuel efficient cars, with an average of 25mpg, DeMint balked.
"I don't believe the phone numbers coming out of the White House on stimulus...I certainly don't believe what they're saying about Clunkers," DeMint said.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, says he, too, is "holding his fire" until he sees what Reid does. "It's in Harry's court," Coburn said, adding the he objects to the extension of the program in principle as it favors one industry over others.
DeMint and Coburn both cited concern for the program's affect on used car dealers.
DeMint said he had talked to one dealer who spent $400,000 but said he has been told he could be waiting 40-60 days for any of the rebate money.
"This is just mass chaos," DeMint said of the program, adding, "We need to know what kind of cars were destroyed, what is this program doing to used car dealers...We need to get to the bottom of this."
Coburn said he wondered if some of the trade-ins might have been shipped overseas for a profit (to be put back into federal coffers), saying someone in another country might happily have received a "clunker" and driven it for years.
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-KY, who vigorously opposed the original deal said he does not plan to object to the bill coming to the floor, "but I will vote against it."
Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, earlier told Fox he, too, will not filibuster but will oppose the bill. The same holds for Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, according to a spokesman.
All of this said, one senior Senate GOP leadership aide insists that an objection is expected when Reid moves to take up the House-passed bill, something that could happen as early as Wednesday.
FOX News covers Congress from all angles. Get constant updates from our on-the-field producers.
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