Paul V McNutt
Banned
To look back on how the Democrats won their current position of strength in the Congress, one must begin with the successful administration of Sharon Pratt Kelly, the last mayor of the then District of Columbia. Her reforms gave her the credibility to help the lobbying effort that led to statehood for the nation's capitol in 1994.
The state of Washington DC's Senators provided the Democrats margin of control after the 2000 election, a majority that grew to 53, when Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords joined the Democratic caucus.
The Democratic Senate played a pivotal role in the long delayed outcome of the 2000 elections. On election day, Al Gore won a close popular vote win but the outcome in the electoral college was still in doubt. By mid November, recounts in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico awarded those states to George W Bush, but earned the Republican campaign much bad publicity. The Pat Buchanan campaign's charges of heavy handed Republican tactics that kept their candidate off the ballot in those state resurfaced. Reports of African Americans in Milwaukee and Hispanics and Native Americans in New Mexico being unfairly denied the right to vote emerged in the national media. The Florida recount also saw similar stories of disenfranchised minority voters but the media largely focuses on the ballot design in Palm Beach County. Democrats charged that confusing candidate lineup led confused Gore supporters to cast their ballots for Pat Buchanan.
The long controversy came to sudden end after the December 12th ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Five conservative justices signed a majority ruling that ordered a stop to the statewide recount. The next day Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was forced to certify Al Gore the winner of the Sunshine State's electoral votes after the final tabulation gave the Vice President a 421 vote lead. Democrats satisfaction was short lived, however, with the news that the Florida result tied the Electoral College and a Republican dominated House of Representatives would choose the next President. On January 6, 2001, the House selected George W Bush President, but the Democratic Senate picked Joe Lieberman as Vice President.
Two years later, after the 2002 elections resulted in a 51 to 51 partisan division in the U.S. Senate, Vice President Lieberman's tie breaking vote kept the Senate under Democratic control. This allowed Joseph Biden Chair of the Senate Foreign Policy Committee and Carl Levin of Senate Armed Services to hold a series of hearings on the Bush Iraq policy. The combative tone of administration witnesses especially Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield chiseled away at the public support for George Bush.
In 2003, while the Democratic Senate pressured the Republican administration, Democrats scored a victory in the most high profile election of that year. California voters choose Dianne Feinstein as their governor during the recall election.
The following year, provided mixed blessings for Democrats. In January , John Kerry´s decision to run negative ads in Iowa against Howard Dean sent sent enough caucusers to John Edward's to start him on the road to the nomination. Edward would lose the popular vote by one percent. After the Supreme Court ruled against him in Bush vs Edwards and stopped the Ohio Recount, he lost the electoral college 264 to 274.
Despite losing the White House, Democrats expanded their hold on the on the Senate. While he carried neither state, Edward's appeal in both North Carolina and South Carolina won him more votes than other potential Democratic candidates and helped Democrats win those two Senate races. In addition to the new Democratic Senator from Kentucky, Majority Leader Tom Daschle was able to narrowly hold his seat. Oklahoma Democratic Candidate Brad Carson gained credit for his victory by refusing to use information that his opponent, physician Tom Cardin, had performed an abortion. Disgruntled aides leaked the information the day before the election, which did not allow Cardin time to explain that abortion had saved the mother´s life.
Senate Democrats also benefited from Republican mistakes such as Arlen Specter's remark that President Bush should appoint pro choice Federal Judges. Energized Christian Conservatives defeated him in the Republican Primary. This triumph of the Religious Right inspired a successful challenge to Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski. The Republican nominees in both Pennsylvania and Alaska lost that fall. Louisiana Republican David Vitter´s appearance on a New Orleans escort service client list doomed his efforts to win another seat to the GOP.
In 2005, the 55 to 48 Democratic majority in the Senate brought a constant struggle between the Upper Chamber, the administration and the 225 to 211 Republican House. (The U.S. House was enlarged to 436 members because of the voting member from the District of Columbia). It also inspired Senator Edward Kennedy to draft a compromise health proposal that taxed the wealthiest 5 % of Americans to pay for government aid to individuals and small businesses to help the buy health insurance sold in new non profit exchanges. The so called Kennedy Bill also banned practices such as denying coverage for preexisting conditions. The measure ended bottled up in a House committee. Killing the popular bill brought considerable criticism.
The Republicans drew more fire that year when President Bush fired every single. U.S. Attorney and invoked the clause in the Patriot Act that exempted the replacements from Senate confirmations. The high number of Regents Law School grads did not escape notice as did the many new voter fraud charges filed against Democrats as well the shocking number of grand juries that refused to issue indictments sighting lack of credible evidence. In September 2006, these embarrassments returned to the headlines when Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was revealed to be the author of the plan to eliminate all the Federal Prosecutors.
The Republican cause suffered even more after the sharp criticism of FEMA´s response to Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans.
Public anger over these events swelled the Democratic ranks. ( The new state of Puerto Rico´s two Senators and six House members also helped grow the Democratic caucus. ) Democrats won a 265 to 177 majority in the House. (The 442 member U.S. House had been expanded again because of Puerto Rican statehood ) The 64 to 42 Democratic majority in the Senate came as Democrats not only won competitive seats in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, and Arizona.
In 2007, the Democrats used their control of Congress to pass the Kennedy Bill but could not override President Bush's veto. The defeat of the health care measure gave, Barrack Obama, an issue in the 2008 campaign.
While the Kennedy Bill was a predictable part of Obama's issues, his drive for the nomination was more suspenseful. Michigan and Florida Democrats had considered defying party rules and moving the date of their primaries back from Super Tuesday but instead joined 25 other states in selected delegates on February 5th 2008. Hillary Clinton scored a big victory in these two large states. The delegate boost kept her campaign active until the Democratic convention. After Obama won a first ballot victory, he knew that he had to reach out to disappointed Hillary voters and offered the former first lady second place on the national ticket.
An events early in campaign likewise effected Republican nominee John McCain's choice of running mate. On November 13, 2007, The National Right to Life Committee disappointed Fred Thompson by endorsing Mike Huckabee. Social conservatives began to desert Thompson and when he scored an embracing low total in the Iowa caucuses, the former actor withdrew. Huckabee gained in strength and was able to defeat front runner John McCain in the South Carolina primary. Huckabee only conceded on May 21st after the Oregon primary gave McCain enough delegates to win the nomination. After surviving a primary season dominated by social issues, McCain sought to reach out beyond the Republican base. On the day before the Republican Convention opened he announced his choice of Secretary of Homeland Security Joe Lieberman for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination. Social conservative reacted with out rage to the selection of the pro choice former liberal Democratic Senator. McCain call for a big tent and Lieberman's support for the war in Iraq and the Administration's national security did little to convince a majority of the delegates to the Republican National Convention. After failing to win on the first ballot, Lieberman withdrew. McCain's replacement choice, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, won the nomination easily.
With his ticket complete, McCain faced three obvious problems, his loyalty to unpopular George W. Bush, defending the administration during a time of economic collapse and the defection of much of the Republican core. Polls showed that somewhere around 3% of people who had called them selves likely voters earlier in the year failed to cast ballots, These abstainers tended to be right wing Republicans. A noticeable number of social conservatives cast protest votes. This was evident in Bob Barr´s 2 % margin and when Alan Keyes earned 1 %.. McCain garnered only 38% of the popular vote.
While the Republican nominee did poorly in the popular vote, the electoral college, as it so often does, exaggerated Obama´s 58% victory- He carried 33 states, ( That would be OTL plus Puerto Rico. Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia. Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and McCain's own Arizona) and won the votes of 431 electors.
The G.O.P. did also did poorly in the Senate. Democrats won new seats in Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico Oregon, and defeated scandal plagued, Ted Steven's of Alaska. and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. the 31 Republican Senators out numbered by 73 Democrats.
With a 279 to 175 Democratic margin in the House. President Obama could look forward to a friendly Congress. The Democratic majority acted quickly and by March 2009, Obama signed both his stimulus package and the Kennedy Bill.
The state of Washington DC's Senators provided the Democrats margin of control after the 2000 election, a majority that grew to 53, when Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords joined the Democratic caucus.
The Democratic Senate played a pivotal role in the long delayed outcome of the 2000 elections. On election day, Al Gore won a close popular vote win but the outcome in the electoral college was still in doubt. By mid November, recounts in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico awarded those states to George W Bush, but earned the Republican campaign much bad publicity. The Pat Buchanan campaign's charges of heavy handed Republican tactics that kept their candidate off the ballot in those state resurfaced. Reports of African Americans in Milwaukee and Hispanics and Native Americans in New Mexico being unfairly denied the right to vote emerged in the national media. The Florida recount also saw similar stories of disenfranchised minority voters but the media largely focuses on the ballot design in Palm Beach County. Democrats charged that confusing candidate lineup led confused Gore supporters to cast their ballots for Pat Buchanan.
The long controversy came to sudden end after the December 12th ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Five conservative justices signed a majority ruling that ordered a stop to the statewide recount. The next day Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was forced to certify Al Gore the winner of the Sunshine State's electoral votes after the final tabulation gave the Vice President a 421 vote lead. Democrats satisfaction was short lived, however, with the news that the Florida result tied the Electoral College and a Republican dominated House of Representatives would choose the next President. On January 6, 2001, the House selected George W Bush President, but the Democratic Senate picked Joe Lieberman as Vice President.
Two years later, after the 2002 elections resulted in a 51 to 51 partisan division in the U.S. Senate, Vice President Lieberman's tie breaking vote kept the Senate under Democratic control. This allowed Joseph Biden Chair of the Senate Foreign Policy Committee and Carl Levin of Senate Armed Services to hold a series of hearings on the Bush Iraq policy. The combative tone of administration witnesses especially Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield chiseled away at the public support for George Bush.
In 2003, while the Democratic Senate pressured the Republican administration, Democrats scored a victory in the most high profile election of that year. California voters choose Dianne Feinstein as their governor during the recall election.
The following year, provided mixed blessings for Democrats. In January , John Kerry´s decision to run negative ads in Iowa against Howard Dean sent sent enough caucusers to John Edward's to start him on the road to the nomination. Edward would lose the popular vote by one percent. After the Supreme Court ruled against him in Bush vs Edwards and stopped the Ohio Recount, he lost the electoral college 264 to 274.
Despite losing the White House, Democrats expanded their hold on the on the Senate. While he carried neither state, Edward's appeal in both North Carolina and South Carolina won him more votes than other potential Democratic candidates and helped Democrats win those two Senate races. In addition to the new Democratic Senator from Kentucky, Majority Leader Tom Daschle was able to narrowly hold his seat. Oklahoma Democratic Candidate Brad Carson gained credit for his victory by refusing to use information that his opponent, physician Tom Cardin, had performed an abortion. Disgruntled aides leaked the information the day before the election, which did not allow Cardin time to explain that abortion had saved the mother´s life.
Senate Democrats also benefited from Republican mistakes such as Arlen Specter's remark that President Bush should appoint pro choice Federal Judges. Energized Christian Conservatives defeated him in the Republican Primary. This triumph of the Religious Right inspired a successful challenge to Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski. The Republican nominees in both Pennsylvania and Alaska lost that fall. Louisiana Republican David Vitter´s appearance on a New Orleans escort service client list doomed his efforts to win another seat to the GOP.
In 2005, the 55 to 48 Democratic majority in the Senate brought a constant struggle between the Upper Chamber, the administration and the 225 to 211 Republican House. (The U.S. House was enlarged to 436 members because of the voting member from the District of Columbia). It also inspired Senator Edward Kennedy to draft a compromise health proposal that taxed the wealthiest 5 % of Americans to pay for government aid to individuals and small businesses to help the buy health insurance sold in new non profit exchanges. The so called Kennedy Bill also banned practices such as denying coverage for preexisting conditions. The measure ended bottled up in a House committee. Killing the popular bill brought considerable criticism.
The Republicans drew more fire that year when President Bush fired every single. U.S. Attorney and invoked the clause in the Patriot Act that exempted the replacements from Senate confirmations. The high number of Regents Law School grads did not escape notice as did the many new voter fraud charges filed against Democrats as well the shocking number of grand juries that refused to issue indictments sighting lack of credible evidence. In September 2006, these embarrassments returned to the headlines when Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was revealed to be the author of the plan to eliminate all the Federal Prosecutors.
The Republican cause suffered even more after the sharp criticism of FEMA´s response to Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans.
Public anger over these events swelled the Democratic ranks. ( The new state of Puerto Rico´s two Senators and six House members also helped grow the Democratic caucus. ) Democrats won a 265 to 177 majority in the House. (The 442 member U.S. House had been expanded again because of Puerto Rican statehood ) The 64 to 42 Democratic majority in the Senate came as Democrats not only won competitive seats in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, and Arizona.
In 2007, the Democrats used their control of Congress to pass the Kennedy Bill but could not override President Bush's veto. The defeat of the health care measure gave, Barrack Obama, an issue in the 2008 campaign.
While the Kennedy Bill was a predictable part of Obama's issues, his drive for the nomination was more suspenseful. Michigan and Florida Democrats had considered defying party rules and moving the date of their primaries back from Super Tuesday but instead joined 25 other states in selected delegates on February 5th 2008. Hillary Clinton scored a big victory in these two large states. The delegate boost kept her campaign active until the Democratic convention. After Obama won a first ballot victory, he knew that he had to reach out to disappointed Hillary voters and offered the former first lady second place on the national ticket.
An events early in campaign likewise effected Republican nominee John McCain's choice of running mate. On November 13, 2007, The National Right to Life Committee disappointed Fred Thompson by endorsing Mike Huckabee. Social conservatives began to desert Thompson and when he scored an embracing low total in the Iowa caucuses, the former actor withdrew. Huckabee gained in strength and was able to defeat front runner John McCain in the South Carolina primary. Huckabee only conceded on May 21st after the Oregon primary gave McCain enough delegates to win the nomination. After surviving a primary season dominated by social issues, McCain sought to reach out beyond the Republican base. On the day before the Republican Convention opened he announced his choice of Secretary of Homeland Security Joe Lieberman for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination. Social conservative reacted with out rage to the selection of the pro choice former liberal Democratic Senator. McCain call for a big tent and Lieberman's support for the war in Iraq and the Administration's national security did little to convince a majority of the delegates to the Republican National Convention. After failing to win on the first ballot, Lieberman withdrew. McCain's replacement choice, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, won the nomination easily.
With his ticket complete, McCain faced three obvious problems, his loyalty to unpopular George W. Bush, defending the administration during a time of economic collapse and the defection of much of the Republican core. Polls showed that somewhere around 3% of people who had called them selves likely voters earlier in the year failed to cast ballots, These abstainers tended to be right wing Republicans. A noticeable number of social conservatives cast protest votes. This was evident in Bob Barr´s 2 % margin and when Alan Keyes earned 1 %.. McCain garnered only 38% of the popular vote.
While the Republican nominee did poorly in the popular vote, the electoral college, as it so often does, exaggerated Obama´s 58% victory- He carried 33 states, ( That would be OTL plus Puerto Rico. Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia. Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and McCain's own Arizona) and won the votes of 431 electors.
The G.O.P. did also did poorly in the Senate. Democrats won new seats in Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico Oregon, and defeated scandal plagued, Ted Steven's of Alaska. and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. the 31 Republican Senators out numbered by 73 Democrats.
With a 279 to 175 Democratic margin in the House. President Obama could look forward to a friendly Congress. The Democratic majority acted quickly and by March 2009, Obama signed both his stimulus package and the Kennedy Bill.