Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/111692/1116991.000

Text File | 1993-04-08 | 5KB | 123 lines

                                                                                COVER STORIES, Page 20

ELECTION `92

The Days of Gridlock Come to an End


Democrats now control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue


    In a year when incumbent had become such a dirty word that one
expected to hear it bleeped on TV talk shows, both parties were
braced for a shake-out in Congress. It didn't happen. While
voters put 105 new faces in Congress, the most since 1949, both
houses remained firmly in Democratic hands. Democrats gained one
seat in the Senate, while Republicans may pick up just 9 in the
House -- far short of the 51 they needed to end 38 years of
Democratic control. Ninety or more of the incoming 103rd
Congress will be female, black or Hispanic, a record. But of 376
incumbents who survived the primaries, only 27 lost on election
night.

    For a while during the campaign, Republicans thought they
could transform voter disgust with a Democrat-controlled
Congress into solid gains for themselves. Democrats, hoping Bill
Clinton's coattails would hold down losses in the House while
boosting their 57-43 Senate majority, came marginally closer to
their goal. What is clear is that after years in which
Republican Presidents faced off against Democratic majorities
on Capitol Hill, legislative gridlock is over; the Democrats are
in the driver's seat. But fasten your seat belts: it is not yet
clear which way the new majority will go.


    THE HOUSE REFURBISHED

    Democrats may have retained their stronghold, and
incumbents may still be around. But the stoops of Capitol Hill
will have plenty of new welcome mats nonetheless. The notable
number of black and Hispanic representatives is in large part
a reflection of a strengthened Voting Rights Act, which
scissored congressional districts to reflect more accurately
America's complexion. The shift prompted Congressional Black
Caucus chairman Edolphus Towns to declare this an "unprecedented
moment in American history." In fact, a number of Southern
states will send black members to the House for the first time
since the turn of the century. Among the new faces: North
Carolina Democrat Melvin Watt, a civil rights attorney, and
Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat who managed to overcome the
glaring taint of a 1989 House impeachment suffered during his
tenure as a federal judge. To the north, one of the most
talked-about new faces to join the House belongs to Illinois
Democrat Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther whose radical
history prompted his opponent, Jack Kemp conservative Jay
Walker, to sneer, "He couldn't get a job at K Mart or
McDonald's with his past record." Among the incumbents to
survive this election year's vitriolic volleyball, sharp-tongued
minority whip Newt Gingrich won a tough Georgia race against
political neophyte Tony Center. Other household familiars
heading back to the Hill include Speaker Tom Foley, who captured
a healthy majority in his Washington State district, and House
Armed Services Committee chair Les Aspin of Wisconsin. And who
will be counted among the missing persons in the 103rd Congress?
Don't look for certain egregious abusers of the House bank:
overdrafts took their toll on Ohio's Mary Rose Oakar and
Minnesota's Gerry Sikorski, among others.


    THE SENATE SURVIVES

    Contrary to most forecasts, this election was blustery but
not disastrous for Senate incumbents. Voters were choosy in
repudiating their Senators, sending home only three incumbents:
Republicans John Seymour of California and Bob Kasten of
Wisconsin and Democrat Terry Sanford of North Carolina. Fourteen
members of the Democratic majority won re-election, as did 10
Republicans. In one of the most closely watched and
emotion-laden races, Pennsylvanian Arlen Specter barely
prevailed over Democrat Lynn Yeakel, a political tyro whose
campaign got much of its energy from the outrage generated by
Specter's surly grilling of Anita Hill last fall. In Ohio
formerly untouchable Democrat John Glenn, tainted by links to
the savings and loan scandal, survived the race of his life
against Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike DeWine. One of the
nation's most negative campaigns drove New York Republican
Alfonse D'Amato, known because of his attention to constituent
complaints as "Senator Pothole," to spend $6.3 million in a
successful attempt to outsleaze state attorney general Robert
Abrams, whom he labeled a "bigot." Arizona Republican John
McCain, also sullied by the S&L mess, nevertheless breezed to
re-election.

    Yet beyond the minuscule numerical gain by the majority --
one seat -- the new Senate may move further to the left.
Newcomers include liberal and moderate Democrats like Colorado
rancher and Cheyenne tribe member Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the
first-ever Native American Senator, Wisconsin maverick state
senator Russ Feingold, and a forward platoon of the women's
movement: Illinois' Carol Moseley Braun, Washington's Patty
Murray and California's Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer --
four women who rode to victory on liberal issues such as
pro-choice, workplace parity for women and civil rights.