Pennsylvania Ave. keeps getting longer

Since Bush took office in January 2001, Washington has been on a roller-coaster ride of partisan animosity, punctuated by periods of intense unity following 9/11 and during wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush has surprised pundits by aggressively pushing a conservative agenda, at times without much consultation with Congress - though his close, controversial election promised only a limited mandate. The Republicans' narrow control of both houses of Congress also seemed to portend collaboration.

Indeed, the big education bill that Bush signed in his first year was hailed as a model of bipartisanship. He dropped some of the more conservative provisions, such as vouchers, pleasing Democrats but irritating his conservative base. Still, his base couldn't be too aggrieved, because the president had earlier that year won his first big tax cut, $1.3 trillion over 10 years.

On other issues, such as prescription drugs for seniors, the White House has floated plans with Congress, been shot down, and responded with an easy, "Fine. You guys come up with something."

But on an issue as central as the sluggish economy, Bush prefers to work from the outside in - cooking a plan in the White House, then relying on his conservative Republican base in Congress to bring the rest of the party, and a few conservative Democrats, along. Bush's supporters couldn't be happier.

"These last two or three Congresses have produced an astoundingly successful track record," says Michael Franc, congressional analyst at the Heritage Foundation. "This White House is like a sports team that goes out every night and wins by one point."

By another measure, the first two years of Bush's dealings with Congress were a resounding success, despite a Democratic takeover of the Senate just five months into his term. On votes in which Bush took a clear position, Congress voted with him 87 percent (2001) and 88 percent (2002) of the time - the highest scores since President Johnson in 1965, according to Congressional Quarterly. One key to that high score, says CQ's David Hawkings, is that Bush often did not make his position known, so the score was based on a relatively small number of votes.

Pat Griffin, who was the Clinton White House's liaison with Congress for two years, also looks at current relations from the perspective of what Bush is trying to achieve - and sees a successful operation. "Their goals have tended to be keeping the Republicans in line, and then adding a few D's [Democrats] to dress it up," he says. But, he adds, "to reach real solutions on Medicare, prescription drugs, and dealing with more nuanced elements of the economy, he needs a bipartisan way."

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