From Senate strife, a center takes hold

After a decade of power shifting steadily to party leaders, a new thing is at work in the US Congress: the reemergence of a center that counts.

Its beginnings are as dramatic as they are fragile. At the 11th hour, a bipartisan coalition - many of whom had never worked together - emerged to change the course of Senate history this week, as they challenged their leaders' decisions to move to a bruising procedural battle over the confirmation of judicial nominees.

On its face, their agreement simply averts a change in Senate rules on debate over nominees. But the deal's impact goes beyond the courts.

Although it can hardly be said that a dozen centrist renegades now rule Capitol HIll, this week may have witnessed the birth of a new Senate, in which rank and file members have rising clout. The dynamic could affect everything from President Bush's agenda to the tenor of America's red-blue political divide. At the very least, it gives new impetus to centrist bids to challenge the White House and party leaders on issues ranging from Social Security and fiscal discipline to revision of federal policy on stem-cell research.

"We're willing to negotiate, to cut deals. That's what we did this week in the Senate," says Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, executive director of the Republican Mainstreet Partnership, a centrist group with 68 members in the Senate and House.

It was a rare Senate moment of comity. For days before the deal, senators had lobbed verbal hand grenades across the aisles. The leaders, backed by powerful outside interest groups, said a showdown was inevitable.

Instead, the center held. The deal, announced late Monday, sparked talk of betrayal from groups who had poured millions into a fight that fizzled. What was not expected was a critical mass of senators willing to commit to an ongoing effort to hold the line for moderation in the judge wars - and, some senators hope, in other fights to come.

"This is one of those rare moments in which some legislators are able to put the national interest before ideological petty and partisan interests. It may only last a few hours," says Marshall Wittmann, a former conservative activist and aide to Sen. John McCain, now with the Democratic Leadership Council.

The compromisers ranged from the most senior member of the chamber, Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia, to the most junior, Sen. Mark Pryor (D) of Arkansas, No. 100 in seniority. What motivated them, they said, was a conviction that the Senate must not lose what is most distinct about it: respect for debate and the rights of minorities. But what made the deal possible was trust, said senators most directly involved.

A test of that trust could come early. The agreement hinges on a commitment that future nominees should only be filibustered "under extraordinary circumstances." Negotiators worked long and hard to define "extraordinary," but in the end settled on the clause that "each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist."

Pressed on this point in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, a leader in negotiating the compromise, said that the 14 senators, not the full Senate, will make the call: "We have 14 of us who are together and I am confident we will act in a way that if the circumstances are extraordinary, everybody will agree to that," he said.

"The White House needs to talk to us more, and they will," added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

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