From Senate strife, a center takes hold

The emergence of a muscular center in a highly partisan environment throws a new element into preparations for 2006 elections, say activists on both sides. The White House and conservative activists wanted the Senate to change its rules, to remove the filibuster from Democrats' arsenal before a battle over a Supreme Court nominee, which could come as early as this summer.

At the same time, retaliation by Democrats would have cast them in the politically perilous role of obstructionists.

"The so-called deal blurs the distinction between Republicans and Democrats," says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative antitax group. "It's best to have the Democrats filibustering or slowing things down so that people visibly see that that's the case going into 2006," he adds.

On the other side, many activists aligned with Democrats see the deal as a betrayal. Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority, worries that about the new limitations on the use of filibusters.

"Will saving women's lives, women's rights, and civil rights be considered such an 'extraordinary' circumstance? If the records of the three anti women's rights, anti civil rights nominees who will receive a vote of confirmation under the deal are to be the standard, then these rights are in grave peril," she said, after meeting informally with Democratic senators Monday.

But for the 14 senators brokering the deal, attacks from outside groups are only confirmation that they are on ground worth defending. They say they expect anger from such groups, and even constituents, but trust that voters will come to see the value of restoring a vital center in the US Congress.

The record of moderate collaborations in recent congresses is thin, but significant. GOP moderates joined Democrats in forcing reductions in proposed Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. They hope to rally support for more fiscal discipline in the 2006 appropriations cycle. They are also hopeful that a House vote on expanding federal funding for stem-cell research (expected Tuesday) and a parallel effort in the Senate will also be victories for a revived bipartisan center.

"Trust is what has not been happening around here," said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine, who led efforts to rein in the Bush tax cuts. She says the many hours of working together on a deal on judges helped reinvigorate the quality of relationships needed to rebuild a working center in Congress.

"You don't often have a chance to sit down and talk to each other and to be focused. The media and those 30 second sound bite ads accentuate the divide. It gets people cemented in what divides them," she said in comments after the deal was announced Monday.

Signatories to the deal on judges included GOP Sens. McCain, Snowe, and Graham, as well as Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and John Warner of Virginia; and Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

In addition to those who formally signed on to the deal, centrists such as GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on leaders of both parties to release members from the straightjacket of party-line voting, saying this is the only way to defuse the crisis.

However, a challenge to this new alliance could come as early as this week. Although the pact promised up-or-down floor votes on three specific nominees that has long been blocked by the threat of a filibuster by Democrats, Senate majority leader Bill Frist could opt to force a vote on the two nominees not included in the pact: William Myers and Henry Saad.

"This is the paradox of the moment: A crisis has been averted, but the wrath of the right has been ignited to another level," says Mr. Wittmann.

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