Democratic Candidates Assail Bills [View All]

Democratic presidential candidates lined up yesterday in opposition to Republican deals on energy and Medicare -- legislation that if passed would give President Bush two key political victories one year before the election.

Even before many of the details were known, the candidates blasted Bush for what they view as shortchanging consumers and using the bills to reward his campaign contributors. "The latest energy plan and the prescription drug benefit are more paybacks for George W. Bush's special-interest friends and campaign contributors," said Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), expressing the emerging Democratic message.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) is the only Democratic presidential candidate who may decide to support the Medicare bill, while all are united in opposing the energy bill. The two bills are the most significant policies to circulate on Capitol Hill in years. The Medicare bill received a big boost yesterday when AARP, the premier seniors lobby, endorsed it.

<snip>

Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are critical of both the Medicare and energy deals, but they might have a hard time preventing moderates from breaking ranks and allowing Bush to declare bipartisan victories. Already, Sens. John Breaux (D-La.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are hailing the Medicare agreement, which they helped strike, and several Democrats from oil- and ethanol-producing states are expected to vote for the energy package, too.

If Democrats can block the Medicare deal, in particular, they will carry with them one of the most potent political weapons in politics today: the charge that Bush and a GOP Congress cannot deliver the right medicine for the elderly, who vote in large numbers. But Democrats privately admit it is much harder to make this charge stick without AARP on their side.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54358-2003Nov17.html

Baucus is my Senator. I feel like he's let me down so many times this term.

Check this out:

Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and co-author of the bill, said it would be bad news for Democrats to try to kill the bill.

"If Democrats stand up and filibuster or oppose the bill, I think, frankly Democrats will be blamed for failure to pass legislation that would finally begin to help our senior citizens," he said.

But some Democratic presidential candidates are willing to take that chance. Howard Dean and Wesley Clark said Monday that the package is a giveaway to private insurers that will end up damaging the federal program in the long run.

"The bill coming out of Congress violates the basic principle of the Hippocratic oath — first do no harm," Clark said in a statement.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103343,00.html

The irony here is that Baucus endorsed Clark this week.