Democratic Duo Brings Bravado to Party

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Democratic Duo Brings Bravado to Party
Election 'Generals' Schumer, Emanuel Take Flak for Style, But Tack Has Energized Campaigns
By JACKIE CALMES
September 29, 2006; Page A4

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Yet both men's (New York Sen. Charles Schumer, alongside Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel) drive to win has at times left fellow Democrats feeling run over. In their determination to elect more Democrats from moderate and conservative districts, they have antagonized some of the party's loyal, liberal blocs: antiwar liberals, women's groups, civil libertarians and -- by their tough talk on immigration -- Hispanic groups. Yet even some of the foils agree: These two high-energy partisans with their sharp elbows and tongues, and no apparent need to be loved, are just what Democrats need to end their exile from power... Big-city liberals both -- 46-year-old Mr. Emanuel from Chicago's Daley machine and 55-year-old Mr. Schumer from Brooklyn -- they are nonetheless obsessed with winning back Reagan Democrats and others in the middle-class suburbs. Both have pushed their roles beyond where previous campaign chiefs have gone, becoming not just candidate recruiters and fund-raisers, but message strategists as well.

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Even Republicans credit the men with expanding the field of competitive races. Both lobbied reluctant incumbents to seek another term, recruited credible challengers for Republican seats and ignored an unwritten rule against intervening in party primaries. Both sought moderates they felt could win in November, over liberals who appeal to party primary voters. They didn't always prevail, and even where they did, the men's interference sometimes enraged local Democrats. In suburban Chicago, where the Democratic nominee is an Iraq veteran and double amputee Tammy Duckworth, 68-year-old Alice Doyle, a volunteer for a Duckworth rival in the primary, says, "I was so mad that Rahm Emanuel and the boys in Washington had chosen her." Now she concedes, "Tammy probably has a better chance" in the historically Republican district. After Mr. Schumer helped recruit Pennsylvania state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., an opponent of abortion rights, to challenge Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, feminist leader Kate Michelman confronted Mr. Schumer and, as a Pennsylvanian, weighed running against Mr. Casey. "I do not question his own commitment to women's rights and equality," she says of Mr. Schumer. "I do question the tactics from time to time." Still, she came to agree that by running, and splitting the Democratic vote, she would only help re-elect Mr. Santorum.

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Both men have been equally aggressive at raising money. Each campaign committee had collected more than $80 million as of September, a record for Democrats. Mr. Schumer has swamped his Republican counterpart, North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, while Mr. Emanuel has nearly matched the House Republicans' campaign committee. But the Republican committees share about $60 million more from party Chairman Ken Mehlman, while the Democrats lack such aid from their party chairman, Howard Dean, spawning an intraparty cold war. Tensions over the money issue flared publicly in May, when Mr. Emanuel bolted from the trio's summit in Mr. Dean's office. Mr. Dean has spent heavily on a "50-state program" for long-term party-building even in red states; the congressmen want funds targeted to states with hot races now. Other Democrats say both sides have a point, but refused to compromise. Recently Mr. Dean agreed to provide $12 million.


For more than a year, Democrats debated what platform to have for 2006, or whether to have one at all. Mr. Schumer was among those mostly content to bash Mr. Bush. "For us to put out a big range of ideas gives Republicans a target and gets the message off George Bush," he said in an interview as deliberations progressed. But Mr. Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, wanted an agenda. Paul Begala, a friend from their White House days, says, "We all learned under Clinton, it's just not enough to indict -- you have to offer an alternative." (Mr. Clinton has told audiences Mr. Emanuel was "my Karl Rove.") When Mr. Emanuel appeared last October on NBC's "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert challenged him, "What are the Democratic ideas?" Mr. Emanuel rattled off five -- college aid, health care, a bipartisan budget summit, energy alternatives and a national technology institute. The "New Direction" agenda that Democrats announced last month roughly mirrors those points. But he and Mr. Schumer sought to duck the year's big issue -- what to do in Iraq -- given party divisions and fears of Republican counterattacks. Instead, they have focused on what they perceive as administration mistakes and Congress's failure to provide any check.

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