How Jeffords Got Away

DIANA WALKER FOR TIME
The media-shy Jeffords gets use to the bright lights

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On Wednesday morning, half a dozen G.O.P. colleagues sat Jeffords down in a room off the Senate floor for a last stab at changing his mind. "Jim, do you really believe you can further your dreams and aspirations by doing this?" Senator Chuck Hagel asked plaintively. "We can fix this. Give us a chance." Jeffords agreed only to meet later that day. When they reconvened at 4:15, the Senators had a sweet offer for him. The White House promised more money for education, Lott would give him a seat at the Senate leadership table as the moderates' representative, and Jeffords could chair the Health and Education Committee for as long as he wanted. For the rest of the 90-min. session, the arguments got personal. Hundreds of G.O.P. staff members would be fired if the Democrats took control. Senators who had worked long and hard to become committee chairmen would have the prize yanked away. Senator Charles Grassley, who had chaired the Finance Committee for just four months, was in tears.

Jeffords was moved. "That's the worst emotional experience I've been through," he told TIME. "These are all wonderful friends of mine. They were frustrated, as I had been over the years, but they nevertheless wanted to stay with the party." Wait a few days, the Senators begged, and make this decision after a good night's rest.

But Jeffords had committed to holding a press conference the next day in Vermont. On the flight home that evening, he decided once and for all to become an independent and vote with the Democrats, giving them control of the Senate. "I became a Republican not because I was born into the party but because of the kind of fundamental principles Republicans stood for--moderation, tolerance, fiscal responsibility," he told the press in Montpelier the next day. "Our party was the party of Lincoln," but conservatives now dominate it, so "it has become a struggle for our leaders to deal with me and for me to deal with them."

As Jeffords made his announcement, Air Force One was streaking west to Cleveland, where Bush was scheduled to promote his faith-based-charities initiative. Stewards passed out earphones so that the Congressmen and Senators on board could hear a CNN audio feed of Jeffords' press conference. Aides say Bush didn't bother to listen to the broadcast. That may not have been wise. Look what happened the last time he ignored Jeffords.