• U.S.

HONEY, I SHRUNK THE PARTY

3 minute read
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum/Washington

IF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WERE A movie, its title might be Small and Smaller. House G.O.P. leaders were especially gleeful about the prospect last week, saying they expect to preside this Wednesday over a caucus consisting of 232 members, one more than usual. The addition, they said, would be Greg Laughlin of Texas, who abruptly resigned two weeks ago from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Reports from Laughlin’s home district indicated that he was about to leave the Democrats entirely. In anticipation, Republicans were signing a letter to welcome their newest recruit.

A Laughlin switch would be part of a notable trend. Three other Democrats in Congress have joined the G.O.P. since November, and more defections are probably coming. At least three other Southern conservative Democrats have made it clear that they are itching to jump ship. A larger number are likely to retire rather than run in 1996. That would make the Democrats’ quest to regain control of the House in 1996 little more than a pipe dream. “To gain the seats the Democrats need to be the majority in the House will be really, really, really hard,” said congressional expert Charles Cook. Two weeks ago, he put their chances at 30% to 35%; now his assessment is down to 20% and 25%.

The prospect of more defections is dispiriting in the face of what many congressional Democrats believe has been an even greater betrayal. They moan that Clinton has all but abandoned them on the central issues of the day, especially the budget, making them a party without a President. White House strategists even have a term to describe the way they distance themselves from their fellow Democrats: triangulation. When the President wants to position himself on a given subject, he draws roughly equal-size lines from the Democrats and Republicans and puts himself at the apex. Congressional Democrats have their own word for the process: strangulation.

Laughlin was one of four Southern lawmakers who quit the campaign committee, claiming the Democratic Party “remains intolerant to variances [by individual members] from its national party message on any issue.” The cause of their discontent: Democratic opposition to a bill relaxing water-pollution regulations and, thus, helping each of the Southerners’ watery districts by easing restrictions on the use of wetlands. Last Tuesday Laughlin met privately with House minority leader Richard Gephardt over the issue, but even if animosities subside, the tide of defections probably will not.

“I don’t see any real healing going on,” said Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, who also resigned from the committee. Tauzin has given Democrats until December to shape up–or he will jump just in time to run for the Senate. Mike Parker of Mississippi isn’t expected to wait that long. When asked if he is switching parties, he says, “I have no plans to switch–today.” More telling is the way he describes himself: “a recovering Democrat.”

–By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum/Washington. With reporting by Karen Tumulty/ Washington

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