Image-Building With Mitchell

George J. Mitchell may be just what the Democrats need as they attempt to rebuild their national image and project a reasonable, identifiable program for America. The 55-year-old Democrat from Maine won a surprisingly easy victory on Tuesday over more senior colleagues in a three-way contest for the majority leader of the U.S. Senate.

In any other era Mitchell would have been an improbable choice for the leadership of the seniority-conscious Senate. He is a relative newcomer to the Senate, having just won election to a second full term. He is not even the senior senator from his home state. That honor is held by the younger Republican Sen. William S. Cohen. But Mitchell has impressed his colleagues with his diligence, steadiness, good humor and ability to work cooperatively with senators on both sides of the aisle. Mitchell recently collaborated with Cohen in writing a book on the Iran-Contra affair.

Less than a month after George Bush made liberal a dirty word in his defeat of Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis for the presidency, Senate Democrats have turned for leadership to a man with a decidedly liberal record. But Mitchell has an ability to make his liberalism make sense. He comes across as a leader of integrity and conviction. And, better yet for the Democratic image, he has an ability to transmit these qualities over television. Indeed, he first came to national attention as a member of the Iran-Contra investigating committee. At one point during the hearings Mitchell pointedly told Lt. Col. Oliver L. North that he had no special claim on loyalty to his country. At the conclusion of the hearings in August, 1987, the Democrats called on Mitchell to deliver their response to President Reagan’s address on the issue.

Republican senators held an election on Tuesday as well, selecting Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas to serve another term as the minority leader. Sens. Alan Cranston of California and Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming were chosen to continue as assistant leaders for the Democrats and Republicans. This quartet of senators from states that represent the diversity of America will provide the Senate will its strongest leadership team in years.

The Mitchell selection is singularly important for Democrats, however. For the first time in the 1980s, the Democrats in Congress will have a leader who has the ability to summarize and articulate party positions in persuasive fashion for a national television audience.