Clinton Charm Is Holding on Capitol Hill : Democrats: His return visit is greeted with enthusiasm by lawmakers. President-elect vows new partnership between Congress, White House.

If President-elect Bill Clinton impressed Democrats on his first post-election visit to Capitol Hill last month, he apparently took them by storm on his return visit Tuesday, courting lawmakers with the promise of a new partnership between Congress and the White House.

“It was great,” exclaimed Rep. Charlie Rose (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Administration Committee. “It was a love-in that this place hasn’t seen in many years. . . . Members were saying that Clinton’s style, the way he sat down with the chairmen to discuss ideas with them, is something they haven’t seen in many, many years.”

Clinton’s first encounter with the lawmakers on Nov. 19 broke the ice with a Democratic leadership that had long been skeptical of the Arkansas governor and warmed to his candidacy only relatively late in the campaign.

But his second and more ambitious day of meetings on Capitol Hill appeared to build the kinds of bridges that he will need to ensure support for the economic and social reforms he has promised to make his legislative priorities upon assuming office Jan. 20.

He apparently disclosed few, if any, new details of those reforms in a daylong series of meetings with House and Senate Democrats but the success of Clinton’s politicking was apparent after an hourlong meeting with House committee chairmen--the power barons of Capitol Hill.

Rose said that the tenor of the meeting was best expressed at the end when Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, rose to tell Clinton that “your agenda is my agenda . . . and we look forward to working with you.”

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) then brought the chairmen to their feet by cheering: “Let’s hear it for the boss!” prompting everyone in the room to rise and applaud wildly, Rose recounted.

The enthusiasm was widely echoed by other participants when Clinton met with Senate committee chairmen, rank-and-file House Democrats and the 66 newcomers who make up the Democratic contingent in the largest freshman class to enter Congress since World War II.

“He made it clear that he hopes we (freshmen) will be a base of support for the new Administration in Congress,” said newly elected Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.).

Added freshman Rep. Lynn Schenk (D-San Diego): “He reached out to us. The President-elect made an offer to be partners with not only the whole Congress but the freshman class in particular.”

While the emphasis appeared to be on generalities and a commitment to consult with Congress more frequently than his predecessors have done, Clinton told the lawmakers that recent signs of an upturn in the economy are inconclusive and do not constitute a reason to abandon his economic stimulus package in favor of giving greater priority to spending cuts to reduce the budget deficit.

“We are nowhere near to knowing” that the recession is over, Clinton told a brief news conference, where he repeated many of the themes that he stressed with the lawmakers. “I haven’t changed any of my substantive positions,” on the economy, he added.

“Don’t let the last few months of good indicators mean that you can put your feet up on the desk and do nothing,” Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) quoted Clinton as telling the lawmakers in one of the closed-door meetings.

Meehan sounded the day’s only embryonic note of dissent, saying that freshmen members for whom the deficit was a major campaign issue can support Clinton’s stimulus package only if he comes up with a “credible four- or five-year plan” to reduce the deficit beginning in the second year of his term.

But for the most part, Tuesday was a day in which Clinton “skillfully pressed all the right buttons and massaged all the right egos and got members to respond by cooing and purring,” one senior House Democratic aide noted.

“He understands we’re an important part of his life and he knows how to treat us,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

“He came over as being very concerned about the involvement of members of the House in government,” added Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). “He gave us all a great sense of hope.”

And, added Lewis, he and other rank-and-file Democrats were surprised and flattered when they discovered that Clinton had memorized all their names and faces before meeting them. “Nobody had to give him their names. He already knew them,” Lewis said, shaking his head in amazement.

Times staff writer William J. Eaton contributed to this story.