WASHINGTON INSIGHT

SASSER SURGES: A dark-horse out of the gate, Sen. Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.) is showing surprising strength in the race for Senate Democratic leader and may have overtaken the early front-runner, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Although the election to succeed retiring Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) is months away, both candidates have been campaigning briskly for what is considered the second most powerful post in Washington. . . . Insiders describe Sasser’s surge as a backlash against the Senate’s baby boomers, with lots of senior lawmakers believing that Daschle, 46, is too young for the job. Sasser, 57, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is regarded by some as more seasoned--a shrewd, tough partisan. “There’s a perception that Daschle would be eaten alive in a duel with (Senate Minority Leader) Bob Dole” (R-Kan.), said a Sasser backer. But Daschle, a Mitchell protege, is an energetic achiever whose moderate-to-liberal views, like Sasser’s, are in the Democratic mainstream. . . . A possible plus for Sasser: He and President Clinton both have the same best friend in the Senate: David Pryor of Arkansas.

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SEISMIC SHIFT: As recently as two years ago, Republicans had no chance of winning a large batch of House seats simply because they did not field a candidate. In contrast, Democrats contested nearly every race. Now that picture is changing dramatically--and GOP strategists are predicting that, as early as 1996, it could help the party seize control of the House for the first time in five decades. . . . Of the first 237 House districts where filings are complete for this year’s elections, the Republicans have candidates in 233 and the Democrats in only 223. “This is a historic change,” trumpets Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), head of the House GOP campaign committee. “Republicans left 61 seats unchallenged in 1988, 46 in 1990 and 17 in 1992.” . . . Why are Republicans becoming more competitive? “Reapportionment has helped change the landscape,” Paxon said. The 1990 census shifted substantially more House seats to the Sun Belt and suburbs, two GOP growth areas. Another factor is Voting Rights Act redistricting, which by lumping blacks in one district made neighboring districts more Republican.

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SEEKING COMMON GROUND: At a time when Louis Farrakhan’s hyper-inflated rhetoric has heightened tensions between blacks and Jews--the two most reliable members of the Democratic coalition--one Jewish organization has taken a step that could help smooth troubled waters. The National Jewish Democratic Council, a 5,000-member group that assists Democratic campaigns at the grass roots, is voicing “strong opposition” to the Clinton Administration’s policy of rejecting political asylum to thousands of Haitian refugees. The policy is a sore point with many African American leaders but one on which Jewish groups have not previously taken a position. “I find the whole idea of sending people back to Haiti carte blanche outrageous. It has nothing to do with anything this country was founded on,” said Steve Gutow, the council’s executive director. . . . Gutow said he believes that the black and Jewish communities “share a large common agenda in the way we vote,” but he acknowledged that Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, has been disruptive. “His need to constantly berate people on the basis of religion and skin color is nauseating. But the two communities are much more in sync than some people think.”