WASHINGTON INSIGHT

REPUBLICAN BAGGAGE: A leading consultant in the bitterly partisan campaigns that catapulted Republicans to control of Congress two years ago is now singing a different tune. In a blunt, 103-page memo for Republican candidates, GOP consultant Frank Luntz says: “We continue to communicate in harshly partisan tones to a harshly anti-partisan audience. Voters want less fighting and more action.” As for the issues, Luntz starkly suggests: “We have articulated environmental issues so badly for so long that virtually no one trusts us. The good news is that we have nowhere to go but up. The bad news is that it’s a mile-long vertical climb and we’re carrying a lot of baggage.” He also urges Republicans to respond to voter hostility toward corporate America. Noting that GOP candidates often appear to be on the side of corporate chieftains, Luntz advises: “The public does not have much time or tolerance for your side of the story. You’ve already lost the only opportunity to make a good first impression, so you had better improve your communication from now on.”

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DEMO SOUNDINGS: In the battle for control of the House of Representatives, Democrats have good reason to smile. According to party insiders, a compendium of polls shows that Democratic candidates have a reasonable chance to take 50 seats now held by Republicans. By contrast, these surveys show that the GOP stands to capture only about 15 Democratic seats. That would make for a net gain of 35--nearly twice the number needed to overturn the Republican majority. But House campaign chairman Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.) still claims that his party will not only keep control but add to its 235-198 advantage. Recent history certainly gives him reason not to panic. Two years ago, polls showed only one Democratic incumbent trailing an opponent. Five weeks later, 34 Democrats were defeated in the Republican landslide. And Democrats worry this year that Republican incumbents will benefit on election day from health care and welfare reforms, as well as other end-of-term legislative accomplishments.

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FIRE AT WILL: Defense Secretary William J. Perry seems to be losing some of his luster on Capitol Hill. For much of his tenure, the widely respected Perry largely has escaped direct attacks by lawmakers. This week, however, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, chastised Perry for refusing to testify at a hearing. Perry’s spokesman said that he had a scheduling conflict. Also this week, Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) made public a letter in which she accused Perry of “stonewalling” her request for a list of military personnel who have been assigned to aid members of Congress. To underscore her unhappiness, Schroeder went on to pointedly note “a string of troubling disclosures involving the Defense Department” recently, including the truck-bombing at a U.S. military complex in Saudi Arabia, the unveiling of late-1980s Army training manuals that advocated the use of torture and blackmail by Latin American generals and suggestions that the Pentagon abandoned U.S. prisoners of war after the Korean War.

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MISSING CHELSEA: Chelsea Clinton, carefully screened from the public eye during most of her father’s term, suddenly took a higher profile at the time of the Democratic convention in August. She drew favorable notices for her skill at the campaign ropeline and many observers expected her to continue in the spotlight. But in recent weeks, she has again been all but invisible. The official White House reason: Classes resumed at her high school. But there’s another factor: Her parents took indignant exception to stories about her greater visibility, including suggestions that they had arranged their daughter’s debut at a moment of political advantage.