On a Day of Anticipation, Democrats Walked Taller

Tom Korologos, lobbyist supreme, was wandering the Capitol building Wednesday when a Republican senator--a committee chairman--implored him to say, “Good night, Mr. Chairman,” one last time.

Democrats would not even allow themselves to try on such titles. “Don’t jinx it,” a Democratic senator whispered to his fund-raiser after she suggested that by this morning she might be calling him “Mr. Chairman.”

The mere prospect that an obscure Republican senator from Vermont would soon change his party allegiance unhinged a Senate that has been balanced on a knife’s edge since last November’s elections. But it also rattled the rest of this company town, from giant lobbying firms to boutique think tanks and partisan public relations offices.

The irony is that on any individual vote, or issue, nothing much would change. Sen. James M. Jeffords, the Vermonter of wavering loyalties, has often sided with Democrats.

But voting is not as important as process in these environs. And process would undergo a sea change if Jeffords jumped to the other team, taking the majority status with him.

Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) acknowledged what was on everyone’s mind: “Clearly, the most important thing is that the leader of the Senate sets the agenda. Yeah, it does matter. It makes a difference. It’s important.”

Democratic senators would run the committees. The Ds, as they’re called on Capitol Hill, would determine the schedule, decide whose legislation gets discussed when, determine who gets to talk for how long.

Advantage Ds.

Republicans would no longer be able to call hearings when they got really mad about something, decide whether to recess early on Fridays or conference on issues they thought needed to be dealt with right away.

Disadvantage Rs.

Still, nobody would be out of a job if the universe shifted. The club members made sure of that.

After the November elections left the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, senators cut a deal among themselves to guarantee the job security of their staffs, no matter how the balance changed over the next two years.

At the time they hashed out this arrangement, the senators had in mind not Jeffords but Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who, at 98, is a Republican from a state dominated by Democrats.

Still, while everybody would keep getting a paycheck, roles most definitely would change--sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

Mark Ugoretz, president of a lobbying group on health and pension issues, characterized the drama this way: “You have a president who has barely won and has no mandate, you have a Senate that four months into its administration suddenly changes leadership, and you have all these staff moving around. The people are changing, the space changes. You’ve got all this moving and shaking going on.”

Former Democratic policy makers, who have been seen shuffling around the marbled halls of power since Bill Clinton left office, were walking a little taller down K Street on Wednesday. They would be called again for their expertise. They would be needed, heeded. They could get new clients, perhaps even bit parts on cable TV news shows.

“This gives us a reason to live again, to wake up in the morning and plot trouble,” said Leslie Dach, a Democratic strategist. “It’s been hard to find a path to do politics for many Democrats.”

Policy aside and politics in mind, Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader, could occupy a more regular spot on the evening news and newspaper front pages--providing a voice for the Democratic message, Daschle added.

Again, advantage Ds. And that doesn’t even cover what this does for the Clintonites who are still knocking around Washington suburbs in their blue jeans, picking up the kids from school because they’re still jobless.

The heads of Republican lobbying firms were feeling a little more kindly toward these true-blue Democrats.

“We think of ourselves as bipartisan,” said one GOP lobbyist, who was too embarrassed to be identified as thinking bipartisan, at least until Jeffords actually makes the switch. “Now maybe we’ll need to hire a few Democrats so we can help our clients get access to certain committees.”

Another Republican political consultant wondered aloud whether he even knew any Ds on committee staffs. Which Democratic firms should he realign his firm with to represent his clients’ interests?

A Democratic fund-raiser began salivating over how much easier it would be to get people to ante up for his client, the good senator who would become chairman of an important committee that controls a very big manufacturing industry.

“Yesssss,” the fund-raiser laughed. “Yesssss.”

And then there was the pure gossip factor.

“The first reaction has been massive amounts of phone calling,” said Mark Isakowitz, a Republican lobbyist. “People were asking all day today, ‘Is there some chance this won’t happen? What has the White House done? What did they offer Jeffords? Could he change his mind? Who is to blame for this? Why didn’t we, who think of ourselves as all-knowing, see this coming?’ ”

The tension of it all was enveloping the Capitol building, particularly on the Senate floor, where Jeffords was roaming about during a roll call vote on the tax bill.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who had spent most of the day smiling gamely, pulled Jeffords aside for a tete-a-tete. Immediately, Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles of Oklahoma sidled up, arms crossed, to join the intense conversation.

Then came Sen. Larry E. Craig of Idaho, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. Jeffords was courteous, giving Nickles a pat on the arm and on the back.

But there was no obvious evidence that in this Senate, where every man is king, as Huey Long once said, Republican leaders were making any headway with the Senate’s kingmaker of the moment.

It would all be known today. And then maybe somebody in the Hart building would uncork champagne or someone in the Dirksen building would plot a new move. To tip the balance, yet again.

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Staff writers Nick Anderson and Alissa J. Rubin contributed to this story.