The Populist Polls

Isaiah J. Poole

November 08, 2006

Isaiah J. Poole is the executive editor of TomPaine.com.

In a nod to perceived political necessity, Democrats have been going out of their way to sound moderate in the early hours of their takeover of the House of Representatives and near takeover of the Senate. But Tuesday’s election also revealed a populist anger about how the economy has failed to work for working people, and a majority of voters won’t mind if Democrats aren’t moderate in addressing that anger.

The fear-mongering strategy unleashed by the Republicans—that “San Francisco liberal” Nancy Pelosi, once she becomes speaker of the House, would raise the taxes of ordinary families and enact other elements of a so-called radical agenda—utterly failed. The new crop of Democrats coming to the House and Senate may not see eye-to-eye with progressives on such issues as gun control, abortion or ending discrimination against lesbians and gays, but they campaigned on such progressive themes as raising the minimum wage, reining in the pharmaceutical companies in the Medicare program and breaking the cycle of horse-trading between lobbyists and lawmakers.

Perhaps the best example of how a candidate running on progressive themes shattered the efforts of Republican to maintain their stranglehold on Congress is Rep. Sherrod Brown’s successful Senate campaign. While incumbent Republican Mike DeWine touted President Bush’s line about the health of the economy and the need to support the administration’s Iraq policy, Brown did not shy away from a full-throated denunciation of that war and sharp criticism of the administration’s economic and trade policies. Brown was certainly helped by the fact that key Ohio Republicans were tainted by scandals—foremost among them Rep. Bob Ney—that were the byproduct of an institutional ethical rot within the GOP.

Another example is Florida’s 22nd District, in Palm Beach and Broward counties, in which Democratic challengers Ron Klein defeated longtime incumbent E. Clay Shaw Jr.  What Klein vowed to fight was summarized in one of his ads late in the campaign:

The new Medicare Drug Plan does not do enough to control drug prices and is unnecessarily complex. Homeowners insurance rates are skyrocketing while companies cancel policies randomly. Our energy policy has been written by oil companies. Good jobs are being shipped offshore. And above it all, we hear the steady drumbeat of daily scandals coming from the U.S. Congress.

Democratic challenger John Hall defeated incumbent Republican Sue Kelly in upstate New York on a campaign based on this declaration:

No more "Clear Skies" initiative that allows more greenhouse gases in our air. No more "Healthy Forests" plan that lets timber companies build roads and cut prime trees in our national forests. No more tax "reform" bills that result in a greater gap between rich and poor. And especially no more wars based on false premises.

Nonetheless, even some progressives are trumpeting Tuesday’s elections as a triumph of political moderation. “It has to be,” said Progressive Caucus member Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., because many of the battleground districts were held by often conservative Republicans while progressive incumbent districts were in safe seats.

Pelosi’s first steps as speaker will be to carry out what is being referred to as her 100-hours plan, in which she will work to get through the House the elements of her “six in ‘06” campaign plank. Those six elements include implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations and pushing for a phased redeployment of troops out of Iraq as part of a broader security agenda, increasing the minimum wage, rewriting the Medicare prescription drug benefit to allow the government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, pass renewable energy initiatives and end excessive tax breaks to Big Oil, cut student loan rates and expand Pell grants and pass pension reform legislation while blocking any Social Security privatization initiatives.

“The 100-hours plan is an approach that is geared at getting something done and not being ideological,” Norton said. The elements of the plan “are things that are strictly bipartisan” and have a chance of winning support from Republicans, she added.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., characterized the incoming Congress as “a moderate House” that is responding to an electorate “that is looking for balance, bipartisanship and accountability.” But Meek also acknowledged that it will be a Congress that is compelled to address some of the progressive economic issues he and other members of his “30-something caucus” have been stressing in lengthy House floor speeches for the past several years.

“It was certainly a mandate for an agenda that Americans believe needs to be broadened, because the agenda before now has existed only for the wealthiest among us,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Rep. John Larsen, D-Conn., said that Pelosi “has done an outstanding job of unifying the Democratic caucus” and is setting the stage for a climate that will allow progressives and moderates to work together. “Pelosi has talked about civility, integrity, accountability. She’s been saying, ‘I welcome ideas from any section,’” he said.

What was abundantly clear on election night is that the forces that could pull the party away from bold action on issues of economic fairness are strong, and the voters who want the Democratic Party to rediscover its voice on women’s and other social issues are going to be mightily disappointed by some of the incoming Democrats. Pelosi will need all of her skills as a firm but adroit dealmaker in the weeks ahead, and progressives will need to exhibit the same level of firmness and nimbleness.