The Rollback begins.

An appeal court today approved broadened wiretap powers for John Ashcroft’s Justice Department. (But don’t worry…they’ll only use it on the bad people.) In loosely related news, the Dems are discovering a filibuster won’t work in stopping much of the GOP’s desired legislation, including oil and gas drilling of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Looks like things’ll be getting worse before they get better.

Speaking of big oil, I was doing some reading between classes in what passes for a student center here at Columbia and ended up sitting next to the undergraduate pro-war-in-Iraq table. (To be honest, I’m always a bit startled by the conservatism of today’s undergraduate community, although I suppose it wasn’t much different in my day – I still remember the drunken revelries all over campus that accompanied the 1994 midterms.) At any rate, I noticed the organization’s name was Students United for Victory, which would make their acronym SUV. Ah well, I presume the irony was lost on these earnest young hawks.

Trial Balloons.

After the humbling defeat of Election Tuesday, Dem presidential hopefuls start taking tentative steps down a more combative course. First Daschle rightfully questioned the terrorism initiative in the wake of the recent Bin Laden tape, and now Gore is outwardly questioning the Supreme Court for its 2000 election decision. Speaking of which, anyone hoping beyond hope for a “new” Candidate Gore in 2004 should just take note of how loudly the gears are grinding here. The Gores have two books coming out – Joined at the Heart (as a friend of mine noted, a truly awful name that conjures up visions of Chang and Eng) and The Spirit of Family – aimed at resurrecting whatever national goodwill Al managed to muster by “The Kiss” at the Democratic Convention. As usual, Gore‘s making his points ham-fistedly.

Fresh faces.

Despite a last minute op-ed gambit by Harold Ford (I thought he was making an interesting case until he conflated national security with the Iraq vote), Nancy Pelosi wins the Democratic leadership handily. Hopefully, she’ll make the most of it. On the GOP side, Tom DeLay moved up the ranks to take Dick Armey’s spot. I’d say a higher national profile for the Exterminator is a good thing. The more people get a sense of how creepy DeLay is, the more palatable the Dems will seem in contrast.

Native Dems.

In South Dakota, one of the few victories for Dems last Tuesday, Native Americans made the difference. Reading this reminded me of a story I heard the other day. A friend of a friend who hosted our election night viewing had had some dealings with Crossfire host Robert Novak in his prior job. (I had met Novak a few times back in the Carville days, but he always just scowled at me like I was the help.) When this fellow mentioned Native Americans, Novak barked, “I’m a Native American. They’re Indians.” And you wonder why the Lakota voted overwhelmingly Democratic.

Another Contender.

Harold Ford, Jr. joins the race to succeed Gephardt in the House. I dunno…I know Ford (House/Campaign/Funding) is considered a rising star in the party, but at 32 he seems a bit young and inexperienced to take on the mantle of leadership. I’d still pick Pelosi over Ford, and both over Frost, given the latter’s left-baiting yesterday. (“I think that her politics are to the left…”) Update: Frost is out, meaning barring a major upset Nancy Pelosi is the new House leader.

Charting the Future.

The battle lines are drawn in the race to succeed Gephardt: Martin Frost v. Nancy Pelosi. Frost (House/Campaign/Funding) is a Texas moderate, Pelosi (House/Campaign/Funding) a California liberal. Neither overwhelm me with their progressive credentials (education, campaign finance reform, voting rights, etc.), but from what I read of the two here I guess I prefer Pelosi, particularly given the fact that, while Pelosi seems to support McCain-Feingold, Frost apparently tried to stop Shays-Meehan, the House arm of the bill. Pelosi might be easier for the GOP to pigeonhole as a “paleoliberal,” but I need more evidence that Frost wants the Dems to be anything more than GOP lite. Advantage Pelosi, for now.

After the Deluge.

As the Dems lick their wounds and begin contemplating their post-Gephardt future, the GOP prepares to implement Dubya’s wish list. A Contract on America? It looks like we’ll find out as soon as next week, in the “lame duck” session of the 107th Congress.

Reaping the Whirlwind.

Suddenly, items that had been bottled up in the Democratic Senate have new life. President Bush has new hopes for action on his conservative slate of judges, his energy plan calling for drilling in Alaska’s wildlife refuge, and the policies he favors on topics such as homeland security, terrorism insurance and prescription drug coverage. With Democrats losing their ability to set the Senate schedule and launch probes of the administration, chances improve for Bush’s hopes to extend last year’s tax cuts, curtail jury awards, cut business regulations and overhaul Medicare. Welcome to the new national order.

If there’s any silver lining to this nightmare, it’s that the Dems may finally be forced to do the extensive soul-searching they should have started two years ago. What does the party stand for? What does it stand against? Where do we go from here? What does it say about the party that the the reform candidate everybody got excited about two years ago was a Republican? All these questions are now begging for answers. As many other pundits are noting this bleak morning (and before), it’s time to clean house. New leadership is needed, but where will it come from? Remember, in 1990, nobody really saw Clinton coming…let’s hope history repeats itself before Dubya irrevocably screws up the judiciary, the economy, the environment, and, of course, the fate of the world. Update: Gephardt’s done…whomever replaces him will make for an interesting start to Democratic reconstruction.

Woo boy.

Oh, man…it’s ugly. You know it’s a bad election night when the highlight is seeing Carville wear a trash can on his head. I guess we Dems should’ve expected this the minute most of the party capitulated to Dubya’s wag-the-dog Iraq vote. If you don’t give the American people a choice, they won’t make one. Sigh…

Fight to the Finish.

On the day before the big show, many of the wonks predict Republican gains in the House. But, on the brighter side for the Dems, it’s looking like Erskine Bowles has an outside chance of stealing Jesse Helms’ seat from Liddy Dole.