The Howey Political Report Is Published by Newslink Same Level - U.S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Thursday, May 31, 2001 ! Volume 7, Number 38 Page 1 of 9 Bush and Bayh on The lessons of the father Howey !"#$%$"&'%(&#)*&+%,"#-&,%&.&*$,%$/+#' “Teach, your children well, their father’s hell, it slow- ly goes by.... - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Teach Your Political Children” * * * By BRIAN A. HOWEY in Indianapolis To truly understand the decisions being made by one Report player absolutely critical to the 2004 presidential equation - George W. Bush - and another who could have impact on the The Howey Political Report is published by NewsLink same level - U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh - you have to understand Inc. Founded in 1994, The Howey Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter analyzing the the lessons they learned from their powerful fathers. political process in Indiana. In the wake of the defection by Sen. James Jeffords Brian A. Howey, publisher out of the Republican fold, the pundits were blowing in full force. Stuart Rothenberg predicted that the Republican loss Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington writer of the U.S. Senate would make President George W. Bush a Jack E. Howey, editor one-termer. Shift to a Democratic Senate majority would be The Howey Political Report Office: 317-254-1533 bad news for Evan Bayh as it would force the emphasis PO Box 40265 Fax: 317-466-0993 away from the moderate centrists that Bayh had assembled, Indianapolis, IN 46240-0265 Mobile: 317-506-0883 and into the hands of incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom [email protected] Daschle. www.howeypolitics.com HPR’s assessment is that it is way too early to rele- Washington office: 202-775-3242; gate G.W. Bush to the dustbin of single term presidencies or Business Office: 317-254-0535. to assume that Bayh’s growing clout will be significantly reduced in the new Senate. Subscriptions: $250 annually via e-mail or What are fascinating are the political journeys Bush fax; $450 annually including the HPR Daily and Bayh have taken, finally emerging from the broad shad- Wire. Call 317-254-1533 or 254-0535. ows of their fathers after enduring humiliating defeat. This © 2001, The Howey Political Report. All rights needs to be taken in the context of America’s swinging ideo- reserved. Photocopying, Internet forwarding, faxing or logical pendulum, where Bush and Bayh are defining the reproducing in any form, in whole or in part, is a viola- parameters. In President Bush’s mind and actions, the tion of federal law and is strictly prohibited without consent of the publisher. American conservative movement is still gathering steam. Continued on page 2 “This is very serious with regard to gover- Ticker: DST ticks before Buyer p. 2 nance and the confidence of the American McDaniel re-elected unanimously p. 6 people. This is an awesome (decision) and, in Phoenix PAC to help GOP raise $$ p. 7 my view, irresponsible ....’’ - U.S. Sen. RIchard Horse Race: Goodnight tabs JLT p. 8 Columnists: Colwell, Stedman p. 9 Lugar on Sen. Jeffords’ decision to leave the GOP Thursday, May 31, 2001 Page 2 of 9 BUYER WEIGHS DST: The technology group that tried to get the Indiana General Assembly to approve Daylight Saving Time is now seeking to get U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer’s House Commerce Committee to include Indiana in an emer- gency bill designed to help four Western states deal with the energy crisis. The legislation would exempt the four states from the 1964 Uniform Time Act, which was amended by those Vietnam era campaigns and has U.S.Sen. Birch Bayh in 1972 Bush-Bayh, from page1 to include the provisions been hard pressed to even talk about what that allow Indiana to be Evan Bayh’s activities and pronounce- position he took on the war while it was exempt from DST. Buyer ments suggest that the pendulum is begin- waged. After graduating from Yale, G.W. has indicated he’s open to ning to swing the other way. Bush joined the Texas Air National exploring the issue, but that Guard. A&E’s Biography says that after he would want the rest of Defeated fathers - GHW Bush Lt. Bush left the guard, “The early 1970s the Indiana congressional marked a distinctly unfocused period in delegation to weigh in. George W. Bush was a teenager Bush’s life as he moved back to East Buyer said that Indiana leg- when his father ran for the U.S. Senate in islators have indicated a 1964 and was defeated by Sen. Ralph Texas and worked intermittently as a man- preference to have Yarborough, a liberal Democrat. As the agement trainee at an agricultural firm and Congress deal with the younger Bush headed for Yale, his father on U.S. Senate campaigns in Florida and sticky issue. became the first Republican congressman Alabama.” He left Texas for Harvard in from Houston, swept in during the GOP 1972, earned his MBA in 1975 and then NE LEGISLATORS RIP tidal wave of 1966 and winning re-elec- ran for Congress in 1978, losing with 47 O’BANNON: Northeast tion with Richard M. Nixon heading the percent of the vote. Indiana Republican legisla- ticket in 1968. George H.W. Bush - with a Bush continued in the oil business, tors blasted Democrats and quit drinking in 1986 on his 40th birthday, the O'Bannon administra- zero percent ADA rating - aimed for tion Wednesday before Yarborough again in 1970, but he was then moved his family to Washington in business leaders in Fort upset by the more conservative Lloyd M. 1987 to work on his father’s presidential Wayne during a Chamber- Bentsen Jr. in the primary and went on to campaign. He became “his father’s most sponsored wrap-up of the defeat the elder Bush that fall. In that trusted confidant and major point of con- just concluded session election, Bush - who supported Nixon’s tact for his colleagues,” Biography report- (Victor Locke, WPTA). controversial Vietnam policy - was unable ed. “He also became known as a talented State Sen. David Long said to make the sharp ideological contrast on speaker and the campaign’s chief liaison "businesses got hammered which he had planned his campaign, to Christian conservatives.” by Democrats in the anticipating that Yarborough would be his In the ‘88 campaign, G.W. Bush Senate" when they walked out on a last-minute vote for opponent. watched as his father drove home the dis- U.S. Rep. Bush’s son doesn’t tinction between President Reagan and Continued on page 3 appear to have played much of a role in himself, offering to create a “kinder, gen- Page 3 of 9 Thursday, May 31, 2001 tler America” as if some of the conserva- high school, Birch Bayh seemed increas- tive realities of Morning in America had ingly out of step with Hoosier voters. He been too harsh. defeated Richard Lugar (Nixon’s “favorite G.W. Bush then returned to Texas mayor”) in the Watergate year of 1974. in 1989, where he headed a group that But even in that terrible Republican year, purchased the Texas Rangers. From afar, Lugar was competitive as his numbers he watched his father preside over the fall rebounded after the Nixon resignation, a business exemption, of communism, win the Gulf War - two dived with President Ford’s pardon, designed to counter the legacies of the Reagan military buildups - revived in mid-fall despite an Indianapolis lawmakers’ failure to elimi- only to find a largely rudderless presiden- Police Department scandal, then finally nate the inventory tax. cy when G.H.W. Bush reneged on his “no bottomed out after Ford came to Indiana Long says Republicans in new taxes” promise while Lee Atwater’s against Lugar’s pleadings, and used the the Senate agreed to pass death took the fire out of the president’s campaign appearance to promote his WIN the budget, sans elimination of the inventory tax, on the belly. The first Bush presidency seemed to program. Hoosier voters didn’t buy into understanding the exemp- have its successes built on the Reagan Fords Whip Inflation Now banalities. But tion would be approved, but foundation of activism and strength, while the end result was a less than impressive the Democrats, he charged, its own activities were listless and wan- 51-46 percent Bayh win. "double-crossed us" at the dering and prompted movement conserva- The message had to gnaw at Evan last minute. State Sen. Tom tives to bolt - lessons not lost on the son. Bayh, now a freshman at Indiana Wyss said there were "fail- G.W. Bush appeared to play a University. Had the bloom come off liber- ures in leadership down smaller role in the 1992 defeat and within alism in the heartland? there, very poor communi- a year he surprised nearly everyone - In 1976, the answers were much cation systems in the exec- including his family - when he announced clearer. Lugar defeated another liberal - utive branch." Wyss went on to predict "we'll have a he was running for governor of Texas. Sen. Vance Hartke - with almost 60 per- very contentious session cent of the vote while carrying 83 coun- next year." Sen. David Ford Defeated father - Birch Bayh ties. That year, Evan Bayh experienced his charged the O'Bannon As a child and teenager, Evan Bayh first political defeats as he helped work on administration "doesn't watched his father - U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh his father’s 1976 presidential campaign in have long-range plans for - become a truly epic American political New Hampshire and Iowa (as G.W. Bush anything we do. Education, figure. Birch Bayh authored two amend- would do 11 years later).