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American Morning
Senator Jeffords Expected to Announce Departure From Republican Party Today
Aired May 24, 2001 - 09:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: But first, the announcement this hour from Senator Jim Jeffords and the political shock waves it is likely to cause. We are covering all the bases for you. CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley in Burlington, Vermont, where Jeffords will announce his decision, congressional correspondent Kate Snow will have the latest from Capitol Hill and our Kelly Wallace at the White House with that angle.
We begin with Candy Crowley -- good morning, Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles, from Burlington.
I think all political earthquakes start in ballrooms and this one is no different. We are expecting Senator Jeffords within the hour to come in and make the announcement that his aides and a variety of sources say he will make, and that is that he is leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent. This, of course, will change the balance of power in the Senate, as you mentioned. There will then be 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans and one independent. But Mr. Jeffords, apparently, will also say that he intends to vote for the Democratic leadership, which, therefore, puts them in power.
Now we have known for at least 24 hours that this was the direction that Jim Jeffords was heading. The real question is why? Is it because he did not get what he wanted in an education bill? Is it because the White House didn't consult with him as head of the Education Committee and not when they put together this bill? Was he disaffected by the tax cut? Were there slights from the Republican Party leadership, from the White House that turned him over this quip?
He is a third-term Republican. He has lived through conservative Republican White Houses before, but he has decided now to leave the Republican Party. And we hope today to get some answers as to why now and what tipped the balance in about a half an hour -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. That's CNN's Candy Crowley in Burlington where we begin our coverage this morning -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And leading up to today's announcement, Republicans tried a last-ditch effort -- a big effort -- to keep Jeffords from leaving their party. It may have been too little, too late. With more on that, let's bring in our congressional correspondent. Kate Snow joins us, live, from Capitol Hill.
Kate, good morning.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
That's true. Republicans have pretty well resigned themselves to the fact now that Senator Jeffords is probably going to be leaving their party. Democrats, meantime, anxiously awaiting this press conference -- this announcement. One aide puts it to me that she's hoping that things don't change -- that they -- things go exactly as they think they will. If that happens, we will hear likely from Senate minority leader and possibly soon to be majority leader Tom Daschle a couple of hours after the announcement, I'm told.
Senator George Allen, a Republican from Virginia, appeared last night on CNN. He says the impact of all of this is going to be like a tidal wave. And all of this coming from a man who prefers not to be in the center of the spotlight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): This is how a lot of people in Washington got to know Jim Jeffords, as tenor for the Singing Senators, a moderate voice keeping harmony with some of his most conservative Republican colleagues. He's not known as a showoff or a standout. Back home in Vermont, they call him "Jeezum Jim".
REP. BERNARD SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Jim is a very decent guy. He's a quiet guy. He is not a media guy. He likes -- he is -- lives in the country. He likes being in the country.
SNOW: Jeffords' family is old Vermont, lived there for more than 200 years. He's always been seen as an independent thinker, but not the kind of guy who would shakeup Washington.
A columnist for his hometown newspaper in Rutland put it this way: "If you had to name people who had a chance to change the course of history, Senator James Jeffords probably wouldn't be on the list."
Jeffords is a Vermont Republican, the kind of politician that defies a label.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I think most people in Vermont wouldn't call him Republican, Democrat, independent. You'd have to call him a Vermonter.
SNOW: On social issues, he often looks more like a Democrat than a Republican. He supported gun control, abortion rights and banning discrimination against gays and lesbians. He was one of five Republicans who broke ranks during impeachment, voting twice to acquit President Clinton. But he also backs conservative positions, voting against raising the minimum wage, promising to go slow on regulating managed care.
Veterans of Vermont politics say this can't be an easy time for Jeffords.
SAM HEMINGWAY, "BURLINGTON FREE PRESS": This is not something he is doing lightly. He is not a showboater. He is not a grandstander. And the fact that he would take this step in spite of the fact that he has voted outside the mainstream or the right of the party and voted often with Democrats, still, he's been a Republican.
SNOW: And just a few days ago, his singing partner, Trent Lott, was predicting he'd stay that way.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: Well, after all, I mean, how would -- what would we do in the future about the Singing Senators? We need Jim to be a part of that harmony.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now, behind closed doors up here, aides will tell you that Jeffords had a reputation for being a little off key when he was singing with that Republicans quartet. Maybe he wasn't quite in tune with them politically, either -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Kate Snow on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.
As we mentioned, this is going to be a very busy morning indeed. While the political action is taking place in Vermont and we have an announcement from there in about 25 minutes, President Bush taking off today. He is heading to Cleveland. He is going to be speaking again about his faith-based initiative. Third time in a week that he wants to go out and gain support for his ideas of religious charities, church's organizations to be able to compete for government funds to service the poor. This has critics as well.
We'll talk more about that. Hear from the president -- we believe we'll be hearing his speech in about 11:30 a.m. Eastern. You'll see that live here on CNN -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jeffords GOP defection would make it more difficult for the president to get his legislative agenda through the Senate.
We get more on how this happened and the finger-pointing in the West Wing from CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace, not far from that helicopter right now -- good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles. Good morning.
Well, the message from the White House right now is that this matter is in Senator Jeffords' hands. We spoke with White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer just a short time before he headed off to depart with the president to Cleveland. Fleischer indicating that the president did not reach out to Senator Jeffords last night to try to convince him to change his mind. Not clear, though, if other White House advisers did try to talk to the Vermont senator.
The administration appears to be trying to downplay the significance of this a bit, saying the president will continue to work in a bipartisan way -- pointing to bipartisan victories yesterday in the House on the president's education plan and in the Senate on that $1.35 trillion dollar tax cut. But privately, aides know the impact here will be enormous. You will have the Democrats controlling the committees. Democrats will also decide what legislation comes to the Senate floor and when.
Mr. Bush likely to feel the biggest impact when it comes to his judicial nominees. Many believe the president will not be able to get very conservative nominees to the federal bench. Also, when it comes to health care. The White House likely to have to compromise much, much more when it comes to things like prescription drug coverage for seniors and the president's energy plan. Everybody thinks that if the shift does occur, the president can pretty much rule out getting a bill on the Senate floor that would include any drilling for oil and gas on public lands.
Now, at the same time, a big question here: Did the White House miss some of the warning signs? And did it play any role at all, even the slightest one, in the defection or potential defection of Senator Jeffords? Well, yesterday, we understand, hoping to bring an end or to eliminate some finger-pointing, the president's -- one of his top advisers, Karen Hughes, you see there with the president now, had a conference call with House and Senate press secretaries in the leadership. The message, basically, we won't blame you if you don't blame us. Let's be united here. Still, though, the White House knowing there will likely be a blame game going on.
Senator Jeffords apparently felt increasingly isolated with Senate Republicans and also with the Bush administration after he voted against the president's $1.6 trillion dollar tax cut plan. But Ari Fleischer saying today and again yesterday that no one here at the White House played hardball politics. And again, the message here: Let's see what Senator Jeffords has to say -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Kelly Wallace at the White House. Thank you very much -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, the Jeffords factor has fueled speculation about whether a Democratic senator from Georgia, in fact, would be switching parties. Now, Zell Miller is putting that speculation to rest. Miller says he has no plans to join the Republicans or become an independent. But he also warned fellow Democrats to stop their partisan bickering. Miller is a conservative who supports many of President Bush's priorities. Turns out, he'll be a guest today on "INSIDE POLITICS" at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, 2:00 Pacific.
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