Saturday, February 20, 1999
McConnell likes GOP's chances in 2000
Impeachment 'short-term hit' by BY PATRICK CROWLEY The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is confident the Republican Party won't suffer any long term political damage over the impeachment and subsequent Senate acquittal of President Clinton.
“We'll take a short-term hit, but the reason I'm confident it will be a short-term hit is ... the Gulf War,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview Friday after making a speech to Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce members.
Mr. McConnell, R-Ky., said that following the 1991 war President Bush's approval ratings were at 90 percent. But his ratings fell to around 50 percent by the fall.
That cleared the way for Mr. Clinton to win the first of his two terms, Mr. McConnell said.
So even though Mr. Clinton, acquitted last week during his Senate impeachment trial, is enjoying high approval ratings, that won't last, Mr. McConnell said.
“This issue is already becoming ancient history and clearly isn't going to be around 21 months from now when the president is not even on the ballot” for the 2000 presidential, Senate and U.S. House elections, he said.
Mr. McConnell, a behind the scenes player in Washington during his three terms in the Senate, significantly increased his national profile during the impeachment trial.
In addition to being part of the Senate Republican's strategy team, he was a near nightly fixture on network and cable television programs and talk shows.
He should continue life in the political spotlight as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group with about $70 million to spend to elect Republicans to Congress.
Mr. McConnell is scheduled to be a guest Sunday on Meet the Press, which airs at 9 a.m. on NBC, to talk about next year's Senate races, including a possible contest in New York between first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
“It would be a titanic struggle,” said Mr. McConnell, who is trying to recruit Mr. Giuli ani into the race.
“And she would be a formidable candidate, but her best day would be the day before she announced.”
Mrs. Clinton's past — Whitewater, her husband's troubles, her failed attempt at reforming the nation's health care system — would all quickly become campaign issues, Mr. McConnell said.
“There is an afterglow that goes with being the first lady because she really isn't responsible for anything,” he said. “And on the few occasions when she has been responsible, she has become controversial.
“So all of these things and scandals would become more than an academic discussion when you get in a real race with a real opponent,” he said.
Democrats are also going to have a short-lived euphoria over impeachment because of the retirement of three Democratic senators: Daniel Patrick Moynihan in New York, whose seat Mrs. Clinton is thinking about running for; Frank Lautenberg in New Jersey, where Mr. McConnell is trying to recruit Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; and Richard Bryan in Nevada.
“It's been a bad week for the Democrats,” Mr. McConnell said. “We heard all this big talk after the elections last fall about how they were going to take over the Senate.
“Now they're going to have to fight like hell to keep three seats they currently have ... (and) they're going to spend a lot of dough just trying to stay where they are,” he said.
As far as the 2000 presidential race, Mr. McConnell said he probably won't endorse a Republican in the primaries because of his role on the Senatorial committee.
But he said he is encouraged that two possible GOP contenders, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Red Cross director Elizabeth Dole, have already showed up as beating Vice President Al Gore in some polls.
“It is significant that even during this period, when our party has kind of taken a hit over impeachment, that our two best-known candidates are actually leading the sitting vice president,” Mr. McConnell said.
“I think we have a great chance to win in 2000.”
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