Monday, March 08, 1999
McConnell getting national exposure
BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — On issues ranging from impeachment to Kosovo to the possible run of Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Senate, the national media have intensely sought out Sen. Mitch McConnell's opinions.
He has made more than 60 appearances on television news programs since Dec. 20, been the focus of editorials in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and the center of attention at Capitol Hill press conferences.
Mr. McConnell, 57, of Kentucky, is entering only his second Congress as a member of the Senate leadership — heading up the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — but the attention he has received this year has dwarfed that given to those higher up the GOP chain.
Political analysts say Republicans like seeing Mr. McConnell out in front on issues.
“One of the things conservatives are looking for is a non-strident spokesman,” said Marshall Wittmann, political analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“He fills that bill with a professorial, just-the-facts-ma'am approach — a Joe Friday approach to the issues.”
Mr. McConnell sees his sudden stardom resulting from his increased seniority in the Senate and his leadership and committee assignments.
“This has been an intersection of position and influence with issues that have been hot,” the senator said.
First there was impeachment.
Many media types scouted out Mr. McConnell as a source early because of his chairmanship of the Senate Rules Committee and his role briefing other members on trial procedure.
He's also a major player in the debate over renewal of the independent counsel law. Mr. McConnell favors killing it.
His opinions carry weight on the ethnic uprising in Kosovo because of his chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Foreign Operations.
And because he heads the NRSC, which guides Republican Senate election efforts, he is being besieged with questions about the possible Senate candidacy in New York of Mrs. Clinton.
That's an easy one.
Mr. McConnell claims it would be a bonanza for Republican fund raising if she ran against New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“If that campaign actually occurs it will be the most famous Senate race in America, almost rivaling the presidential race,” he said.
Mr. McConnell made news on Sunday shows last week by poking fun at the first lady's flirtation with a candidacy from a state she doesn't live in.
He held up an “I Love New York” shirt and then showed how the letters could be switched to N.J. for New Jersey or N.V. for Nevada — if Mrs. Clinton chose to run in one of those states.
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