Democratic Party

To give you an idea of how desperate the Democrats are post-election, a number of party strategists have expressed a longing for the days of Bill Clinton. The fellow they miss is not the one who messed around with Monica Lewinsky and put the nation through the agony of impeachment. Or the one who used the Lincoln Bedroom as his private fund-raising tool. Or whose campaign efforts this fall didn't amount to much. No, the Bill Clinton they remember fondly is the candidate who got elected twice as a New Democrat, sounding as if he had some fresh ideas.

The primary elections in Camden County last week were not exactly a textbook case of true democracy at work. After all, fewer than one-seventh of the eligible voters went to the polls. But the contested Democratic primary did provide two lessons about the workings of Camden County's long-dominant Democratic Party. For one, the Democratic organization proved that personalities can come and go but the party persists. Four of the seven seats at the freeholder table stay warm with Democratic bodies; only the nameplates change.

In the wake of the Democrats' statewide debacle at the ballot box last month, party officials yesterday announced a plan to give themselves more control in the campaign process. Foremost among the changes, said state party Chairman Larry Yatch, is that from now on the party - not the governor - will decide which candidates to endorse in future statewide elections. The party's next endorsements will come at its March 11 meeting, when it picks candidates to run in the May 16 primary.

When it comes to war with Iraq, this is not your father's Democratic Party. At least not if your father protested the war in Vietnam, voted for peace candidate George McGovern, or thought Michael Dukakis looked good in that tank. The coming vote in Congress on war with Iraq is revealing a new Democratic Party, one desperate to shed the antiwar, antimilitary reflex that defined it from Vietnam through the Persian Gulf war. First popularized by challenges to President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 over Vietnam, antiwar and antimilitary sentiments prevailed in the party for a quarter-century.

Buck Scott, the homespun chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee, will step down within the next few months, acknowledging that the party needs a leader with more time and commitment. Scott, a two-term party leader whose re-election a year ago surprised even himself, told Democratic officials last week that his resignation would take effect when the 54-member executive committee chooses a successor, probably after the November elections. "I felt the committee needed a leader who could give it more time and effort than what I'm in a position to give," said Scott, 60, a Wynnewood resident, who runs Electrical Energy Enterprises Inc. in Narberth.

If everything were going right, 1986 would still be a year when Burlington County Democrats would have a lot to worry about. They face another election year against the high profile and high finances of the county Republican Party. But everything is not going right. In the last few days, leaders of the county Democratic Party have been fighting more with one another than getting ready to attack the entrenched GOP. It all started when Sheriff Francis P. "Luke" Brennan, who will retire in November after 27 years in office, said last week he wanted to be chairman of the county Democratic committee.

May the Democrats enjoy having Sen. Arlen Specter among their ranks as much as we Republicans did for the past 43 years. Ted Meehan Newtown Square tmeehan@arczip.com Sen. Arlen Specter's defection is welcome news to the Democratic Party. He is a man who is respected for speaking his mind and voting his conscience. Specter is quoted as saying: "My party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats than I was for the Republicans.

Ask Henry Reddy about Bill Clinton, and he'll tell you about their showdown in Cleveland. It got so hot that the governor's aides had to usher him away. The episode itself speaks volumes about the delicate dilemma that faces the Democratic Party in 1992. Reddy, a black Democrat from North Philadelphia, was in a sour mood on that evening 10 months ago. With great discomfort, he and several black allies had just sat through a meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group dominated by white Southern moderates.

The Democrats Who Would Be President are beginning to look like the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the working man's friend (he hasn't held a real job in 20 years, but he knows people who have), embarrassed himself with a whining complaint in the Washington Post about the press ignoring his campaign in favor of speculation about Mario Cuomo's uncampaign. Hardly had the paper found its way to a dead fish when Paul Tsongas, another Democratic (ha-ha)

Re: Gov. Christie as possible Republican vice-presidential choice: If Romney does pick Christie as his running mate, the GOP tagline could be "Celebrate Chris-Mitt in November!" Jim Acton Collegeville, Pa. Republi-cans vs. Demo-can'ts Democrats living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. That was my reaction when I read the Daily Views letter from Harriet B. Brown, of Philadelphia. Ms. Brown believes that the Democratic Party cares about the poor.

Even if one doesn't drink tea, the well-steeped tea leaves from Pennsylvania's April 24 presidential primary still make for some fascinating reading. Together they portray contemporary currents in state electioneering while portending some dynamic changes in future politics and policy. Here are five takeaways from the voting. Not all are everyone's cup of tea, but all are likely to influence Pennsylvania politics long after the November election. What's a party endorsement worth?

COAL-MINING millionaire Tom Smith of western Pennsylvania, a newcomer to statewide politics who spent $4 million of his own money on TV advertising, easily won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, defeating the party-backed candidate and three others. The Associated Press called the contest for Smith with about 70 percent of the vote counted at 10:10 p.m. Smith, a high-school graduate from Armstrong County, presented himself to primary voters as the folksy everyman, "just a farm boy that got misplaced in the coal mines and started my own business.

In Tuesday's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania voters may be hard-pressed to find much ideological difference among the five candidates, who have sounded like a finely tuned quintet in decrying taxes and federal regulation. The choice for voters then becomes, whose background and personal story hold the most appeal? On that score, the contest for the GOP nomination to oppose Democratic incumbent Bob Casey Jr. has had the discord of a rush-hour fender-bender on City Avenue.

  HARRISBURG - Come Tuesday, State Rep. Bill DeWeese will be twice judged: once by criminal court, and once by constituents back home. In an improbable twist of fate, the onetime Democratic powerhouse is to be sentenced that day in a Harrisburg courtroom for stealing from taxpayers - and at the same time, will be running in his party's primary to represent his rural southwestern Pennsylvania district for two more years. He is running unopposed. Even in the corruption-caked annals of Pennsylvania politics, this rare confluence of events could produce an even rarer result: a jailed DeWeese on the fall ballot in a race his supporters think he could win. Is his candidacy a slap at the jury in his case, an offshoot of the wide-ranging Bonusgate investigation?

  So who's the real Republican running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? Pennsylvania GOP voters are being hit with that question as two of the candidates in the April 24 primary bash each other for past associations with the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates. It's a charge of heresy that could resonate with Republican primary voters in a year when, analysts say, those voters seem more than ever to be seeking ideological purity. Candidate Steve Welch, a Chester County venture capitalist, has been on the offensive against rival Tom Smith of Western Pennsylvania, a former coal-mine owner who was a Democrat for decades and switched parties last year before starting his Senate campaign.

Calling her a woman with a "steel spine and a caring heart," former President Bill Clinton rallied a crowd Thursday in Willow Grove in support of Kathleen Kane's bid to become the Democratic nominee for attorney general. Three days earlier, President Obama's top campaign adviser, David Axelrod, said of her rival, Patrick Murphy: "I don't think Barack Obama has had a better friend in politics. " As the two Democrats vying to become the state's top prosecutor enter the final stretch before April 24's primary, both are drawing high-wattage backing and finding their past allegiances in another hotly contested party fight four years ago now stand to help or hurt them.

Calling her a woman with a "steel spine and a caring heart," former President Bill Clinton rallied a crowd Thursday in Willow Grove in support of Kathleen Kane's bid to become the Democratic nominee for attorney general. Three days earlier, President Obama's top campaign adviser, David Axelrod, said of her rival, Patrick Murphy: "I don't think Barack Obama has had a better friend in politics. " As the two Democrats vying to become the state's top prosecutor enter the final stretch before April 24's primary, both are drawing high-wattage backing and finding their past allegiances in another hotly contested party fight four years ago now stand to help or hurt them.

FOUR OF the five men seeking the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen Bob Casey Jr. in the November general election clashed Wednesday night about their conservative credentials. It was a fight egged on by the state Democratic Party, which issued a news release before the debate at the Union League, noting that candidates Steve Welch and Tom Smith are former Democrats. That matters in a Republican primary because both men are fighting for the role of front-runner.