Inside the Beltway

STEP RIGHT UP

The Democratic Party is intent on discovering just whom they can count on these days as the 2012 presidential campaign looms.

“We’re building the Democratic Party from the bottom up because it’s how we believe we can be competitive in all 50 states,” says Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

The organization has confabulated an intricate but strategic survey for Democrats, gauging how far they lean to the liberal or conservative sides, their feelings about the party itself, and the importance of assorted issues, from energy to immigration. The Democrats are also intent on defining who might populate their proverbial “big tent.” Lots of folks, apparently.

“Do you identify with any of the following groups?” the survey asks, offering the following category choices: “African Americans, Americans abroad, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, business owners and entrepreneurs, environmentalists, health care professionals, labor, Latinos/Hispanics, LGBT, Native Americans, people of faith, people with disabilities, seniors, students, veterans, young professionals.”

HEROIC DeMINT

A grass-roots rally is building among those who insist that Sen. Jim DeMint deserves a seat on the Senate Finance Committee.

“At the height of the struggle in the U.S. Senate to prevent President Obama from ramming Obamacare down America’s throat, Republicans sounded the retreat. They withdrew to the backrooms to cut a deal with the Democrats,” says Lawrence A. Hunter, director of the Social Security Institute.

The interest group calls the South Carolina Republican “heroic, principled and relentless,” among other things, particularly in his fight against health-care reform legislation.

“Sen. Jim DeMint would have no part of it. DeMint stood alone on the Senate floor in an effort to rally the Republican troops to make a stand. He was cajoled and threatened by Republican leaders to give up his effort but he persisted,” Mr. Hunter continues.

He’s asking conservatives to contact Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and “demand” that Mr. DeMint be given that single open seat on the Finance Committee, which controls legislation on Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs.

“He is a forceful and dependable voice of conservatism in the Senate,” Mr. Hunter says.

POLL DU JOUR

• 84 percent of Americans say the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack “changed America forever.”

• 11 percent are undecided; 5 percent disagree.

Story Continues →

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.