Session Date: August 20, 2005

Annual Meeting Session Summary: Strong States, Strong Nation: The Politics of Balance and Power Plenary Featuring NPR Political Correspondent Mara Liasson

By Michael Mann
Communications Officer, Washington Legislature

This summary is provided for information purposes only. NCSL does not endorse any views it contains.

SEATTLE – The big story of 2005 is what did not happen, rather than what did happen, National Public Radio political correspondent Mara Liasson told state legislatures and staff at the closing plenary session of the National Conference of State Legislatures' 2005 Annual Meeting.

Liasson, who also regularly appears on Fox News Sunday, pointed to the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts. She expressed surprise at Democrats’ relatively restrained opposition to President George W. Bush’s first Supreme Court nomination. She said that the “War of the Worlds” fight that many pundits expected simply had not happened.

She noted that while the White House has declined to release recent documents on Roberts, thousands of other documents about his early judicial record have been released, yet the general public still does not know who Roberts is. According to Liasson, little in these documents reveals how Roberts would vote on important or controversial issues. She said that she expects Senate Democrats to draw Roberts out on how he might cast such votes, to establish whether he leans towards incremental or toward more sweeping changes in law. Senate Democrats don’t have the votes to block or even filibuster the nomination, Liasson suggested, given recent agreements in the Senate regarding use of the filibuster.

Liasson described Roberts as “confirmable” and a “savvy pick.” So far, she said, no provocative rulings have been attached to him. As an example, she noted that Roberts, a Catholic, has parried questions about his stance on abortion as attacks on his personal religious freedom.

“President Bush has threaded the needle” according to the polls, the political correspondent observed. “He has split the Democratic opposition. This appointment will be the greatest accomplishment of this administration, so far, in that it will move the Supreme Court to the right.”

Liasson senses another benefit this nomination has provided the administration: It drove other less favorable news from the headlines, such as the connection between Bush advisor Karl Rove and the “outing” of an operative of the Central Intelligence Agency and the faltering approval ratings of the President’s handling of the Iraq War.

According to Liasson, one big question regarding Iraq will be: Will public impatience with progress there hurt Republicans in the 2006 elections? She observed that Democrats have failed to turn Republicans disadvantages into advantages for themselves. She further suggested that President Bush and other conservatives may find themselves vulnerable on issues of privatization. “Still,” she said, “there will be some great (U.S.) Senate races across the nation” in 2006.

Watch races in Florida, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, she said, adding that she hopes reporters resist the temptation to call the race that pits two women against one another a “cat fight.”

Looking farther into the future, she said that the presidential race in 2008 stands out because for the first time since 1952, a Republican-controlled White House has no “heir apparent.” Further, she asks, if Senator Hillary Clinton gains the nomination, will she prove “electable” or will she polarize? Liasson sees Senator John Edwards as inspiring but without a substantial platform. She also mentioned Senator Evan Bayh, of Indiana and Senator Joseph Biden, of Delaware, as potential Democratic candidates for president.

On the Republican side, she commented that Senators Bill Frist, of Tennessee; John McCain, of Arizona; George Allen, of Virginia, and Sam Brownback of Kansas all could contend for the nomination. She added several governors to the list: Mitt Romney, of Massachusetts; George Pataki, of New York, and Jeb Bush, of Florida, although she believes Governor Bush when he declares that he will not seek the candidacy in 2008.

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