Outside groups seek to instill discipline in congressional Democrats

~ Group of organizers join to hold Democrats in line on populist issues.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic lawmakers who stray too far from the party line could find themselves facing primary opponents financed by unions, trial lawyers and political activists eager to put the new congressional majority to the test.

After two weeks of near perfect unity, congressional Democrats now move into more divisive territory that will test party discipline on such issues as the war in Iraq, worker rights and health care.

Anti-war activists led by groups such as MoveOn.org and Win Without War have already mobilized, pressuring Democrats and Republicans to denounce President Bush's troop boosting plan for Iraq. But they also want tougher action, arguing that the elections that put Democrats in power were a referendum on the war.

This week, an influential group of organizers from labor and the liberal movement are banding together to hold Democrats in line on populist issues such as expanded health care, trade restrictions and worker protections.

'A new direction'

"The idea is that this election was a watershed," said Steve Rosenthal, one of the main organizers of the new labor coalition. "There is a great opportunity to begin moving America in a new direction of economic populism and fairness."

The coalition has organized two entities -- a lobbying wing called They Work For Us and a campaign arm called Working for Us PAC -- that will target lawmakers who don't support their agenda of raising wages, increasing jobs, providing more affordable health care and preventing job losses to foreign countries.

"Our PAC will encourage Democrats to act like Democrats -- and if they don't -- they better get out of the way," Rosenthal wrote in a memorandum describing the organization.

Outside pressure on Democrats is a sensitive issue within the party caucus. Democrats acknowledge the need for party discipline, but also recognize the different blocs that make up the party. Voters last November elected new Democrats from liberal, moderate and conservative districts. These Democrats won in a variety of regions and often defy tidy ideological descriptions.

"Instilling party discipline in our party is simply harder than in the Republican Party," said Simon Rosenberg, head of the New Democrat Network. "We are a more diverse party than they are."

Rosenthal said his coalition won't target Democrats with moderate or conservative constituencies. As an example, he cited Heath Shuler, a former NFL quarterback who won a previously Republican seat in North Carolina. He ran as an opponent of abortion and gun control. But he voiced opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement, a Clinton presidency deal long decried by organized labor.

"We're not trying to force people to the left of their districts," Rosenthal said. "We want to make sure that Democrats primarily represent their districts."

But They Work for Us is also naming lawmakers who coalition members say have defied their agenda and are out of step with their districts. Among them are Democratic Reps. Ellen Tauscher of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Al Wynn of Maryland.

Tauscher spokesman Kevin Lawlor said such attention is undeserved.

"Rep. Tauscher and her 63 New Dem colleagues were in lockstep with Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Leadership throughout the first 100 hours" of the new congressional session, Lawlor said. "Rep. Tauscher was elected with 67 percent of the total vote last November, a number that far exceeds top-of-the ticket Democrats in her district."

In the first two weeks of this congressional session, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California pushed through a new package of ethics rules and popular legislation raising the minimum wage, expanding embryonic stem cell research, lowering student loan rates, requiring the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices and ending oil company subsidies. They all passed with unanimous or near unanimous support from Democrats and from Republicans as well.

"We're going to look for those issues that have a consensus within the caucus," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the new chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of the House Democrats.

But Democrats also have vowed to go beyond those votes. And it is the details of further legislation that could put the party divisions on display.

"There will be good days and there will be bad days," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who is credited for writing the script for the House Democratic victories last year. "You have the energy of the new members and the experience of the more senior members and you have to combine the two."

The war is likely to be the first test.

In the Senate, Democrats are trying to rally Republicans to their side on a nonbinding resolution opposing Bush's plan to increase troops in Iraq. The House would likely follow. Anti-war groups, however, see this is as a beginning, not an end.

"What the leadership is saying is, 'Look, we're going to take this in steps,"' said former Rep. Tom Andrews, D-Maine, head of the anti-war groups Win Without War. "The first step is going to be a nonbinding resolution. That leaves people wondering, 'OK, what is the next step?

A coalition of anti-war groups is primarily pressuring Republicans to oppose the president's new plan in Iraq. But it is also mobilizing voters to contact lawmakers from both parties to emphasize opposition to the war as well.

"If Democrats fail on that core issue," Andrews said, "all other issues are going to be much more difficult."