The two fast overrides of presidential vetoes (clean water, highway construction) early in 100th Congress did it: It got Senate Republicans good and mad. Result, says Washington Post political reporter Helen Dewar, has been successful Republican filibusters of major bills, including the whopping defense bill. (At stake, amendment to defense bill to force narrow interpretation of ABM Treaty, i.e., to prevent SDI testing in space.) . . . Sen. Thad Cochran, secretary of the Senate Republican Conference, says: “We’re not going to sit back as spectators and see the Democrats do it to the President … do it to us.” Adds deputy Minority Leader Alan Simpson: “Okay, we’re in the minority but we’re not . . . wandering around in the wilderness. There are 46 of us [Republicans], and we’re telling the Democrats, get the wax out of your ears and listen to us.” . . . Actually, Cochran and Simpson command only 41 solid GOP votes: missing from lineup, Chafee, Cohen, Kassebaum, Stafford, and Weicker. . . . Also on the offensive, Ed Meese, at Justice, who has named Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds Counsel to Justice Department. This has outraged Sens. Joseph Biden, Edward Kennedy, and Howard Metzenbaum, who successfully blocked Reynolds’s nomination to No. 3 spot at Justice two years ago.
With Gary Hart out and Jesse Jackson ahead in polls, Democrats are looking to non-starters in presidential race. A Boston radio-station poll of Iowa Democrats who say they will vote in caucus came up with Teddy Kennedy first (26 per cent), Mario Cuomo second (25 per cent). . . . Cuomo continues to deny he’s running, but Chicago Sun-Times says Vincent Tese, the governor’s chief economic advisor, is soliciting support from Chicago financial community. . . . Says Prof. Steven Wayne of George Washington University: “He [Cuomo] is waiting to be tapped on the shoulder.” . . . For what it’s worth, Rep. Stephen Solarz (D., N.Y.) has given his endorsement to latest entrant, Sen. Paul Simon (Ill.), the liberal’s liberal. Solarz finds in Simon “the progressiveness” of FDR, “the independence” of Truman, “the thoughtfulness” of Stevenson, “the wisdom” of JFK, “the economic justice” of LBJ, “the warmth” of Hubert Humphrey, “the commitment to human rights” of Jimmy Carter. . . . Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a moderate not in the race but centrist enough to be attractive to Southerners, will gain visibility in New Hampshire when he receives honorary degree from Dartmouth later this month. . . . The Gary Hart story won’t go away. William Morrow & Co. has canceled contract for Hart campaign book, One Man’s Luck; National Enquirer reports Hart told Donna Rice she would be his First Lady (wife Lee, at 51, is too old); Miami Herald reporters Jim McGee and Tom Fiedler, who broke the Hart story, have donated their gumshoes to a U. of Missouri Journalism School fundraiser; and a reader of New York Post commented on affair: “Our elderly President might take occasional naps during dull meetings and may not recall transactions with Iran and Nicaragua. However, there is credible evidence that he remembers his name, his age, and where he slept last night.”
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