THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506240351
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN KING, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Using boldfaced type to emphasize their points, the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee served notice in ``Dear Senator'' letters this week that it wasn't enough to oppose Dr. Henry Foster in the end.
What mattered most was ``cloture'' - a procedural hurdle to determine whether Foster would get a final confirmation vote.
Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture, a move that would have ended the debate on Foster's nomination and forced a vote to confirm him as surgeon general.
The bid for cloture failed for the second time Thursday, this time by three votes, 57-43.
The Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition warned in its letters: ``Cloture will be scored in the Christian Coalition scorecard that is distributed to millions of homes nationwide.''
The National Right to Life Committee wrote: ``The NRLC, representing about 3,000 local pro-life organizations, will report to its membership ONLY the votes on cloture.''
The letters were among the final pieces of the successful campaign to derail Foster, President Clinton's choice for surgeon general, in the first dramatic nomination clash since Republicans seized control of Congress in January.
The effort offered a revealing look at internal GOP politics, from the tensions between presidential rivals Bob Dole and Phil Gramm to the festering abortion debate within the GOP ranks. It also was a telling test of Dole's power as the majority leader, as he used loyalty as a tool to win the final votes.
And in reaffirming the resurgence of social conservatives in the wake of the 1994 elections, the Foster fight demonstrated the shifting sands of abortion politics. Since the 1992 GOP convention in Houston, moderates and even some conservative Republicans have warned that the GOP could be seriously damaged by its anti-abortion views.
``They're shooting themselves in the foot again,'' warned liberal Republican Sen. James Jeffords. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a longshot GOP presidential hopeful who favors abortion rights, said his party was cowering before the Christian right, and turning mainstream Americans away in droves.
After the vote, Specter blamed Ralph Reed Jr., executive director of the Christian Coalition, and Gary Bauer, president of the conservative Family Research Council, for Foster's defeat.
``I believe when this litmus test of ideology is subjected to full scrutiny by the American people, Ralph Reed Jr. and Gary Bauer and their following are going to be roundly repudiated,'' Specter told reporters.
But conservatives argue that the 1994 election results, which brought dozens of new anti-abortion Republicans to Congress, are proving such warnings misguided.
``Quite frankly it is not Jeffords or Specter Republicanism that has been sweeping the country,'' Bauer said, ``it is a version of Reagan Republicanism. It doesn't bother me to have abortion front and center in the debate.''
In weeks to come, Congress will be debating restrictions on late-term abortions, Medicaid funding and other divisive abortion battles.
Needing to sway wavering senators, the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, Right to Life Committee and other allies focused on a handful who had indicated they opposed Foster but believed he deserved a straight confirmation vote.
``It is the cloture votes that matter,'' the Right to Life Committee said in a Wednesday strategy memo. ``Any senator who votes to invoke cloture is voting to make Dr. Foster the surgeon general.''
That argument, and help from Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, helped sway freshman Sen. James Inhofe, who just a few weeks ago suggested it would be cowardly not to give Foster a vote.
The final burden fell on Dole, who sorely needed a victory to escape from an early tactical error: his suggestion that he might never bring the nomination up in the first place.
Privately, advisers have said for weeks that the threat was a mistake. And since May, once he realized Foster would clear committee, Dole had been crafting a strategy to derail Foster, with Nickles providing much of the help.
Just before the Memorial Day congressional recess, Dole told aides he was within a handful of votes, and he enlisted anti-abortion and other groups to pressure lawmakers back home during the break.
Convincing Sens. Mark Hatfield of Oregon and John Warner of Virginia fell directly to Dole. Both oppose abortion rights but are known for fair-mindedness in procedural battles and generally hold the view that presidents, barring scandals, are entitled to their nominees.
But Dole, according to advisers, made the case that his credibility was at stake and that it was Clinton playing politics - trying to divide Republicans over abortion.
Dole had protected Warner at the start of the year when some Republicans wanted revenge because Warner supported independent J. Marshall Coleman against unsuccessful Republican Senate candidate Oliver North.
This time, Warner returned the favor. MEMO: WOOING WARNER
Convincing Sen. John W. Warner fell directly to Dole, who had
protected Warner after he refused to support Oliver North for Senate.
This time, Warner backed his party's leaders. by CNB