Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190395
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Neither side in the politically charged battle could yet claim victory. The amendment was short of the required two-thirds majority in both chambers but still could go over the top in the showdown just before Congress' Fourth of July recess.
The House may vote as early as Thursday and the Senate by the end of next week.
"I don't know what the vote outcome will be. I expect it will be close," Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said Monday.
In the Senate, where 67 votes are needed to pass the amendment, 58 lawmakers surveyed favored it or were leaning in that direction, while 24 were against or leaning against. Of the 18 who did not take a position, 15 were Democrats.
Supporters and those leaning in favor outnumbered opponents 253 to 115 in the House, where 289 votes are required for passage. Of the 65 who were undecided or had no known position, 54 were Democrats.
The telephone survey was conducted late last week and Monday. Some lawmakers responded in person and some through aides.
House Democratic and Republican leaders were working furiously behind closed doors to sway the undecideds in the final days before the vote.
Both camps said they had won over some of the swing votes even though they stayed publicly uncommitted, and both sides predicted the outcome could hinge on the decisions of a half-dozen lawmakers.
The fact that the survey found so many Democrats still on the fence illustrates the political difficulty of the issue for the party.
Republican campaign operatives have promised to use the flag vote to portray Democrats opposing the amendment as less patriotic than their GOP challengers, and it's already an issue in many races.
In the face of the GOP threat, the Democratic leadership in both chambers has remained strongly against the amendment as a weakening of the First Amendment. But in deference to the divisions in the party and to those members with tough challenges, they have been careful not to make it a "party" position.
Mitchell kept up his pressure Monday, saying that approval of the amendment would provide a victory for flag-burners who seek to goad the nation's leaders.
"It will be a sad irony if a few obnoxious publicity seekers . . . are able to stampede those who love America" into changing the Bill of Rights, he said.
House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., has spoken out repeatedly against the amendment and has said he would vote against it, making a rare exception to the tradition of the speaker not voting.
Even that one vote could make the difference.
The survey showed that while the amendment is favored by the vast majority of Republicans in each chamber and has divided the Democrats, there are many curious exceptions to the ideological pattern.
Some of the most conservative Republicans, such as Sen. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., and William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., came out against the amendment while many liberal Democrats supported it.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has spoken out against the amendment while his nephew, Rep. Joseph Kennedy, D-Mass., said he was undecided.
Some Senate Democrats with tough races - those who might seek political safety by voting for the flag amendment - weren't necessarily doing so.
Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii; Paul Simon, D-Ill.; Claiborne Pell, D-R.I.; and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, all came out against the amendment. Akaka, Simon and Harkin face challengers who plan to vote for the amendment in the House.
Pell's challenger, Rep. Claudine Schneider, R-R.I., said she also would vote against the amendment.
by CNB