ENPR: Week of May 9, 2007

Drug Reimportation: One of the prickliest subjects on Capitol Hill was effectively kicked down the road when the Senate adopted an amendment by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). The underlying measure would allow U.S. citizens to buy drugs from foreign countries, which tend to be cheaper since many of those countries, particularly Canada, impose price controls. Pharmaceutical companies have been forced by this situation to make nearly all of their profits on new drugs in the United States.

Cochran's amendment requires the government to certify the safety of reimported drugs. This effectively kills the bill, since such certification simply cannot be done. The issue of reimportation cuts across party lines in Congress, but the Bush Administration is strongly opposed. At best, the practice would reduce prices in the United States and force a price increase in other countries, which would react in order to prevent shortages. This would eventually lead to an equilibrium at which Americans would lose the incentive to buy the foreign drugs. At worst, it could eliminate incentives for pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs.

Trade: The issue of international trade recently produced an internal Democratic confrontation between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). Rangel downplays the disagreement, but multiple sources confirm that Democrats and Republicans had an agreement before Pelosi slowed it down.

Rangel had succeeded in negotiating a compromise trade bill with Republicans on his committee, led by Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) and the Bush Administration. But Pelosi is attuned to the wishes of Democratic caucus members, who are being pushed by organized labor to effectively bar imports produced by lower-wage labor.

Rangel's moderate position faces a challenge within the Ways and Means Committee from Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Trade subcommittee. Levin's Detroit-area district contains United Auto Workers members and pensioners who want trade protection.

Health: There was some irony and tension in the room as Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee in a little-noticed hearing on drug rehabilitation and mental-health treatment.

Last May, Kennedy checked himself into rehab after crashing his car into a vehicle barrier on Capitol Hill. Kennedy was visibly impaired, according to the police report, but it is unclear by what. He claimed at the time that his sleep aid had caused him to get up and drive in his sleep. Others claimed to have seen him at a local bar earlier. Either way, the addiction to prescription drugs that he cited as his reason for rehab was apparently not the drug that caused the accident, after which Kennedy claimed that he was on his way to the House to cast a vote (at 2:45 in the morning). There was also a police cover-up exposed in a subsequent investigation.

Kennedy has worked on mental health issues for a long time. But because of the incident last year, he is also viewed as a pioneer in the use of rehab to escape media attention for months when controversy strikes. In fact, the crash was all but forgotten when Kennedy finally emerged from rehab. This made Kennedy an odd choice as a witness for this particular hearing on the integration of mental health and drug addiction care.

After Kennedy, the rehab tactic was later used by former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to flee attention after his sexually explicit messages to congressional pages were revealed. The same tactic was used last July by actor Mel Gibson, who was drunk when he burst into anti-Semitic tirade during a traffic stop.

In each case, going into rehab created some level of sympathy for the perpetrator. After Kennedy's short and wonkish oral testimony, Republicans on the committee had no questions, and reporters stayed away from the topic.

Senate 2008

Colorado: After the surprise departure from the race of former Rep. Scott McInnis (R), former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) appears to be the only one willing to take up the mantle for the GOP in this year's Senate race.

Rep. Mark Udall (D), the putative Democratic nominee, begins with an enormous financial advantage with more than $1.5 million in the bank. Colorado has been trending Democratic, and the loss of the seat of retiring Sen. Wayne Allard (R) would signal another step in this ominous trend for the GOP that already includes the loss of the other Senate seat in 2004, the loss of the governorship, the loss of former Rep. Bob Beauprez's seat in the Denver suburbs last year, and the loss of both chambers of the state legislature.

Smith's fundraising has been excellent, leaving him with $2.8 million on hand at the end of the last quarter. His poll numbers had been problematic, but he has deliberately and vocally distanced himself from President Bush on the Iraq War, which is likely to help him quite a bit. Also helpful will be the non-aggression pact he has with his colleague, popular Sen. Ron Wyden (D), who will basically sit on his hands during the election.

DeFazio holds down a very competitive district, and so his decision to stay in the House makes life a bit easier for Democratic Congressional Campaign Chairman Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.).

McCain did not bomb in the debate as Giuliani did. At times he shone, as with his joke about congressional spending and drunken sailors. But he appeared uncomfortable on stage and angry most of the time. His gestures evinced a man in extreme pain. His declaration that he would go "to the gates of Hell" to catch terrorist Osama bin Laden sounded ridiculous. On the other hand, McCain was strong on spending and earmarks. His idea for a $3,000 health insurance tax credit will have strong bipartisan appeal, should he become the GOP nominee.

McCain's problems have led to internal reorganization of his campaign, which has included the firing of his finance director. Political Director Michael Dennehy recently stepped down to spend more time with his family - usually Washington-ese for either "I've been demoted/fired" or "I am resigning out of frustration."

Currently, McCain's advisors are putting on their best face, taking consolation in his continued (but mostly slim) leads in early states such as New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa. They are optimistic about the organizations they have in place in those states. But such early leads tend to evaporate in presidential politics.

Romney: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) probably had the best performance of any of the major candidates. For the most part, he departed from his stilted, staccato speaking style and sounded confident and knowledgeable. Romney finally is in double-digits in the new CNN poll, but still trails the non-candidate, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).

Romney opened himself up to attacks, however, by praising the health care system he instituted in Massachusetts. In the past, Romney has qualified his support for the bill, which effectively imposes a tax penalty on those who do not buy health insurance. He has always said before that he had to accept many Democratic provisions that he opposed. But his unqualified praise for the program during the debate is surely premature. Key parts of the program are just going into effect this month, and if it proves to be a disaster, he is setting himself up to take a fall.

Fred Thompson: Absent from the debate was the most discussed man outside the race - former Sen. Thompson. Thompson appeared the following night to address the Orange County Lincoln Club in a wealthy area of Southern California.

1. Thompson, who is not a declared candidate but will likely become one next month, has benefited from conservative dissatisfaction with the candidates currently in the Republican field. They find Giuliani too liberal, Romney too untrustworthy and McCain too unreliable. Thompson has risen effortlessly, without spending a dime, to tie or even pull ahead of those top three candidates. Without lifting a finger, he has won straw polls in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oklahoma and California.
2. Thompson's speech was disappointing, particularly in its delivery. Indeed, the substance of what he said was impressive. But Thompson managed, in a 4,500-word address, to say much less clearly what he would have said in the 1,600-word prepared text excerpt his staff released prior to the speech. The pre-released text received rave reviews from conservatives who read it on the Internet, but attendees at the speech in California were underwhelmed.
3. The prepared text contained the simple and concise red-meat language that Republicans want to hear right now. The prepared text quoted Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a conservative stalwart, and was heavy on the supply-side economics of Ronald Reagan. The actual delivered speech meandered through many of the same ideas in a dull, cliché-ridden and verbose performance. It was not well received at the dinner itself, if crowd reactions are any indication. Thompson had trouble with the podium microphone as his low, conversational tones faded in and out. Thompson worried that the long Lincoln Club program preceding his speech may have turned off the audience, but he may have been the one who lost his enthusiasm. Naturally, expectations were high to begin with. The puzzling part is that an actor would fail in the delivery - the very area in which he should be most likely to succeed.
4. The excitement aroused in melancholy Republican ranks by the politician-commentator-actor will not be doused by one lackluster performance. Obviously, Thompson will need some preparation if he really wants to run. The deeper concern by some supporters is whether the tepid reaction in Orange County will shake what had seemed his clear resolve to make the race.
5. Among the best parts of his speech were his reference to "malaise" - an unmistakable reference to Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign - and his statement that as the world's problems grow bigger, political leaders "are getting smaller." Both of these are subtle, implicit criticisms of President Bush that are nonetheless appropriately gentle.
6. Thompson is considering a different kind of presidential candidacy, the sort that sees him raising small contributions over the Internet and staying several days at a time in Iowa instead of zipping in and out. But his debut speech here as a putative presidential candidate was ordinary. It will be revealing how much he changes his approach in forthcoming non-candidate speeches to Republican gatherings in Virginia and Connecticut.