NYPost

CONDIT ‘AFFAIR' IS GOOD NEWS - FOR THE GOP

By DEBORAH ORIN

July 26, 2001 -- Inside Washington

REP. Gary Condit and the mess over missing intern Chandra Levy could be turning into the Republican Party's secret weapon - and a major political problem for Condit's fellow Democrats.

GOP House members were told at a closed-door briefing yesterday that polls are starting to show the fuss over Condit (D-Calif.) is making it hard for Dems to get out their own political message.

One result, Republican strategists claim, is that Democratic leaders are so desperate to make non-Condit news that they're overreaching and stepping into what Dubya's dad called "deep doo-doo."

House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt last week created a major mess for himself by saying he's proud of raising taxes in 1993 "and I'll do it again."

And Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle touched off a firestorm by trying to blame President Bush for half the world's problems while Bush was overseas meeting with allies in Europe.

Republican strategists are also starting to advise their troops that it's now OK to criticize Condit, particularly since a key Democrat, Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-Texas), has blasted his colleague as "a discredit to his family, his district and the Congress."

"You can do a twofer: remind any constituent who asks about Condit that he's a Democrat, then tell them that a member of his own party is now calling him a discredit to Congress," says a GOP strategist.

For now, any disciplinary action is on hold in Congress, but the talk is that if obstruction-of-justice charges are filed against Condit for trying to get a flight attendant to lie about their affair, that could change fast.

Daschle has been doing his best to make Bush's life miserable, so fired-up Republicans are returning the favor by going after Daschle where he lives, in South Dakota.

Their immediate goal is to whip his protégé, Sen. Tim Johnson, and retake control of the U.S. Senate next year, but the bigger goal is whacking Daschle when he's angling to run against Bush in 2004.

And Daschle has reason to worry, since a poll out yesterday puts Johnson 6 points behind Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.), the man Bush is personally recruiting for the race. Word is, Thune is likely to run.

What's really energized the push is that the GOP is livid about Daschle's attack on Bush.

"Even though he says it in a softer voice, he's right on the edge of the politics of personal destruction," says Veep Dick Cheney's counselor, Mary Matalin.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001