Democrats Seek New Direction

Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt is stepping down after eight years as House Democratic leader, looking ahead to a possible run for the White House and leaving behind a succession struggle in a party jolted by midterm election losses.

Gephardt, 61, informed party leaders Wednesday night he will not seek a fifth term as House minority leader, according to several officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Senior aides said he would make his intentions public Thursday, although no formal announcement was scheduled.

Gephardt's move comes as Democrats try to assess their political prospects after midterm elections that saw Republicans gain seats in the House, win control of the Senate and limit Democrats' pickups among governors.

Even if Democrats had taken over the House, it was widely assumed that at some point Gephardt would step aside from leadership to focus on what he really wants to do – which is run for president in 2004, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss.

Two veteran Democrats quickly plunged into the race to replace Gephardt.

Reps. Nancy Pelosi of California and Martin Frost of Texas both began campaigning for the post, with the party rank and file to vote next Thursday.

"Now our party must make a choice, must decide whether we want to speak to the broad center of the country, or whether we want to speak to only a narrow spectrum of the country," Frost, third-ranking in the leadership, said at a news conference.

Pelosi, second-in-command under Gephardt, made no public statement by mid-day, but said Wednesday night she was in the race. "To win back the House in 2004, we need a unified party that will draw clear distinctions between our vision of the future and that espoused by the Republicans," she said.

Gephardt told members of the rank and file in a telephone conference call that he would not seek a fifth term as leader.

Aides said Gephardt would remain in Congress.

Frost, at his news conference, said some Democrats — he provided no names — were "very uneasy about the party moving sharply to the left" under Pelosi.

He said Democrats can only avoid being a "permanent minority party" by winning the moderate and conservative swing districts in the center of the country. Pelosi's politics, he said, "are to the left and I think that the party to be successful must speak to the broad center of the country."

That was a reference to a large number of House races in southern and western portions of the country that were pivotal in the battle for control of the House in midterm elections. While Democrats won some of them, they lost seats overall — a highly unusual setback for the party that does not have the White House in an off-year election. And they face two more years in the minority in a Republican-controlled House.

Now Democrats are trying to assess blame for their lack of an effective political message, wondering where they'll find their next messenger and worrying about the loss of so-called soft money political contributions an important part of Democrats' financial base in recent years.

"Since Bill Clinton left, we don't know who we are," Democratic consultant Dane Strother said.

"It is a big challenge for our party," Democratic national Chairman Terry McAuliffe said. "Today we can no longer take any soft money at our national party committees, so it is a whole new world for all of us."

McAuliffe said at a Wednesday briefing on the elections that Democrats have no option but to replace tens of millions of dollars in soft money that have been lost because of new campaign finance laws. He noted the party is stepping up efforts to reach small donors and communicate with Democrats around the country by e-mail.

Some Democrats say the congressional elections did not help the cause of Gephardt or Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, if they decide to run for president. Daschle was expected to run for party leader again in the Senate.

The political fallout may extend far beyond those two leaders to the entire crop of Washington-based Democrats considering a 2004 presidential bid, including former Vice President Al Gore, his ex-running mate Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

President Bush's dominant political performance in the weeks leading up to Tuesday could make decisions tougher for Democratic presidential hopefuls trying to decide whether to run in 2004.

"Democrats should not mistake the magnitude of this loss," Gore said Wednesday during a interview with Barbara Walters that will air a week from Friday. "There has to be a major regrouping."

The 2000 Democratic nominee said his party needs to "present a very forceful alternative" to what the White House is offering on real-life concerns of families.

New Hampshire party activist Arnie Arnesen said she was displeased with the Democrats' approach this year of sticking closely with Mr. Bush on some issues and trying to draw distinctions on others.

"I'm a Democrat that wants a party, wants a choice," she said. "If we don't offer a choice, then what's the point of our party?"