Democrats Start Post-Veto Blitz

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As round two of the Iraq funding debate begins, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has launched a closely coordinated strategy aimed at capitalizing on apparent divisions between rank-and-file Republicans and the White House over benchmarks for the war.

As expected, President Bush vetoed the $124 billion supplemental spending bill Tuesday evening, saying the measure was “a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops.”

In response, according to Senate leadership aides and internal Democratic Caucus documents, Reid is planning a two-front approach to work on a new supplemental, focused on attacking Republicans and Bush for vetoing the first supplemental while simultaneously working to bring GOP moderates back into discussions over a possible bipartisan solution to the impasse.

On the political front, Senate Democrats are launching a nationwide public relations blitz lambasting Bush and Senate Republicans for Bush’s decision to veto the bill in order to “hold him and his enablers accountable,” a senior Democratic leadership aide said.

Before and after Tuesday’s weekly lunch in the Capitol, Reid’s “war room” set up facilities for members to tape pre-recorded responses to Bush’s veto for distribution to home-state media, as well as national outlets. Additionally, in a memo to Caucus press secretaries sent out Monday, Reid’s office asked Democratic Senate offices to prepare press releases and do national TV and radio hits on the Iraq issue.

The war room also asks that members participate in the Caucus’ floor speech program during Morning Business and give speeches criticizing Bush’s veto and highlighting the implication for military units from their states, the memo states.

Democrats also are coordinating with a coalition of anti-war groups on a “rapid response press conference” effort in which organizations will hold press events in targeted states criticizing Bush’s veto. Noting that “Your bosses will not be acting alone,” the war room memo states that, “Veterans, military families, grassroots organizations and other concerned citizens will respond within 90 minutes of a veto with rapid response press conferences in more than two dozen states.”

The targeted states include Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Delaware, Tennessee, Georgia and North Dakota.

Organizations involved in the effort include Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, the National Security Network, Veterans for America and VoteVets.org.

Additionally, Democrats are working with the coalition to organize a series of protests across the country to significantly ratchet up political pressure on the GOP. A release sent out by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq on Tuesday evening indicated that more than 300 protests had been planned by Tuesday evening, while Americans United for Change has launched a new television ad criticizing the veto.

As part of his efforts to take advantage of flagging support for the White House among Republicans, Reid is actively encouraging moderate Democrats in his Caucus to reach out to moderate Republicans who may be willing to work out a bipartisan compromise on Iraq.

Although it is unclear which Democrats Reid has asked to begin working with Republicans, in the past Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has been at the center of several bipartisan compromises on Iraq, which became the basis for nonbinding resolutions Reid eventually took up, and Nelson was the original author of the benchmark language in the vetoed supplemental.

While Nelson declined to comment on whether he was in talks with Republicans, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is working on a plan with an as-of-yet-unnamed Democratic lawmaker. Snowe’s plan would include a set of benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet and a set of consequences if they failed to meet them. Although Snowe has declined to discuss the specifics of her proposal — or to say who she is working with — her plan is expected to include triggers to withhold aid to Iraq if benchmarks are not met.

Snowe said that while many Republicans in the Senate are unhappy with how Bush has handled the Iraq issue, it remains unclear whether she can muster enough GOP support to override a presidential veto if the White House rejects any consequences. “That’s something that remains to be seen,” Snowe said Tuesday, adding that regardless of the White House’s objections, “I think these benchmarks need to be measured by something more than progress reports.”

After vetoing the Iraq bill, Bush said of Hill Democrats, “They’ve sent their message and now it’s time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need.”