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By Howard Fineman
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On Monday, Jan. 6, Sen. Tom Daschle was busy making last-minute preparations for his presidential run, calling Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe about potential contributors, tracking down Robert Gibbs, the veteran spokesman he wanted to hire as his press secretary. When Daschle finished at about 5 p.m., virtually everything was in place, and friends from Washington to Sioux Falls, S.D., assumed he was "in." But at 10:45 that night he phoned his Senate chief of staff, Peter Rouse, to say he'd decided against a race. Stunned insiders asked, "What happened?" Here is the answer:
JAMES CARVILLE'S WARNING: The "Ragin' Cajun," respected by all Democrats for his strategic acumen, had repeatedly warned Daschle that he couldn't run for president and remain the party's leader in the Senate. To defeat Rep. Dick Gephardt in the Iowa caucuses would require Daschle's full-time attention, even as he'd also have to run for re-election in South Dakota in 2004. And as the Democrats' leader in the Senate, he would not only have to manage legislation, but demonstrate his fairness to the several colleagues who are also seeking the party's presidential nomination. On the Decision Day, Carville called Rouse to repeat the message, but word of Carville's view already had spread on Capitol Hill.
LINDA'S READING: To prepare his reluctant wife for the rigors of a campaign, Daschle suggested that she read Richard Ben Cramer's exhaustive (and exhausting) 1,074-page recounting of the 1988 presidential season, "What It Takes." Linda Daschle, a well-regarded Washington lobbyist, is no stranger to politics, but she was astonished by what she read. In an interview with NEWSWEEK, the senator said the book made her more supportive of a race. At the same time, he acknowledged, she was "relieved" when he decided not to run.
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THE LBJ FACTOR: A student of Lyndon Johnson, Daschle has spent many days reading the LBJ papers at the University of Texas. But he's focused on his hero's career in the Senate, not the White House. President George W. Bush's sweeping tax proposal, unveiled on Daschle's Decision Day, offered the prospect of intense political action and dramatic confrontation--in the Senate.
A QUIET DINNER: After making his final calls, Daschle joined his wife for dinner. At this "gut check" time, he says, he realized that he didn't want to be away from his wife--and the Senate. "I just didn't want to leave home," he told NEWSWEEK the day after his decision. "The Senate is my home. I'm not ruling out the idea of running some other year. But right now I am very much at peace with this. And do you know what? Tonight, instead of talking to contributors I've never met, or getting on a plane and flying to Iowa, I can go have a pizza with my wife. Which is what we're going to do."
--Howard Fineman
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