The Daschle Effect: "They're not stupid"

Bloomberg:  "Bush, With Daschle Out, May Coax Permanent Tax Cuts From Senate."  Excerpt:

Republicans picked up four Senate seats in last week's election. The most important of those was in South Dakota, where Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, who fought making the cuts permanent, lost to former Representative John Thune.

``It's analogous to sacking the other team's quarterback,'' said Stephen Moore, president of Club for Growth, a pro-tax-cut organization that advertised on Thune's behalf. ``It's a big deal, and I think the Democrats are bit spooked by it.''

The cuts Bush may be able to lock in include lower income tax rates, a cut in the dividend tax by half to 15 percent and breaks for parents and married couples. The cuts are currently scheduled to begin expiring in 2008. Senators including Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, Oklahoma's Don Nickles, the Republican chairman of the budget committee, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, all expect some of the cuts to be made permanent.

Grover Norquist, a Republican lobbyist who heads the Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform, said more Democrats will support the tax cuts after seeing what happened to Daschle, whom he described as their ``enforcer.''

Poster Child

``Daschle was able to discipline by saying, `I'm in a very Republican state, I vote like Kennedy and Clinton, I give the moderates in my state nothing, so sit down, shut up, and vote the party line,''' Norquist said. ``He's now the poster child for the thought, `You can't get away with that forever.'''

``There are a whole bunch of Democrats sitting in red states,'' Norquist said. ``They're not stupid.''