The Frosh Arrive, Looking For Bipartisanship

By Gene Randall/CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN, Nov. 15) -- Kay Granger will be the first Republican in a century to represent the 12th congressional district in Texas.

But then, she was also the first woman ever elected mayor of Fort Worth. Her outlook in Washington: "What's important to me is that we are fiscally responsible, that we do take on the issue of balancing the budget and do that in a very responsible way, but also to encourage economic growth." (128K WAV sound)

Democrat Tom Allen from Maine's 1st district, defeated a Republican freshman to earn his place in the House. An Oxford classmate of Bill Clinton when both were Rhodes Scholars, Allen is a former mayor of Portland.

In Congress, he says: "The major business is to deal with some very tough issues we have in front of us -- which is to balance the budget and still stay focused on what I think are kitchen table issues, how to make sure people can get a good education, how to take care of our seniors and to keep improving the economy." (192K WAV sound)

If the numbers from California hold up and Democrat Loretta Sanchez takes Republican Robert Dornan's seat in Orange County, the freshmen lineup will be 32 Republicans and 41 Democrats.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich had over 70 GOP freshmen two years ago. A class which, he says, set a benchmark. "We're all committed to a balanced budget," he says. "We're all committed to smaller government. We're all committed to welfare reform. Those are enormous -- you know, I think the last freshman class can take great credit for that. Now this freshman class has a chance to make it work in detail." (160K WAV sound)

Gingrich also said he looks for bipartisanship in the 105th Congress. Something often missing from the 104th.

Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt says the speaker needs to change what he called Gingrich's "parliamentary ways."

"The last two years, the speaker really, I think, ran the place as you would in a parliamentary system," Gephardt says, "that is, the majority party wins all the votes with its votes only. You don't reach across the aisle in a parliamentary system and try to get bipartisan coalitions. I don't think that worked well."(224K WAV sound)

Granger and Allen each had a message for their leaders.

Granger says, "I heard all the way through my campaign -- that people said, you know, 'Let's go to Washington and work together for problems and for solutions that are good for the American people and good for all of us.'"

"What I want this Congress to do is to stand up for our values, but also not get caught up in partisan squabbles that prevent us from doing the country's business," says Allen.

But for the next week and half of orientation, there will be more mundane matters for the freshmen of both parties to attend to, ranging from how to hire a staff to where to park their cars: at this point, real matters of bipartisan concern.

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The Frosh Arrive, Looking For Bipartisanship

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