European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday november 14, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 even women got Down n7 dirty i n Ca a pig n on the morning after the night before the country was drowning in metaphors. There was water water every where a tidal wave a watershed a sea change a tsunami. The waterlogged change in the House and Senate was nowhere nearly As astounding As the internal change in the politicians. Some were transformed week into incumbents. They were ohm gawd insiders legislators. Many who had mercilessly trashed their opponents As career politicians who released mass murderers from Pris on and corrupted our values suddenly reappeared at their Victory ral lies thanking their worthy opponents for their service to the state and wish ing their families Well. Have a Nice Day of defeat. On monday Newt Gingrich had compared the democrats to Susan Smith Sug Gesting that voters opposed to murdering toddlers should vote Republican. By wednesday he had changed Back to or. Jekyll talking about his obligations and promising a search for common ground with the democrats. Bob Dole for that matter a Man whose wit has been eroded by acid Over the years used the unfamiliar word responsibility three times in one sound bite. As in we have a responsibility to govern. At the risk of running the water metaphor Down the Drain we All need a Shower after this election. Before the 104th Congress sits Down in the seats they so loved to loathe they ought to All be locked in a room and forced to watch at least two hours of the Campaign ads they ran against their opponents and Ellen Goodman against the institution that they now have to make work. Having run attack ads on the air line they Are now in the Pilot s seat. How do you get the people Back on Board the Story of 1994 was t very different for men or women. Two years ago in the much ballyhooed year of the woman female candidates were the personification the gender fiction of change. They were the different voice. This year they sounded less like some thing called  they won and Liostas republicans and democrats challengers and incumbents. It was t a bad year for women if you look at the raw num Bers. The painfully slow climb is still up. As of this writing there will be two More women in the House one More in the Senate. But the faces have changed. A half dozen of the democratic women who won marginal districts in 1992 a from Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky in Pennsylvania to Karan English in Arizona appear to have lost. In the last Congress All but three of the women were pro Choice. In the next Congress nine define themselves As pro life. The voices have changed even More. In this Campaign whatever archaic or Hoper Ful ideas the country had about the female difference were pretty Well shattered. V Many used to assume that women should t and would t go negative. Not anymore. Even Dianne Feinstein barely won with an advertising slug match against an empty suit with deep pockets. Nowhere could you Tell the candidates chromosomes from their commercials nevertheless the turnoff Factor of this gruesome Campaign season May have a disproportionate effect pm new women in politics. As Ellen Malcolm of Emily s list admits i can t Tell you How Many women i approached this year who said they would t want to run for office. They see the process As personally Congress is Avo Gorp w elected i Promise Yon tymm destructive and totally  so do men but the numbers Tell a Gen Der tale. For the first time since the Cen Ter for the american woman and politics has been keeping records the number of women running for state Legislatures the political farm team has dropped As the Center s Ruth Mandel acknowledges the Price has been rising. So has the personal Cost. They May be asking do i want to put myself through this " that s a question that will Reso Nate with other would be candidates an with to use a quaint term citizens. Negative ads work. Everybody says so they work against the other candidate. The More insidious Victory is against govern ment. Any government. In the words of Texas gov. Ann Rich Ards who will be sorely missed this is not the end of the world it is the end of a  but what an anti civics class this has been. Collectively we be just been subjected to a $350 million sales pitch on the evils of our own political system. A tidal wave of nastiness a tsunami of negativism a flood of hostility. Gosh it makes me thirsty just thinking of 1996. C Boston Globe electorate showed Wisdom in shift to Rig the first right Winger to gloat should booted right put of the tent. This is a moment for quiet reverence by pols and pundits at the Wisdom of the  is the japanese word for a great wave caused by an underwater seismic  what was the Shock that caused the conservative wave of 1994?not inchoate choler at incumbents not lust for change for change s Sake not negative advertising used by both sides not solely disappointment with the character or personality of Bill Clinton. The quake was caused by the majority s growing belief that government is growing too big intrusive domineering and re Mote and wastes tax dollars at All Levels. The understand Able reaction of most voters Wasto throw out of office All the status quo Niks who Don t get it. What used to be the party of the people was adjudged to be the party of government and As a rueful president admitted the Day after the electoral debacle that s not a Good place to  -.,. Some specific lessons the Clinton centralized mandatory health plan came to personify the big government approach Winch made him an Albatross around his party s neck. By still arguing that he has made government smaller the president shows he has not yet understood the cause of his party s weakness and the source of the Public Dis Content. T t l t Money in t everything. Oliver North in the East wildly outspent his rival and lost apparently so Didi Michaeli Huff ton in the West. In Florida the gambling lobby put $17 million of its chips on a Casino proposition and crapped out. This offers Hope. But Money is becoming too great a Force in our politics. To limit spending would be to limit the right to William Safire Challenge but the voracious television medium is get Ting an undeserved Windfall broadcasters should be required to provide free time to candidates As a condition of renewal of their lucrative licenses. Term limits is a idea that cannot be stopped. Proposals to Cap the length of political careers won by 2 to 1 almost everywhere they appeared on the ballot. A term limit constitutional amendment rather than More Money invested by Rich challengers is the Way to institutionalize the turnover of officeholders and prevent entrenchment. Tip o Neill was wrong not All politics is local. The gop decision to nationalize local contests with a specific platform was a masterstroke the democratic strategy to make it a Battleground thereby publicizing Down to the grass roots the parties left right ideological differences was a Blunder. Ross Perot has become just another talking head. His two major forays were into his native Texas to Stop the Republican George w. Bush and into new York to help a millionaire spoiler Stop the Republican George Pataki Perot s intercession failed in both major states. This diminishes his third party threat to Divide the anti Clinton vote in 1996. No hypocrisy is involved in a partisan Tiger Chang ing his stripes. Seized with the sudden maturity celebrated in 1 corinthians 13 11, the Republican gut fighter Newt Gingrich on election night spoke movingly of being speaker of the whole House much As a new president dreams of being president of All the peo  like the chastised Clinton the speaker to be is now a partisan eager to grow into statesman. The re placement for Gingrich will be majority whip Richard Armey where do we go from Here first comes the honeymoon As the Odd couple of Semprez and rep Cong pledge cooperation through next january and Clinton new Sily shakes up his cab inet. Then come the 100 bipartisan Days in which mountains of term limits balanced budgets and line item vetoes will be moved and the president focuses on foreign affairs. After that the spats begin As committees probe Whitewater and Clinto nites get testy. In summer comes the crunch As the new majority splits Over tax and budget and immigration policy and the new minority resists the president s sudden centrism. By the fall the two parties will be engaged in a Battle Royal Over the Speed of government downsizing positioning themselves for the 96 Campaign. The tsunami changes everything. Excitement ahead great Days. C new York times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government