Friday, January 15, 2010

Menendez: Election Won't Be Referendum On Us

By Alexis Simendinger  

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., talked with National Journal reporters Dec. 22 about the party's challenges going into the midterm elections and how to contrast Republican policies with those offered by Democrats. What follows are edited excerpts.

NJ: What do you believe voters want Democrats to deliver in 2010?

Menendez: It's all about the jobs and the economy, first and foremost. Everything you'll see as soon as we get back [to work in Congress] will be efforts to stimulate the private sector to help create those jobs.

NJ: Can you meet voters' expectations for change under Democratic governance?

Menendez: If they see progress on the economy... and progress on jobs, their mind will be totally open to saying, do you want to go back? Next year's election will not be a referendum on Obama and us. We will not be the only ones on the ballot. Republicans will be on the ballot. And we will remind the electorate that they have a choice to go backwards, and remind them what it is that going backwards means....

If the American public sees next year that the economy is growing and that there [is] job creation beginning to take place, I think they'll vote for a problem solver. Democrats won two big [election] cycles, because the public saw Republicans achieving absolutely nothing for them and not tackling the big problems the country had. They hired Democrats to solve problems.

The successes of this year are going to ring true. We took the country back from the abyss, which we inherited. We started to lay the foundation for that with the stimulus package, with the omnibus [spending bill], which made major down payments on economic recovery as well as changing our energy paradigm by incentivizing renewable energy sources....

We then built upon that with legislation on children's health insurance; on the greatest preservation of open space in a generation in the public lands bill; moving on to landmark legislation we've all forgotten about in the blur of the first 100 days, [Food and Drug Administration] control of tobacco, which will save millions of lives; credit card consumer legislation; the reality of the mortgage fraud legislation that took place, and is now law; equal pay for equal work, which we've talked about in this country but is now law.

[Republicans] have bound themselves into a bad situation. They have hooked themselves into the politics of defeat. They have adopted a politics that wants the president to fail and wants the Congress to fail. They are betting on the nation to fail. If you have no record to show that you did anything about creating jobs, turning the economy around or providing health insurance for those who don't have it and controlling costs for those who do, I think you're in a bad situation.

NJ: What is your advice to Senate candidates in tough states? How flexible can they be about hugging the Democratic agenda?

Menendez: I'm proud of our incumbents as well as our open-seat candidates and challengers because what they do is reflect the values of their state, and they will vote in accordance with the values of their state. I don't think it will be a question of how hard do you adhere to a Democratic agenda. The question is going to be, did you reflect the values of your state in the process of defining what that legislation was going to be like? We have seen the molding of that agenda in a way that reflects the values of all of our colleagues and probably in many cases has made it better legislation, and I think that's what has made us so successful as a caucus -- that input has made for very good legislation. People can go back home and say, "I voted in accordance with the interests of Arkansas," for example.

NJ: Do you think the Senate needs to get financial reform, climate change and immigration reform done in 2010?

Menendez: I think all of these elements can be part of an agenda that actually spurs the creation of jobs in the economy. Those items can be growth agendas. For example, on the whole issue of climate change, I look at that and say, "American ingenuity, creating American jobs, fueling American energy," and that to me is a growth agenda, at the same time doing something about our challenges in our environment. That's a real possibility, when presented in those terms and looked at in that way.

On the question of financial regulatory reform, there's a difference between a free market and a free-for-all market. I believe we're going to pursue financial regulatory reform because it will be in the interests of the country economically, because consumers and investors will have confidence.

And finally, on immigration, you know, I really do believe that the economic circumstances are a reason to seek immigration reform, not to delay it. When you ask most Americans the question about immigration reform, they say they want those people to pay their taxes. Well, the way to do it is to bring them out of the shadows, have them file and while they're waiting to get legalized in the process, make sure they're paying their taxes.

NJ: How does the Democratic Party satisfy advocates for climate change legislation and immigration reform this year if there is no congressional progress on the issues that motivate them?

Menendez: Do they want more? Yes, but that is the nature of eight years of being pent up and looking at a policy that led this country in the wrong direction. But when reminded [of Democratic progress thus far], I think that the progressive base -- that overall base -- is going to be right there.

One of our greatest incentivizers is our friends on the other side of the aisle. When [voters] are reminded of that choice -- for whatever desire they had to see something maybe more, more progress than the enormous progress that has been made -- they're going to come out. They're going to understand the difference.

NJ: You took the DSCC job following two successful election cycles for Democrats. This year you're expected to lose seats. What's your feeling about this job now?

Menendez: I knew this would be a tough cycle from the beginning. I said that to [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid when he asked me to do this job. I knew that there's a difference between aspirational goals -- getting to 60 and then maintaining 60, [which] is a harder driver. My father used to say when he was alive: "you know son, it's not buying the car, it's maintaining it that's a real challenge." That's our challenge here.

But the Republicans are making it easier for us -- not that it's easy. If you think it's been hard with 60, imagine when we go underneath 60. This president will find the toughest time governing this country over the next two years. At the end of the day, I think you will find people fully understanding that.