Gleeful Democrats celebrate perks of the party in power

WASHINGTON -- A return to Camelot?

Not exactly, but devotees of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, sworn in yesterday to his ninth term and made the new chairman of a powerful Senate committee, acted as though the Massachusetts Democrat had been crowned king. And in political terms, he had.

Kennedy's parties in recent years have been akin to Irish wakes, attended by downbeat liberal activists and staffers trying to pay for their graduate degrees on government salaries. They would walk around with plastic cups of white wine while bemoaning their inability to get progressive programs through the GOP-controlled Congress and White House.

But yesterday, at a party marking Kennedy's inauguration, the mood was celebratory and giddy. Hundreds of Democratic lawmakers and representatives of labor unions, gay-rights groups, and healthcare organizations sipped clam chowder and digested the news that they were suddenly relevant.

Lawmakers who were pushed aside during the 12 years of GOP rule in the House and six years of mostly Republican control in the Senate can now work on legislation that might actually have a chance at passing. Of the 10 first-up items the Senate Democrats are planning to take up next week, five are Kennedy proposals.

"There is a 'The King is dead. Long live the [new] King' quality," said Representative Edward Markey , Democrat of Malden, as he mingled among a crowd that included a Hollywood producer, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, SEIU president Andy Stern, and numerous members of Congress.

The shift on Capitol Hill, where Democrats officially took control of both the House and Senate yesterday, has had a dramatic and often personal effect on more Democrats than just Kennedy.

Long ignored by lobbyists who saw the majority GOP as one-stop shopping to influence legislation, Democratic members say they are now being besieged with calls from interest groups.

Some members are also enjoying new perks, as their seniority and power give them access to expanded committee staffs and nicer offices.

"I've been on both sides of the equation," serving in both the minority and majority, "and I highly recommend the majority," said Representative Richard E. Neal , a Springfield Democrat who scored a new office with a view of the US Capitol.

On the House and Senate floors and at receptions around the Capitol, Democrats were celebrating their firsts: They enthusiastically elected the nation's first female speaker, California Democrat Nancy Pelosi .

A record 90 women are serving in the 110th Congress, including a record 16 senators and 74 -- including nonvoting delegates -- in the House.

Representative Keith Ellison , Democrat of Minnesota, became the first Muslim-American to serve in the House, and two Buddhists also took the oath of office. In the Senate, Democrats for the first time elected a Mormon, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, as majority leader.

Women and minorities were assigned to a record number of committee and subcommittee chairmanships, while Barney Frank of Massachusetts became the first openly gay member to chair a full committee, delighting activists who see Frank's role as a major step for gay Americans.

At a speech this week at the National Press Club, Frank was peppered with questions about interest rates and housing policy. But no one asked him about gay rights, despite the fact that his home state of Massachusetts had just voted to put gay marriage on the ballot.

"I think it's a great day when [Frank's] power is such that that's why people want to talk to him, that he is defined as being chairman of the House Financial Services Committee" instead of by his sexual orientation, said Joe Solmonese , president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group.

Democrats also welcomed back two of its former members, Texas Representatives Nick Lampson and Ciro Rodriguez , both of whom had lost their seats because of GOP-engineered redistricting pushed by former House majority leader Tom DeLay.

Yesterday, Lampson reveled in the reversal of fortune for each man: DeLay was indicted on corruption charges and resigned, and Lampson was re-elected to represent DeLay's former district.

"Am I hopeful? Am I excited? Darn right I am," said Lampson, beaming.

Republicans were visibly glum. Former House speaker Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, sat alone in the back row of the House chamber while Democrats and their children chatted gleefully on their side of the room, awaiting the group swearing-in of new and re elected members.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican. But he added that he has strong personal relationships with Democrats and is ready to work with them.

Representative Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, brokered one reconciliation, introducing Ellison to Representative Virgil Goode, a Virginia Republican who had publicly criticized Ellison's decision to take the oath of office holding a Koran. The two shook hands, Kucinich said.

"It shows our tremendous capacity for healing," he said.

He then continued celebrating.