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50+49+1
May 30, 2001

Last week, a 67-year-old man from Vermont changed the course of U.S. politics.

Many Americans had never heard of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords until he made an announcement May 24 that hit Washington like an earthquake: the life-long Republican was leaving his party.

Jeffords is not the first politician to switch from one party to another. In the last 20 years, 15 members of Congress have made the move. Still, it's the first time in U.S. history that control of the Senate has changed by an event other than an election.

The 100-member U.S. Senate had been split exactly down the middle: 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. With Vice President Dick Cheney holding the decisive tie-breaking vote, the Republicans had control of the Senate. That meant they set the agenda and lead the committees.

Since committees are where most of the real work of government goes on, and since Republicans controlled the White House and the House of Representatives, party leaders were confident they could accomplish their goals.

But with Jeffords' announcement that he would become an Independent, the balance shifted: 49 Republicans plus 50 Democrats equals a Democratic Senate.

Suddenly, sailing didn't look quite so smooth for President Bush's plans.

Why did he leave?

Senator Jeffords said he decided to leave the Republican Party because it had become too conservative for him. He wanted more money for education, especially special ed, he also supports a woman's right to have an abortion. But he said no one in his party would listen to him.

"Given the changing nature of the national party, it has become a struggle for out leaders to deal with me and for me to deal with them," Jeffords said. He said he envisioned "more and more instances in which I will disagree with the president on fundamental issues."

Going Independent

Jeffords didn't leave his party to join "the other team." Instead he announced he would become an Independent -- the only one in the Senate. (There are two Independents in the House.)

Independents give up the money, prestige and power associated with the two major parties. But it also gives them more freedom to vote as they wish -- they don't have to agree with the party's official or unofficial views.

In announcing his switch, Jeffords invoked Vermont's long history of independence and its reputation as a place where people aren't afraid to buck a trend.

Jeffords himself, the son of the state supreme court chief justice, disagreed with his party on the environment, abortion, and education. (He also sang tenor in a Senate barbershop quartet and has a black belt in tae kwan do.)

A stab in the back?

Though Jeffords won't become a Democrat, he will caucus with them, and could get a spot as chairman of the environment committee under Democratic leadership.

Jeffords' decision angered many Republicans, who called his move "a stab in the back." The switch effectively ended seven years of GOP control in the Senate. The Senate was able to pass the president's tax cut and his education reform bill, but from now on, he will have to compromise more.

Historians and political junkies agree: U.S. politics hasn't experienced anything this wild since the 2000 Florida recount, when the country waited 37 days to find out who would become the next president.

And the winner is...

The 2000 Gore vs. Bush election was the first time since 1876 that a clear winner wasn't declared the night of the election. Because the vote was so close, Florida law said the ballots had to be recounted.

In the space of a few weeks, the battles raged in the state legislature and the courts over how to conduct a recount.

Gore's lawyers said the recount was done improperly and kept pushing for a new one. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Florida Supreme Court's ruling that ended all potential recounts.

The election showed how evenly divided American voters are. Fewer eligible voters went to the polls in the 2000 election than ever before. And those who did vote felt there were problems with the process.

No one expected that a few hundred votes in Florida would make a difference-- or that a decision by the Supreme Court would decide the course of events by which George W. Bush became president.

Now, Senator Jeffords' switch has people wondering how one man could change the balance of power in Washington so deeply.

What do you think? Will Democrats and Republicans find a way to establish common ground? How will the average American's confidence be restored in our political process?