I don't know if John Breaux wants to be a cabinet officer, but he knows it will be the kiss of death for his political career in the sense that Democrats will look upon it as betrayal. The first is that the leaders of the Democratic Party, namely Dick Gephardt and to an increasing degree Tom Daschle in the Senate, are now mentioned as national candidates. Dick Gephardt ran in 1988 himself, he's wanted to be speaker of the House. But if he is going to run for president or thinking about it or Tom Daschle's thinking about national office, he doesn't want to be seen as an obstructionist or someone that is small and petty and not ready for the national scene. And secondly, the Democrats are the party of governance.
Republicans are the ones who oppose things.
So when he proposes, they'll respond. We have plenty of time to talk about this over the next several weeks and months. Thank you both very much. All Rights Reserved.