Gephardt will likely become speaker if Democrats take control on the House in 2002. In the House of Representatives, Democrats say the Republican majority drowns them out.
Some critics say they lack leadership and strategy.
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Missouri, has another view. I mean, the people run this country. And so you fight for what you believe in as hard as you can, and if you really believe in it, then you're frustrated if you're not able to follow those policies through. Gephardt says the minority Democrats are forced to play defense, responding to Republicans. I think we cooperated with the president on the education bill, at least the substance of it, but we still haven't been able to convince him or the Republicans to put enough money into education to really make the program happen.