A New Direction? (BTW: Check Out Kolbe On The GOP Leadership)

Is this cycle really going to be different than the last couple? Can Dems get -- and stay -- on the same page? Will simmering Republican divisions spill over onto the electoral map? A snapshot of the two parties offered via two Capitol Hill press conferences today would indicate the potential for all three.

House Min Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Min Leader Harry Reid, DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel and DSCC chair Chuck Schumer led off, rolling out their six-pronged "New Directon" agenda for print reporters at the DSCC. Nat'l and homeland security, energy independence, health care, jobs, college access and retirement security will be on the tips of every Dem tounge going into the fall, these leaders said.

And though they used seemingly every other cliche besides this one, the singular message above and beyond these bullet points will be, "change vs. more of the same."

Dem candidates will be "agents of change" running against the GOP "status quo," said Emanuel. The American people are "tired of stay the course," observed Schumer. Dems will "chart a new direction," drove home Pelosi. Americans have "had enough of this president and this Congress," declared Reid.

Perhaps most important, Schumer pointed out where his candidates were actually embracing their "6 for '06" theme. Ford with Nat'l Security on the Dubai ports in TN, Casey with retirement security on opposing Social Security privatization in NJ, McCaskill with health care on supporting stem cell research in MO, etc.

Down 1st Street an hour later, four House GOPers gathered to trumpet five of their own policy priorities. Representing the moderate Republican Main St. Partnership group, Rep's Tom Davis (VA), Sherwood Boehlert (NY), Jim Kolbe (AZ) and Jim Gerlach (PA) outlined the "Promise For America." It includes such familiar items as nat'l and homeland security, energy independence, health care and retirement security, jobs, and education opportunities. The Main St. folks didn't have the exact same six agenda items as the Dems, however --- they included retirement security and health care in the same bullet.

Though their message was much the same as the Dems, Republicans revealed their own internal differences as soon as they took questions. Asked about a minimum wage increase, Davis was quick to point out that the four members were not in agreement on the topic. He and Kolbe, both opponents of the increase, said little, while Boehlert, a longtime champion of raising the wage, gleefully predicted it would pass in short order.

Even more contentious was the matter of immigration. "The real question of the session is whether we hype this issue and continue to hype this issue," said Kolbe, a lame duck from a border district. "What then, do we just dump it or do we get something done?" Told that he sounded as though such "hyping" would portend bad things politically, Kolbe quickly responded that he was not trying to say that, he was saying that. "There will be electoral consequences if we hype this issue as we have been and then don't follow up with action," he predicted. And it will be hard for voters "not to point fingers at" the party that controls the WH, House and Senate if there isn't action. Sensing an off-message moment, Boehlert interjected, "This group doesn't play the blame game." Kolbe seemed to get the hint when, asked if GOP leaders had the will to push through a bill, said, "I'll pass on that."

Gerlach, who has run ads in his Philadelphia-area district touting his opposition the guest worker language included in the Senate bill and backed by Pres Bush, didn't seem in any hurry to act on the issue, however. Asked if he would rather have a bill or an issue, Gerlach, facing perhaps the toughest race of any House incumbent in the country, said he wanted "a good bill," not a "bad bill." His constituents don't want a measure that rewards those who "jump ahead in line," he said. He'd like to "keep working the issue" and hopes "folks come together."

Four non-leadership House members promoting the agenda of just one wing of the party is much different, of course, than national party leaders outlining their campaign message.

However -- that Republicans are split on two very political issues even within this one wing bodes poorly. And that they are split so publicly, and beyond the confines of one press conference, even more so. [JONATHAN MARTIN and MARC AMBINDER]