As the Democratic Party’s left wing looks around for a candidate to carry the Party’s banner in 2016, the list of not-Hillary-Clintons tends to be pretty short. Most peoples’ lists of legitimate Liberals who could have a shot at the top of the ticket contain three names:
Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT
VP Joe Biden
As far as I can tell, nobody has yet tossed the name of Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat, into the ring. I think he should get at least some consideration.
Wyden has a reputation for getting things done in a bipartisan way during his 34 years on the Hill, the last 18 of which have been in the Senate. He’s championed a broad range of Liberal causes and is seen as one of the most powerful and effective leaders in Congress. Along the way, he’s also ticked off the Liberal wing of the Party on more than one occasion, notably in 2012 when he worked with Paul Ryan (yes, that Paul Ryan) on a Medicare reform proposal that had a lot of Lefties wrinkling their noses. And rightly so.
Read on below the Orange squiggly for a deeper explanation of my reasoning.
In fact, measured by an unusual but potentially fruitful statistic, Wyden was the most effective Senator in the 113th Congress. He led all Senators in getting 13 bills out of committee (out of 48 he submitted, the fourth best number). The three Senators who submitted more legislation than he did (led by David Vitter [R-LA] with 61) failed to crack the top 10 of success in getting to floor debate. (This unusual study was conducted by the FixGov team at The Brookings Institution’s Center for Effective Public Management.)
But he’s been on the “wrong” side of Liberal causes way fewer time than has the White House incumbent, who has the Left Wing of his Party grumbling more and more loudly as he sustains, extends and defends policies his predecessor would have applauded.
Here’s what Politico said about Wyden recently:
“He has a comprehensive tax reform plan. He had a plan, proposed before Obama was elected, to slash the ranks of the uninsured. A harsh critic of the administration’s NSA policies, he has a surveillance reform bill with Rand Paul. He has a campaign finance bill with Lisa Murkowski, an education bill with Marco Rubio, a white paper on Medicare’s long-term costs with Paul Ryan. He has a second Medicare proposal with Johnny Isakson, dealing with beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.”
Wyden has also proposed eliminating the business tax deduction for health care benefits, shifting the advantage instead to an individual deduction. That move, which would go a long way toward separating the availability of health care coverage from the necessity of having a job, was roundly criticized by union leaders. But it feels like a reasonably Liberal idea at its core and is one that a lot of Republicans could probably get behind.
And that characterizes a great deal of what Wyden does. He appears to be more interested in finding Liberal ideas that have a flavor that conservatives can find a reason to support than in purely ideological stands. If Americans are tired of the way Washington doesn’t work, a guy like Wyden could have immensely broad appeal, particularly among the independent voters who ultimately decide elections.
Wyden should get serious consideration if for no other reason than his vocal stance on the NSA spying scandal that has continued to rock the Obama Administration. He has been a powerful and sometimes lonely voice on the Democratic side of the aisle questioning the policies and challenging NSA leadership to explain themselves to the American people. He hasn’t been alone in that effort, of course, but he’s been outstanding and easily the most articulate of the Democrats standing against their President at some key points in the ongoing crisis.
Wyden is not without his drawbacks, to be sure. For one thing, he’s just ascended to the chairmanship of what is arguably the most powerful committee in Congress: Senate Finance. Having his Liberal voice in that key position is a huge advantage for the Party. But that assumes Democrats don’t lose control of the Senate in the upcoming mid-terms, a prospect that seems more and more likely. He will have much less influence on national policy as the ranking member of the committee from the defeated party.
Another disadvantage to Wyden is geography. Oregon ranks only 27th in population in the U.S. and has only seven Electoral votes. Being on the West Coast and not being California, it seldom plays big on the national news scene. Only once since 1856 has an Oregonian graced a national ticket and that was Charles L. McNary who had the No. 2 spot opposite Wendell Willkie in 1940. His home state is seen as a bit fringy, a reputation that was enhanced when the state legalized recreational marijuana last year. [EDITOR'S NOTE. As was pointed out, I blew this one. It's Washington, not Oregon, that has legalized recreational pot.]
Tradition says that candidates for the White House who have no executive experience at the gubernatorial or big-city-mayoral level don’t do well, and that is something Wyden will have to struggle to overcome. But at a time when the Republican Party seems destined to nominate someone who will be far too far right for the American electorate (particularly its decisive middle), Liberals have their best shot in many years of electing one of their philosophy to the Presidency. I think that momentum alone gives Wyden some initiative to overcome the lack of executive experience.
I’m not suggesting Wyden is the best candidate for the job. He, like O’Malley at least and arguably Sanders from the short list above, needs more vetting. But I think he is worthy of serious consideration at a time when there seems to be a real dearth of clear-thinking, articulate Liberals who actually have the potential to be elected. In fact, of the four candidates on this new short list, I submit he may have the best electability rating.
Wyden’s home-state newspaper, The Oregonian, wrote of him as he prepared to assume the chair of the Finance Committee, “Gangly and nasal-voiced, Wyden would never be Hollywood's image of a prototypical senator. Nobody has ever started a Wyden-for-president boomlet.”
Maybe it’s time someone did.