Kansas City Star: Sit Together and Play Nice, Senators

March 15, 2007

McCaskill's suggestion Results, at Least on One Panel, in Political Foes Sitting Side by Side

By David Goldstein
Kansas City Star

WASHINGTON -- Traditions die hard in the U.S. Senate, but in a small corner of the Capitol on Wednesday a little one may have expired largely unnoticed.

Democrats sitting next to Republicans, of all things. What will they think of next?

To foster more bipartisanship, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee changed the seating arrangements so senators, instead of sitting divided by party and staring at each other from across the room, now sit side by side.

The Capitol dome didn't crack, no statues toppled. A few senatorial faces went blank, however, when members walked into the hearing room and looked helplessly around for their nameplates.

Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware stood in the doorway behind the horseshoe-shaped dais looking from side to side, unsure of which way to turn. His aide, who had trouble finding her spot minutes earlier, finally caught her boss's eye and vigorously pointed to his new perch.

"It was as if lightning had struck the building, and that the glass and the panes were shaking," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, perhaps exaggerating a bit.

But it was she who started this tumult in a teacup.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a fresh independent who kept his committee chairmanship, made the change at her offhand thought that it might reduce the us/them attitude. "It was really just a suggestion, and I didn't stomp my feet or demand change," she said.

Only four committee members were present when Lieberman kicked off the meeting, joking: "I hope the new seating arrangement has not discouraged people to attend."

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican, told Lieberman she was "happy to sit either on your left or your right."

McCaskill apologized for any undue stress caused among the Senate staff.

Separating lawmakers on Capitol Hill has been the custom since well before the Civil War. Don't count on this new era of good feeling to spread far beyond this panel.

"You know," McCaskill said, "I've learned in the short time I've been here, that when they say in the United States Senate, 'It's always been done that way,' they really mean it."