Democrats Seek Repeat of 1994 in Debate Over Social Security - Bloomberg

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a2v8jzWVJnBo&refer=us

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats are studying history these days -- specifically, the political history of 1994, when the ruling party lost its majority in Congress after the embarrassing failure of its major domestic initiative.

Back then, it was the Democratic Party, and the issue was President Bill Clinton's ill-fated health-care proposal. This time, the Republicans are the ones struggling with President George W. Bush's plan to overhaul the Social Security retirement- insurance program.

The situations may well be analogous, some Democrats say. ``When people sense overreaching, they want a change,'' said New York Senator Charles Schumer, head of the Democrats' 2006 Senate campaign effort, drawing the comparison with 1994. The longer Bush touts his Social Security proposal, Schumer said, ``the better we do.''...

... Polls show that the public lost confidence in Bush's Social Security plan even as he conducted a 60-day campaign-style tour to boost support for his proposal to divert some payroll taxes to accounts that would be invested in stocks and bonds. An ABC News- Washington Post poll released April 25 showed that 64 percent of Americans now disapprove of Bush's handling of Social Security, up from 56 percent in March.