Sen. Jim Jeffords, the lone independent in the U.S. Senate, announced last week he would retire at the end of his term next year. He will forever be a footnote in congressional history: Jeffords upset the balance of power in 2001 when he left the Republican Party because of his opposition to GOP tax cuts at a time of burgeoning deficits.
His departure further depletes the already thin ranks of moderates in the Senate, and for that he surely will be missed.
Another of the endangered species, Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine expressed disappointment, saying, “We’re losing the center at an alarming rate.’
If anyone can understand what it means to be a moderate and an independent, it would be Colorado voters, a third of whom are unaffiliated with either major political party. In Jeffords’ case, Republicans ostracized him for disloyalty even as Democrats welcomed him to their caucus with open arms – the same reward bestowed by Republicans on Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell when he switched to the GOP in 1995.
More so than Campbell’s, Jeffords’s switch was a thunderbolt. At the time, the Senate was evenly divided and controlled by the GOP. His move put the Democrats in charge. The mid-term elections of 2002 returned power to Republicans by one vote, and they have since increased their majority to 55 Senate seats. Jeffords’ departure is a blow to Democrats who considered his seat a safe one. When the last switcher retired – our own Campbell, last year – his party could not hold his seat.
