The Minority Leader

Is Sen. Tom Coburn an extreme social conservative, a libertarian hero, or both?

David Weigel from the July 2007 issue

(Page 5 of 5)

Bills more important than the Coburn-Obama measure have died in their cribs; reporters didn't sense a story worth chasing down. But because of the Bridge to Nowhere fight, Coburn's reputation with fiscally conservative blogs was enough to get a plan moving. All the blogs that had supported Coburn's amendment striking funding for the Alaska bridges asked readers to call senators' offices. PorkBusters collated the bloggers' efforts on one page, adding names whenever a senator denied he or she was behind the hold.

In a matter of days, the bloggers had found their culprits. It was a public shaming, and it worked. On August 30 the news networks confirmed that two senators had put the hold on the bill: Democrat Robert Byrd and Republican Ted Stevens. They removed their holds, and the bill was passed unanimously.

‘I've Never Been in the Majority'
It is unusually easy to predict where Tom Coburn's career will head from here. He entered the Senate, like the House, reciting the gospel of term limits. He has kept up his work as an obstetrician-gynecologist and fought a protracted battle against Senate rules prohibiting that kind of extracurricular work; if forced to choose between jobs, Coburn says he won't run again. But if the rules don't change and he wins re-election in 2010, he will serve his last term. And in 2017, when he'll be 68 years old, he'll retire from politics.

"I've urged Tom to run for president," says former Club for Growth chief Stephen Moore, who now is an editor at the Wall Street Journal op-ed page. "I think he could do quite well. He could win primaries. I don't think he's going to do it, of course. But if he did...it would shock people. He would be the Steve Forbes or the Pat Buchanan candidate of 2008."

A presidential bid is a tried and true way of lifting a senator or congressman from obscurity to a national platform. But Coburn already has that platform, and he doesn't seem interested in trading up. "Of all the people in the Senate, I think Tom is closer to the rank and file than anyone when it comes to spending," says Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has served next to Coburn in both houses of Congress. "I definitely think we can get back into the majority by following Tom's lead."

In December most of the Republican Party was wallowing in recriminations about the lost elections. Coburn shrugged. He didn't even mourn the demise of the GOP majority. "I've never been in the majority," he said. "I was a minority in the Republican Party. I haven't worked in the regular workings of the Senate. I've been out there challenging what I didn't think was right, and I'll still be out there challenging it."

Some of this is hyperbole. Coburn had lost his subcommittee chairmanship, after all, and the power to initiate hearings. But he retained the power to block or hold any bill. On February 5, 2007, Coburn emailed his colleagues to enumerate four conditions before he would accept their bills: No new spending unless it's offset by spending cuts. No authorizing a new federal program without deauthorizing a similar one that already exists. No funding for a historical site, museum, or foundation after the initial startup costs. And no increase in funding for activities that are currently funded by some private sources. "I intend to object to consideration of legislation that violates these common sense principles," he wrote.

Coburn's staffers and supporters don't expect to win all or even most of their battles. But they firmly believe that they're right, and that they've got a man inside the system who will fight like hell for what they want. To the extent that he's scrapping for fiscal responsibility and economic liberty, libertarians should hope they're right.

"He may be a minority in the party," says Sen. Graham, "but the majority of the people agree with him. If we, as Republicans, are serious about getting back into the majority, we have to understand that."

David Weigel is an associate editor of Reason.

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