- Archives

Rep. Mel Watt, a North Carolina Democrat whose document condemning the war with Iraq became policy for the Congressional Black Caucus, was elected the group's leader Monday. He pledged to pursue more frequent meetings with the White House. "My attitude would be to treat this new election as a possibility of a new beginning and to aggressively say to the president, 'We would like to reinstate our regular meetings with you if you would be willing to do that,'" Watt said. Despite that olive branch to the Republican White House, Watt gave little signal the all-Democratic group of black lawmakers would change its historically left-leaning policies. Even if the Democratic Party finds the need to reinvent itself after last month's losses, Watt said he didn't expect a metamorphosis for the caucus. "I'm sure political activism will be part of the Congressional Black Caucus' agenda," he said. The caucus next year will have 43 members, including 42 House lawmakers and incoming Senate freshman Barack Obama, D-Ill. Watt was unanimously elected chairman for a two-year term beginning in January, succeeding Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. One of Congress' more outspoken Bush critics, Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida, was elected as the caucus' first vice chair. Earlier this year, the House voted to strike from the official record Brown's comments that Bush "stole" the 2000 election during the Florida recount. [more] and [more]