The graduate

The student of two political masters, Worcester congressman Jim McGovern is blending pork and principle to become a rising star of the Massachusetts House delegation

Talking Politics by Michael Crowley

Most newly elected members of Congress, unless they are sexy or famous or have ousted a powerful incumbent, enter the Capitol amid a howling gale of media indifference. As in high school, the freshman is a nobody, expected to keep quiet and usually of interest only when he makes a fool of himself.

On the surface, James P. McGovern, the new Democratic congressman from Worcester, would seem to meet few of the criteria for catching the media's fickle eye. A long-time congressional staffer, in 1996 he ousted Republican Peter Blute, now Massport executive director but then just a junior member. What's more, McGovern is a balding, plain-spoken guy with round, thin-rimmed glasses, bland suits, and a trustworthily ordinary face straight out of an Allstate commercial.

And yet in the local and national media, McGovern's January swearing-in became a story of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The nationally syndicated columnist Mary McGrory devoted a column to him. The Washington Post Style section etched an 1100-word portrait. The Providence-Journal Bulletin followed the goosebumpy McGovern family around on Day One. The New Yorker even ran a "Talk of the Town" -- titled "Mr. McGovern goes to Washington," no less.

There were, in fact, good reasons to take note of McGovern. He had been an aide to Representative Joe Moakley (D-Boston), the powerful dean of the state congressional delegation, with whom he won acclaim for investigating human rights abuses in Latin America. McGovern had made a dramatic comeback to win a campaign that most people had written off long before. He was one of the House's most liberal new additions, and his defeat of Blute was a vivid symbol of the anti-Gingrich backlash. Still, it all seemed a bit much for a decidedly unflashy figure prone to statements like "I'm not into all the lofty rhetoric."

"He's not a guy given to pyrotechnics," says McGovern's colleague Barney Frank. "He's very solid and steady."

But nine months into his first term, Jim McGovern has justified the attention, and earned even more. The media's continuing love-fest peaked last month, when Boston Globe columnist Marty Nolan cheered McGovern for casting a "vote of conscience" against July's much-celebrated balanced budget deal.

Since his eye-catching vote against the budget deal, he has been at the epicenter of some of Congress's biggest battles -- from campaign finance reform to federal highway funding, on which financing for the Big Dig hinges. Back at home, he has used the power of his office skillfully, playing a key role last month in a deal that may have saved Worcester Regional Airport from a crippling blow. Now he faces a personal battle: last month a Republican challenger for his 1998 reelection emerged. But McGovern's seat looks relatively secure.

That's because Jim McGovern has become one of the most interesting, active, and effective members of his freshman class. He has been making his name with a distinct blend of unapologetic pork-barrel politics and big-issue principled liberalism that cuts against the centrist grain of today's Washington, and against the often conservative instincts of his district. To Republicans, McGovern is a raving liberal dinosaur whose musings on Fidel Castro and land mines are utterly out of touch with the economic insecurities of his constituents. But with the power balance in the state's House delegation likely to shift soon, McGovern could be on his way to becoming a heavyweight in Massachusetts politics.

On to part 2

Michael Crowley can be reached at mcrowley[a]phx.com.