At least we know why Bill Clinton and Al Gore are desperate for a quick vote on granting permanent normal trade status to China. Last week, big labor came to town to protest the pending deal with China. The labor movement held an impressive rally of over 10,000 people on Capitol Hill, and then sent thousands of constituents into the offices of House and Senate members to make their case. Members of Congress are hearing even more of this back home in their districts over spring break, and they will get still more heat when they return to Washington. In short, the weeks leading up to the trade status vote, now scheduled for the week of May 22, will be hell.

Hell for Democrats, that is. The vote is a potential disaster for the Democratic party. The most vocal and powerful forces lining up against the China deal happen to be the Democrats’ most important special interest groups, the ones the party counts on to deliver money and volunteers in tight races across the country. Fear of big labor, and also fear of environmental and human rights groups, is what makes it difficult for the Clinton administration to muster even 80 Democratic votes for China’s normalized trade status. But then there’s the problem of big business, especially the high-tech industry. The Democrats want their money, too, and big business is also making the China trade vote a litmus test. So the party is torn between two constituencies that refuse to be mollified.