The Buzz About Bankruptcy "Reform" Bush supporters talk about a new reform push By Tom Hamburger, L.A. Times Staff Writer Editor's Note: See if you can discern the viewpoint of this L.A. Times staff writer. No left leaning bias here(?). Lobbyists for the nation's leading business groups have been toasting the success of what they describe as an unprecedented effort this year to reelect President Bush and Republican congressional candidates. Now they plan to collect on their investment. "With his victory and better numbers in the Senate and the House, we hope we would get to some things we believe are long overdue," said Dirk Van Dongen, President of the National Assn. of Wholesaler-Distributors and a leader of this year's effort to mobilize the business community behind the Bush candidacy. According to interviews with lobbyists and trade associations, the list includes tax cuts for capital gains and dividends permanents, limiting liability lawsuits, changing Bankruptcy laws and opening previously restricted land in Alaska and elsewhere for energy exploration. Banks and credit card companies list Bankruptcy reform on the priority list. ____________________ Will Daschle's defeat make it easier to get reform passed in the Senate? By Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal Editor's Note: I tried to filter out some of the bias in this one. Can you tell the difference? On November 2 Republicans pulled off the electoral equivalent of Sherman's march to Atlanta, picking up Democrat seats in both of the Carolinas, in Georgia, in Louisiana and in Florida. They weathered storms in Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alaska. But the Blessed Event was surely the overthrow of Tom Daschle, the Senate Minority Leader seen as the architect of obstructionism by Republicans. That ouster, which constituted the first time in more than 50 years a Senate party leader was exiled, was as much a repudiation of obstructionism as it was Mr. Daschle's own record. The harder question however is whether the GOP has the goods to beat the 60-vote filibuster that was the Daschle trump card. Yet dig into the record and the stonewalling was never all that solid. The 51-strong GOP may not have been able to rustle up nine Democrats on any one issue, but they usually managed a handful. That's all they'd need now. The trick will be picking off the willing on an à la carte basis. To name just a few examples, tort reforms have had the support of Democrats like Dianne Feinstein, Tom Carper, Jeff Bingaman and Blanche Lincoln, while drilling in the (so-called) Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska failed to overcome a Democrat filibuster by only a single vote and is sure to be revisited. Similar bipartisan support exists for Bankruptcy reform, an energy bill and tax reform.