By Anthony Man
sun-sentinel.com Political Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Still basking in the glow of last fall's election, the Democratic takeover of Congress early this month, and last week's ahead-of-schedule completion of their 100 hours agenda, three South Florida members of Congress said Monday they'd press to change the status quo in Washington.

Much of that change was evident simply in the three Democrats -- U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Ron Klein of Boca Raton -- taking part in the ceremonial swearing in at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

As representatives of the national Democratic wave that officially took control of the House on Jan. 4, they're younger and more diverse than their predecessors.

"We're a tremendous team," Hastings said.

Nationally, he said the Democratic takeover means more female, black, Latino, and Asian committee and subcommittee chairmen than the Congress has ever seen before.

Wasserman Schultz took inspiration from the first woman to lead a chamber of Congress: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She said Pelosi at the top would be good for others.

No one challenged Wasserman Schultz or Hastings last year, so they were re-elected without opposition. Klein's contest, in which he defeated U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, was one of the closest and most expensive in the nation.

At the ceremony in Shaw's Fort Lauderdale base, Klein reached out to those who supported his opponent last year, asking them to call him to offer their advice and counsel.

At 70, Hastings is the oldest of the members of Congress from Broward and Palm Beach counties. But he said he intends to be around for years to come to enjoy his party's majority status. "For those of you who are interested, I intend to serve for a hell of a long time," he said.

He said later he wasn't trying to warn off competitors, but said he was serving notice that he intended to run for re-election in 2008, 2010, 2012 and possibly even 2014.

That didn't go unnoticed by the audience of about 200, most of whom were elected officials and political activists looking to schmooze with each other and get bits of face time with the members of Congress.

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