Rep.-Elect Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) served in the Illinois General Assembly. He knocked off a first-term Republican incumbent in the Nov. 5 elections. And he's been to Disneyland.

But until yesterday, Blagojevich had never set foot upon the campus of America's oldest university.

"All my life I've wanted to go to Harvard, and now that I've been elected to Congress, I can say that I went to Harvard," said the Chicago native.

Blagojevich was one of about 50 newly-elected members of Congress attending an orientation session for the Congressional Class of 1996.

They trickled into the Charles Hotel lobby yesterday afternoon to pick up a schedule for the three-day conference, sponsored by the Institute of Politics, which begins this morning.

They'll hear a dozen lectures by the nation's best and brightest on the federal budget, foreign affairs and media relations.

Most were aware of the Kennedy School's notoriously liberal reputation. But they didn't come all the way to Cambridge to exchange partisan insults. They're here to build bridges.

"Part of being an effective Congressman is building good relations, and I wanted to do it on both sides of the aisle," said Rep.-Elect Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.).

The Kennedy School's biannual orientation session for newly-elected members was canceled in 1994 because of a lack of interest among the largely Republican incoming class.

Hutchinson, like many new members, commended Harvard for reaching out to conservatives this year, and he said he expects to hear a balanced discussion of major issues.

Rep.-Elect Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said most campaigns involve partisan disputes. But members of Congress need to have a more substantive grasp of the day's vital issues, she said.

"We all understand the politics of Medicare," Stabenow said. "[But] candidates have not had time to sit down and separate themselves from the politics of the issue."

Stabenow defeated current first-term Republican Rep. Dick Crysler--a member of the "Gingrich Posse"--by opposing Republican budget cuts.

While she is a former state senator, Stabenow said she doesn't know much about navigating the halls of Congress. "The rules are different, the size makes it function more slowly."

Mirror of America

There's diverse crowd staying at the Charles Hotel these days. But they mostly call themselves moderates.