November 26, 2005
House Republican Upheaval?
By Robert
Novak
WASHINGTON -- There is no doubt Rep. John Boehner of Ohio is quietly
enlisting support from fellow House Republicans to elect him as
majority leader in January. The question is whether Rep. Tom Reynolds
of New York also is campaigning to be majority whip.
Reports
of a Boehner-Reynolds ticket have circulated in Washington, but
Reynolds vigorously denies it. If he does run for whip, Reynolds
would be accused of cutting and running from his duties as House
Republican campaign chairman because of the difficult 2006 midterm
election ahead.
A special
election in January would mean House Republicans have given up
on Tom DeLay getting rid of his criminal indictment in Texas in
time to resume the majority leader's chair in this session of
Congress. Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri has been acting
leader.
CHENEY AND
DELAY
Eyebrows
raised in Washington's political circles when it was announced
that Vice President Dick Cheney has opted to go to Houston Dec.
5 for a Tom DeLay fund-raiser instead of attending the annual
White House Christmas party for members of Congress.
Cheney's
support of sidelined House Majority Leader DeLay is no surprise.
But the vice president's presence at the White House party would
be desirable in hopes of bolstering the sagging morale of the
Republican lawmakers.
A footnote:
Word of ex-DeLay aide Michael Scanlon's guilty plea in the Jack
Abramoff scandal has sent a wave of fear through the Washington
Republican establishment. Scanlon appears to have cut a deal for
possibly naming names and pointing fingers in return for a lighter
sentence.
DEMOCRATIC
DROUGHT
Just as
Democrats had envisioned the promised land with enhanced prospects
for gaining control of the House in the 2006 elections, the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) fund-raising hit a bump
in the road.
The DCCC,
which did well in September by raising $5.4 million, fell off
the cliff in October by bringing in just $1.6 million. Republicans
continue to outdo the Democrats consistently in House fund-raising.
A footnote:
The Senate Democratic campaign committee continues to lead its
Republican counterpart. But even the most optimistic Democrats
concede it is highly unlikely they can pick up the necessary six
Senate seats to retake control.
ROOKIE BLUNDER
Rep. Jean
Schmidt, the most junior member of the House after a special election
in Ohio, was not only booed by Democrats after she implied that
Democratic Rep. John Murtha was a "coward" for suggesting
U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. She also was privately denounced
by Republicans.
She undermined
the Republican leadership strategy of rejecting troop withdrawal
but not criticizing Murtha, a decorated Marine war veteran who
is popular on both sides of the aisle. Schmidt must have not gotten
the message, but she later apologized for what she said.
A footnote:
Schmidt nearly lost the special election because of lukewarm support
from conservatives, who disliked her voting record in the Ohio
legislature on gun control issues.
RUDY AND
BLACKS
While former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is shown by polls to be the most
popular possible Republican presidential candidate with the party's
voters nationally, he is viewed as a disaster in the 2008 election
by prominent African-American Republicans.
The black
Republicans, engaged in a difficult uphill struggle to broaden
the party's base, say the overwhelmingly favorable voter response
to Giuliani's handling of the 9/11 disaster did not apply to African-Americans.
They report that the black attitude toward Giuliani remains shaped
by the record of police shootings in New York under his watch.
Specifically
cited is Giuliani's support of the police in the shootings of
Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismond, both unarmed black men.
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
