House Republicans are widely expecting Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois to retire at the end of this term, ending one of the longest runs in the House of Representatives and shrinking the minority of GOP lawmakers who remember life in the minority.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday that Hyde, chairman of the International Relations Committee, would announce his retirement "in a few weeks." The paper didn't name its sources, and Hyde's aides said he has not made up his mind.
But House Republicans say Hyde, who came to Congress in 1975 and is the fourth-longest-serving from the GOP in the chamber, is more likely than not to retire. He will be 81 next month and has a bad back. "My body can't cash the checks my mind writes," he is fond of saying. (The chairman is evidently a fan of the film "Top Gun," which made famous the line "Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash.")
Also, because of House GOP rules term-limiting its committee chairmen, Hyde is about to lose his chairmanship, which would leave the elder statesman as a backbencher after years of leading the Judiciary or International Relations committees. It was as Judiciary Committee chairman that Hyde earned fame because of his leadership of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Hyde, an old-fashioned Midwestern Republican, took his impeachment role with reluctance, becoming an unlikely conservative icon.
A third factor making another campaign unattractive: Hyde's suburban Chicago district has become more Democratic, and his victory margins have been shrinking since the impeachment proceedings.
Hyde entered Congress with the overwhelmingly Democratic Class of 1974, and is one of 81 of the 233 House Republicans who served before the party took power in 1994. At least two other pre-'94 Republicans, Jim Nussle (Iowa) and Michael Bilirakis (Fla.), are expected to depart.
Aiming for Arnold
Arnold Schwarzenegger has not announced whether he will run for governor again next year -- aides insist he has not even decided -- but California Democrats are already gearing up to run hard against him.
State Treasurer Phil Angelides yesterday became the first to announce his candidacy for the 2006 race. In comments to reporters, he made it clear whom he expects to face in a general election. "We have a governor who thinks it's fine to cut assistance to children and to the poor -- that somehow if he just showers more fortune on the fortunate, the crumbs will reach the rest like the leftovers of a Hollywood dinner party," he said.
Angelides, a real estate developer with deep pockets of his own, has raised $12.5 million. However, in a recent poll of Democratic voters, he came in third -- behind actor/director Rob Reiner and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
Reiner, though, hasn't shown serious interest in the race, focusing his attention on raising money to get an initiative on a June 2006 ballot to provide free preschool for California children. Lockyer has not officially announced his candidacy but has been raising money.
Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, is devoting most of his fundraising efforts to a campaign to redraw the state's legislative districts, revise the state pension plan and change the way teachers are paid -- measures he has threatened to put on a state ballot if the legislature does not approve them.
But if the governor isn't focusing on 2006 yet, his party is already focusing on him. Last month, the state Republican Party changed its rules to be able to endorse him as its nominee -- nearly a year and a half ahead of the primary.
