Corruption Scandals Cast Shadow on GOP Leadership Race

"Clearly, Blunt has demonstrated great leadership; Cantor has, too," Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said. "Are we saying we don't trust anyone in our leadership? That makes the case that everybody in Washington is on the take, that we're all corrupt."

Foley said Blunt's genial demeanor and professorial smarts would make him a strong face for the party in an election year. And he is a proven vote-getter: Through heartfelt entreaties and strong arguments, Blunt persuaded Foley to buck the interests of the Florida sugar industry and vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement last year.

"I just feel a high degree of comfort and confidence in his leadership ability," said Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.).

Beneath such public testimonials is a hard-fought campaign with a rich share of mudslinging. Boehner supporters have been happy to point out Blunt's ample ties to DeLay and, by association, to Abramoff.

Blunt's campaign committees paid Alexander Strategy Group -- a lobbying firm started by top DeLay aides with close ties to Abramoff -- $485,485 between 1999 and 2002 to start up a Blunt political action committee. His meteoric rise from president of Southwest Baptist University to House freshman in 1996 to chief deputy whip in 1999 to whip in 2002 was orchestrated in large part by DeLay. And opponents say he has followed his mentor's lead, creating a web of links to K Street that rivals DeLay Inc. His longtime chief of staff, Gregg Hartley, has helped coordinate his campaign for majority leader from the lobbying suites of Cassidy & Associates.

Blunt supporters have been just as willing to sully his rivals, painting them as no cleaner than Blunt and a lot less experienced. If neither Boehner nor Shadegg can present himself as a credible reform candidate, Blunt's institutional advantages will have few counterpoints.

In one recent fax blasted around Washington, a Boehner opponent sneered at the Ohioan's support from conservative commentators, saying they were ignoring Boehner's own links to lobbyists, especially those from one of his biggest financial supporters, student loan giant Sallie Mae.

"George Will and Tony Snow get positively dreamy when they talk about prospective House Majority Leader John Boehner," said the fax from Californian Nancy Rivas. "They say he has never used an 'earmark' to get goodies for his Ohio district. That's because he doesn't really represent them anymore. He is the Congressman from Sallie Mae."

Boehner was first elected in 1990 and quickly made a name for himself when he and six other young Republicans insisted on identifying all 355 House members who had overdrafts from the House bank. He became a lieutenant of Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and rode Gingrich's coattails to GOP leadership when Republicans took control of the House in 1995 and Gingrich became the speaker.

But Gingrich's fall in 1998 took Boehner with him. He lost his post as conference chairman, then regrouped as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, plotting the return to leadership that he has now begun.

Shadegg, who has framed his entire candidacy around a clean break from the status quo, has also come under criticism. His chief of staff, Elise Finley, is a former lobbyist for the giant utility Southern Co.

With 92 declared supporters, Blunt remains the favorite, well ahead of Boehner's 49 declared supporters and Shadegg's 16. But House members and advisers say the race remains more open than it looks.

All three candidates will make presentations to a gathering of conservative House members in Baltimore today. The House returns tomorrow for President Bush's State of the Union address, the first time most members will have the chance to discuss the race among themselves.

Then on Wednesday, the full Republican Conference will gather in closed session to question the candidates and offer motions on the election Thursday. That is when a majority could move to open all five leadership posts to election or force Blunt to relinquish his post as majority whip before running for majority leader. Later that day, the House will take a final vote on a measure to cut spending on entitlement programs such as Medicaid by nearly $50 billion over five years. As whip, it is Blunt's job to deliver the votes, and it will be close.

All those gatherings are hurdles for the front-runner, lawmakers and advisers agree.

"Blunt seems to be stumbling," said one Republican House member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "If he's wrong on his own whip count, maybe he's lost touch."