Post-Abramoff Mood Shaped Vote for DeLay's Successor

He struck a more cautious note in private, assuring Republicans that he would not overreact to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and eviscerate the lax travel and spending rules they had come to enjoy. As the candidate himself realized, Boehner as the reform candidate was not an easy sell. His beach parties for rich donors were notorious, as were the stories of how he handed out checks from tobacco executives on the House floor a decade ago.

"Yes, I am cozy with lobbyists," he told lawmakers concerned about his K Street connections, "but I have never done anything unethical."

Blunt's Head Start

From the beginning, Blunt was running a decidedly different campaign than Boehner. As a veteran of past leadership wars, he knew that in private many legislators craved help winning reelection, securing projects and better committee assignments -- not the clean break from excess they championed in public.

At the outset, Republicans such as Maryland's Wayne T. Gilchrest were flocking to Blunt, who promised to best protect the familiar ways of doing business and the members' own self-interest. Gilchrest was a close friend of Boehner, but he voted for Blunt after the Missourian promised to back his efforts to chair a new committee overseeing the nation's oceans policies.

Like Boehner, Blunt is 56. Also like Boehner, Blunt effectively began his race years ago. An ambitious politician who persuaded DeLay to take him under his wing in the leadership team during only his third term in Congress, Blunt steadily built a favor bank for members. Over the course of his 3 1/2 -week campaign, he tried to cash in every chit he had saved.

Rep. John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr., who considered Boehner a closer friend, could not resist Blunt's full-service treatment. Blunt had flown to his upstate New York district two years ago to campaign for Kuhl, helped him get a post office named after a constituent who was killed in Iraq, protect grape growers in his rural district, and secure funding for a job-creating nuclear waste processing plant. "Those are three things, just in one year," Kuhl said.

From the third floor of the Capitol, directly above the speaker's office, Blunt bombarded Republicans with phone calls using a database of home, cell and vacation numbers that his leadership office maintains, one of the many little-known tools of power of that give incumbents a leg up. He had a system: A couple of staffers would dial numbers on the list, and as they reached members they would patch them through to Blunt or ask them to stand by for a call back. The pitch lasted five minutes to half an hour.

Blunt knew there were concerns about his ties to DeLay, K Street and the old guard. He assured Republican lawmakers he had never done anything illegal or unethical. But he always returned the conversation quickly to what he believed was a member's bottom line. One of his first conversations was with Lamar S. Smith, a 10-term Texan whose state faced a monumental loss of clout with DeLay's departure from the leadership. For almost 50 of the past 75 years, since John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner was elected minority leader in 1929, a Texan has held one of the top three House leadership posts. With DeLay's retreat, that influence was gone.

Seeking to avoid appearances that he was trying to buy the election, Blunt not-so-subtly discussed a variety of priorities and concerns of the Texas members -- without explicitly making promises or linking action to their vote. The message was clear: Texas would do just fine with Blunt in the state's corner.

He spoke favorably of enhancing the clout of the delegation and in particular of Joe Barton, chairman of the energy committee. "We thought by going with Blunt . . . that would help our situation," said K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.). By the end of the first week, 14 of the 21 Texas Republicans were with Blunt. By the time he declared victory in mid-January, Blunt was certain he had 120 votes in the bag.

Splitting the Opposition

But his aggressive tactics were starting to backfire. Across the street in Longworth, Boehner was getting flooded with complaints about Blunt's tactics. Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) was fuming about a rumored deal to provide Barton some of his committee's control over telecommunications policies. "Where there is smoke, there is fire," Sensenbrenner thundered.

Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) was telling Republicans that Blunt offered him the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee in exchange for his vote. Blunt denied both charges.