By Chris Cillizza
Sunday, February 12, 2006; A05

At House Republicans' annual retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore late last week, Republican pollster Frank Luntz was on the original schedule to make a presentation -- but he did not.

Why was he bumped? It depends on whom you ask.

Luntz said that he was not disinvited from the retreat, only that his presentation was rescheduled. "It was just a shift in time," Luntz said.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for House Republican Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (Ohio), confirmed that Luntz did not appear at the retreat but will address House Republicans on Wednesday. Spicer added that after the recent House GOP leadership elections a decision was made to give lawmakers more time to make presentations, which necessarily led to the rescheduling of Luntz, as well as several other consultants.

Well, that ends that. Or does it?

According to several Republican party strategists, newly elected Majority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) made it clear to members that if Luntz was going to the retreat, he wouldn't be in attendance. Boehner's office declined to comment on the story.

Luntz was instrumental in the creation of the "Contract With America" -- the document widely credited with delivering Republicans the House majority in 1994. Boehner's relationship (or lack thereof) with the pollster goes back -- at least -- to late 1998, when Boehner was seeking to hold onto his job as House GOP Conference chairman.

After the 1998 midterms, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) resigned -- in part because Republicans failed to gain seats in a year when President Bill Clinton was battling impeachment. Days before the GOP caucus met to hold leadership elections, Boehner appeared on several Sunday talk shows making clear that he and Gingrich had often parted ways on strategy.

Luntz said at the time that Boehner made a "big mistake" by criticizing Gingrich, and he heaped praise on Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.), who was challenging Boehner for the conference chairmanship. Watts beat Boehner -- throwing the Ohioan unceremoniously out of leadership.

Eight years later, Boehner is back, and even Luntz acknowledged in an e-mail to his staff that the Ohio member "is not a fan of myself or my work," according to an account in Roll Call. "That's just the way it is."

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has acquired a reputation as a conservative crusader during his 11 years in the Senate. He did nothing to tarnish that image during a speech last week to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

"I happen to believe the building block of society is family," Santorum said. "The iron triangle of faith, family and community organizations has made America great."

Santorum's speech, which lasted about 15 minutes, served as a prelude to his book-signing event in CPAC's exhibit hall. Hundreds lined up to get a Santorum signature on his book -- "It Takes a Family."

The book, as well as the vast majority of Santorum's CPAC speech, was a repudiation of the boogeyman (er, -woman) of conservatives: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Santorum described his book as a "bottom up" approach to building a society, dismissing the "top down" theory of those who believe "it takes a village." The subtle -- ahem -- reference to Clinton's book of the same name evoked derisive snorts of laughter from the crowd.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Phil Singer had a retort at the ready. "Considering that Rick Santorum's book argues that it's wrong to help single moms earn college degrees, calls the goal of diversity an error, and advocates the privatization of Social Security, it's difficult to see how anyone can take what he says seriously," Singer said.

The Pennsylvania Republican made no mention of his 2006 reelection race in which he trails state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. (D) by a double-digit margin.

Although President Bush and his political Svengali, Karl Rove, aren't the two most popular figures in the country, they can still be counted on to draw a crowd -- and raise cash.

Bush is scheduled to do a fundraising event for Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.) on Feb. 23 in Mishawaka. The president did only one fundraiser for a House candidate last year, in traveling to Colorado in late November to raise campaign cash for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R).

Rove was considerably more active on the GOP fundraising circuit last year, making stops for Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Reps. Jim Gerlach (Pa.) and Michael E. Sodrel (Ind.), as well as Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.).

He'll be back at it Feb. 24 in South Carolina at an event for state Rep. Ralph Norman (R), who is running against longtime Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D) in the GOP-leaning 5th district.