An Optimist Leads the Charge for Hill Republicans

By Lois Romano
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Rep. Tom Cole is looking pretty cheery for a man with the unenviable task of winning back the House for Republicans.

Some pols -- those not wanting to self-immolate, for example -- might have shied away from leading the electoral organ for the House at a time when the GOP is clearly struggling with an unpopular war and a free-falling president. But Cole aggressively sought the chairmanship of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"I think we have probably hit the bottom, in terms in our congressional losses," the Oklahoman said recently at his NRCC offices on the Hill. "You have to understand how bad this night was and yet, on the other hand, you shift 43,000 votes -- we're still there."

The former chief of staff to the Republican National Committee is gaming out the next two years, counting districts. He declares that the Democrats' sweeping gains after 12 years may have been more of a fluke than a trend.

"I would argue our political positioning is superior to theirs -- not the political environment yet, but I think the environment will come," he said, striving to be convincing.

"There are 61 Democrats sitting in seats that George Bush carried twice. Now, George Bush has never been a popular president. This isn't Ronald Reagan. He lost the popular vote the first time; he got reelected with the narrowest percentage. . . . But he won in these districts."

Cole said he is already hunting for strong candidates, and part of his strategy depends mightily on the war scaling down -- which may be a tall order.

"One of two things will happen: Either the president's efforts will succeed and there will be fewer troops in Iraq, or they won't and we'll have the sense that we're getting out of it," he said. "We won't stay there at these levels. It is politically not sustainable, and the pressure will grow, and I think there's a limit on how far you can push the military."

Cole, a Native American and a fifth-generation Oklahoman, was elected to the House in 2002, continuing a career in GOP politics. He's been the state Republican chairman, a state senator, executive director of the NRCC, and Oklahoma's secretary of state under Gov. Frank Keating.

A former political consultant with the heart and soul of an operative, Cole had a quick rise in the House. He was given a prime seat on the Armed Services Committee when he arrived, quickly moved to the powerful Rules Committee, and made his way to the ethics committee in 2005.

He knows all too well that 2008 may be the GOP's shot at thwarting any Democratic momentum toward retaining the majority.

"Can the Democrats run the House by themselves? That's the real sign of a majority," he said. "When push comes to shove, can they hold their people together to get to 218? If you can't do that, you know, when you have to, you're in trouble.

"They know that they had the best environment, in the generation, last time. You don't get two of those in a row."

Democrats Can't Hide From Colbert

Rep. Rahm Emanuel knows better than to take on Stephen Colbert.

After the take-no-prisoners Democratic Caucus chairman advised freshman members to steer clear of the cheeky late-night "Colbert Report," the comedian set his sights on the Illinois Democrat this week.

"There is a new witch hunt in Washington," Colbert said on his Comedy Central show. "First they went after Scooter Libby. Then it was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. And now the Democratic leadership has unleashed a vicious attack on everything America holds dear: me."

He was just warming up.

"I know what you're thinking, nation. Why would Emmanuelle, whose erotic adventures taught a generation the elusive art of sensual love, return from space to counsel freshman congressmen? That would not make sense, but this is a different Emanuel. This is Democratic congressman Rahm Emanuel, the man who led the Democratic takeover of Congress last November. Apparently Emanuel, who has got a reputation as a bit of a tough guy, thinks my 'Better Know a District' series could threaten the Democratic stranglehold."

"The Colbert Report" is ostensibly doing profiles of all 435 House districts and interviewing their representatives. Emanuel would be correct in suggesting that the legislators could end up in risky territory. Rep . John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) held his own this month as he joked his way through a debate on the merits of throwing kittens into a wood-chipper. "Sometimes the only thing you can do, you don't have a shovel, you don't have a garbage can, if there's a wood-chipper handy, then you're going to have to use the wood-chipper," Yarmuth deadpanned.

But Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) looked befuddled as he struggled to decipher Colbert debating him about Iraq and slavery in the United States.

Despite the political downside, a senior House Republican said the GOP has made no similar demand of its members to avoid Colbert. "We don't do edicts," he said. But, he added," I don't think my wife would let me go on the Colbert show."

The powerful member asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals -- from Colbert.

Wedding Bells on Capitol Hill

As House Democrats fight with each other and Republicans about the vote on war funding today, Rep. Stephanie Herseth has had a major distraction: planning her upcoming wedding. The South Dakota Democrat is set to be married March 31 to former congressman Max Sandlin of Texas.

Their meeting was so Washington: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee appointed Sandlin to be Herseth's mentor during her 2002 House bid against former South Dakota governor Bill Janklow. Janklow resigned his seat in 2004, after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter, and Herseth then won the seat in a special election.

Others in line for the altar: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is engaged to NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, and Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is engaged to Cathy Holahan, from his home state.

A Very Cushy Landing

For those of you fretting over the future of Eric Ueland, relax. Former Senate majority leader Bill Frist's chief of staff will be working at the highbrow Duberstein Group. In the interest of bipartisanship, the firm has also hired Brian Griffin, who had been a top leadership aide to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). Returning to the Hill is Catherine Russell, who will again work for Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), doing a project for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.