A New Pitchman -- and a New Pitch

Cole distributed a quarterly report yesterday to his GOP colleagues highlighting what he called the "untold successes" of his operation so far this year. The memo describes how the panel has already attracted and helped prepare candidates for the 2008 battle: Nearly 30 of them arrived in Washington this week for "candidate school," Boehner and presidential adviser Karl Rove, among others, briefed them on such topics as fundraising and talking to reporters.

But Cole doesn't deny that "it's a tough environment right now." House Democrats raised more money than Republicans last quarter, and they have a 4 to 1 advantage in cash on hand. The corruption theme that plagued the GOP in 2006 is back. The FBI recently raided businesses connected to Reps. John T. Doolittle (Calif.) and Rick Renzi (Ariz.), and grilled Rep. Tom Feeney (Fla.) about a junket with now-disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. And Cole acknowledges that if the situation in Iraq doesn't improve, he might be looking at a tough 2008.

"I think we've hit our floor," Cole said. "For us to lose more seats, it's going to take a catastrophic presidential election." But he didn't hasten to say that that couldn't happen.

Praise From Across the Aisle

Cole is from suburban Oklahoma City, the kind of area inevitably referred to as "the heartland." His district includes two huge military bases, bedroom communities, wheat and cotton fields, a few tire factories, and the Helen Cole Memorial Highway, named for his mother, a bank teller who became a legendary Sooner politician.

The district also includes the University of Oklahoma, where Cole received his doctorate, and the headquarters of the Chickasaw Nation, of which Cole is a member. He's the only Native American in Congress; during immigration debates, he likes to tell colleagues that as far as he's concerned, they're all illegals.

For a hard-nosed partisan, Cole is unusually amiable; when Boehner says that Republicans need to learn to disagree without being disagreeable, he's saying they need to be more like Cole. (Cole didn't support Boehner for leader, but they're still close.) Emanuel calls Cole "a shrewd, smart operator, and -- the highest compliment -- a mensch." When Cole first ran for Congress in 2002, after his client J.C. Watts announced he would retire, a Washington political operative named Les Francis called his campaign headquarters and offered his endorsement.

"Great," answered Woods, who was running Cole's campaign. "Who are you?"

"I worked with Tom in D.C.," Francis explained.

"At the NRCC?" Woods asked.

"No, the DCCC." Francis had been Cole's Democratic counterpart, but also his friend.

"He understands campaigns, how they're fought on the ground and on the air," Francis said in an interview. "He's a worthy adversary for the Democrats."

Cole is still the purest kind of political junkie, a backstage operative at heart. This was his takeaway from a recent meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai: "Now, that's a great politician. He kisses babies, he slaps backs, he builds coalitions. I would love to run him."