Important Political News

[Sepideh_UK]

Craig Crawford: Get Ready to Rumble!

The 2008 presidential hopefuls are out of the starting gate and already provoking handicappers to separate the field — into front-runners, promising challengers and dark horses — in what is destined to be one of the nation’s most historic White House campaigns.

Sports metaphors abound as emboldened Democrats see a chance to build on their dramatic takeover of Congress. The Nov. 7 midterm election was “the Conference Championship game for what direction America takes for the next generation,” Democratic operative Steve Jarding said. “The 2008 races will be the Super Bowl.”

Jarding, who helped engineer Democrat Jim Webb’s stunning upset of Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record), says Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lopsided Senate re-election victory in New York proves that she is the “big dog” in his party’s presidential pack. “If anything, now that she has her big win and does not have to sit on the sidelines, she actually has a much greater capacity to move up,” he said.

GOP consultant Mike Murphy sees the nomination battle in his party as a “huge, wide-open race.” He has advised two of the leading candidates — Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona and retiring Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts — and plans to stay neutral for the campaign.

With more than two dozen potential candidates in the hunt, observers are quickly winnowing the field into potential winners and losers. Such early handicapping can miss the occasional surprise. Few experts gave former Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia a chance in the year before his 1976 victory. Howard Dean enjoyed months of front-runner speculation before he crashed and burned following the 2004 Iowa caucuses.

But more often than not the experts get it right. George W. Bush was seen as the presumed nominee at the start of the 2000 campaign. A year before the 1992 campaign, the news media quickly dubbed Bill Clinton as the Democrat to watch.

For now, McCain and Sen. Clinton are the ones to beat for their parties’ nominations. And each are flawed in ways that make them beatable. The hottest betting game on both sides of the political game will focus on who, if anyone, can quickly call into question the pre-eminence of McCain and Clinton.

McCain’s age and health could hinder his chances. He would be 72 on Inauguration Day 2009, three years older than Ronald Reagan when he became the oldest president in history. And McCain’s bout with skin cancer, though he says it is behind him, is cause for worry. Still, he has diligently courted GOP bosses and social conservatives who cost him the nomination when he ran six years ago.

While former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was once thought to be a threat to McCain, his star has faded since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Romney now seems to be the early favorite for the anybody-but-McCain vote. His one term as Massachusetts governor was a substantive success, if only for his well-regarded and ambitious health reform plan that will be taking effect in the state as he pursues a presidential campaign. And he is aggressively courting the social conservatives who dominate GOP primaries and appear to remain suspicious of McCain.

p>Clinton has everything going for her on paper. No Democratic hopeful can top her for money, power and fame. But there is a profound fear among the party faithful that she cannot win a general election, that too many mainstream voters distrust and dislike her.

North Carolina’s John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois top the list for Democrats seeking a Clinton alternative. Edwards has continually and effectively crisscrossed the nation since running as the party’s 2004 vice presidential contender. But Obama already has won the first news media “primary,” emerging as a favorite among many political insiders for toppling Clinton.

The 2008 hustings could severely test conventional wisdom. This will be the first campaign in 80 years without a sitting president or vice president running for the White House, making it tough to identify an obvious heir apparent in either party.

The unfettered landscape ahead is encouraging more and more candidates to jump in. In the past week, at least two of the expected candidates, McCain and Giuliani, formed the exploration committees obligatory under federal law. And dark horses from both parties also filed papers or announced plans to: retiring Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack for the Democrats, and former Cabinet secretary and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson for the Republicans.

This campaign is so far along that some already have tested the waters and opted out — Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner have abandoned their plans to run for the Democratic nomination. With so much presidential talent on the move, even the weariest political junkies have no choice but to start paying attention. After all, the first round of presidential voting — the Iowa caucus — is just 14 months away.

Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He can be reached at ccrawford@cq.com. This column is scheduled to run in the Nov. 20 edition of CQ Weekly. For more information about CQ Weekly, please visit CQ.com.

[Sepideh_UK]

Staff Reflections on the 2006 Elections: Rachel Kapochunas

The three core staff reporters for CQPolitics.com have had a little bit of time to reflect on the 2006 congressional contests — the expected and unexpected — we have been covering for more than a year. Today, we’d like to reveal some of our thoughts about the “best” and “worst” of the 2006 campaign.

We have chosen seven categories:

• The race we found most unsatisfying to cover.

• The strangest race.

• The “best call,” or prediction we are most proud of.

• The biggest surprise winner, one whose victory we did not forecast.

• The best recovery by a winning candidate who seemed likely to lose.

• The “biggest freefall” by a losing candidate who seemed likely to win early in the campaign cycle.

• The most valiant effort by a losing candidate who ran a strong and unexpectedly competitive campaign despite seemingly insuperable odds.

Each CQPolitics.com reporter nominated a candidate or race in a state he or she was responsible for covering, so there will be no repeat answers. We invite you to submit your own nominations in the comments section.

This entry is from Rachel Kapochunas, CQPolitics.com reporter.

Most unsatisfying race: The California governor’s race began with Republican incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger reeling from low approval ratings and the failure in November 2005 of ballot initiatives that he had heavily promoted. His frequent disagreements with the Democratic-controlled legislature in a state that leans rather strongly Democratic appeared to dim the longtime movie star’s hopes for re-election.

But Schwarzenegger made a skillful political pivot, appointing a Democrat as his chief of staff and courting Democratic voters by emphasizing issues key to them such as education and the environment. Though the California contest was the nation’s most closely watched and expensive race for governor, Schwarzenegger succeeded at blunting attacks by his Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, and ended up coasting to victory by a 56 percent to 39 percent landslide.

Strangest race: I can think of nothing stranger than the contest for the seat in Florida’s 16th District, hastily vacated on Sept. 29 by six-term Republican Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) following revelations of his inappropriate advances to underage male congressional pages.

Republican officials quickly picked state Rep. Joe Negron as their replacement candidate to oppose Democratic businessman Tim Mahoney and made a major push to persuade voters in the Republican-leaning district to keep the seat in GOP hands. But they were undermined by the fact that Foley quit the race too late to have his name removed from the ballot, even though any votes cast for him were counted as for Negron.

Mahoney eked out a win by nearly 2 percentage points for a seat that almost certainly will be hotly contested again in 2008.

Best call: Again, the race in Florida’s 16th,which CQPolitics.com rated Leans Democratic following Foley’s downfall.

Though even some leading Republicans initially said the Foley scandal had cost them any hope of holding this seat, the emergence of Negron as a strong contender and GOP voter education efforts funded by millions of dollars had some pollsters and politicos predicting a Republican hold. But the peculiar situation in which voters were required to think Negron while voting for Foley’s name on the ballot enabled Mahoney to pull out a narrow victory.

Biggest surprise: Seven-term Republican Rep. Richard W. Pombo’s loss in California’s 11th District, a contest that CQPolitics.com had rated Leans Republican at the end of the campaign.

I believed the conservative Pombo would pull out a victory in the end in this Republican-leaning district, where he faced a rematch with the Democrat, wind turbine company executive Jerry McNerney, whom he’d handily defeated by a 22 percentage-point margin just two years earlier.

But strong opposition to Pombo by environmentalist groups and controversy over campaign donations he’d received in the past from now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff deeply weakened the House Resources Committee chairman and enabled McNerney to win by a fairly comfortable 54 percent to 46 percent vote.

Best recovery: Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez found himself on the defensive almost from the moment he was appointed last January to fill the last year of New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s unexpired Senate term. His Republican challenger, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., inherited strong name ID from his father, a popular former governor, and bruised Menendez with nonstop allegations of ethical impropriety.

But Menendez, who trailed in some polls heading into the race’s home stretch, rebounded with his own aggressive campaign, denying wrongdoing, blasting Kean for his campaign’s strongly negative tone and tying the young Republican to President Bush, who is highly unpopular in the state. Buoyed by the state’s overall Democratic leanings, Menendez won a full term by 53 percent to 45 percent.

Biggest freefall: Two-term Florida Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record)’ bid to topple Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Florida started out bad and got much worse.

Already burdened by lingering controversy over her actions as Florida’s top elections official in the controversial 2000 presidential vote count, Harris ran a campaign that was marred by high staff turnover, fundraising shortfalls and low poll numbers. During the campaign, Harris’ connections to a convicted defense contractor resurfaced; her comments in an interview with a Florida Baptist newspaper that voters were “going to legislate sin” if they did not elect Christians and that the separation of church and state is “a lie” sealed her fate in this race.

Yet even though Harris was trounced by 60 percent to 38 percent, things ironically could have been worse for the GOP. When it became clear last spring that Harris’ campaign was foundering, leading Florida Republicans scrambled unsuccessfully to find an alternative candidate. And one of the people most heavily courted at the time was ... Rep. Mark Foley, who in the fall would resign his House seat in disgrace over personal misbehavior.

Most valiant effort: Democratic state Rep. Linda Stender held Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson of New Jersey’s 7th District to margins of just 3,200 votes and 2 percentage points, just two years after Ferguson won the GOP-leaning district by 15 points and more than 43,000 votes.

Stender attracted support from the feminist political action committee EMILY’s List in April and later gained assistance from the national Democratic Party. Stender’s strong showing, despite the fact she was about $1 million behind Ferguson in overall fundraising, may have pushed this seat into play again for 2008.

[Sepideh_UK]

Mayor Bloomberg urges 2008 hopefuls on

NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday urged anyone contemplating a White House run to go for it.


"You don't want to sit around and say, 'I could have and I should have,'" Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show. "I'm a big believer in trying things — if you want to do it, and if it doesn't work out, at least you'll know. You won't have that second-guessing thing that would nag you for the rest of your life."

The Democrat-turned-Republican and billionaire has been mentioned as a possible candidate in 2008, perhaps as an independent.

Asked whether Bloomberg might have been projecting his own doubts, spokesman Stu Loeser said: "The mayor is not running for president."

Bloomberg, 64, ticks off reasons ranging from personal — "I'll be much too old" — to practical — "Running as an independent candidate would be a daunting thing."

Getting on the ballot as an independent is an extensive process involving complicated rules that vary from state to state. However, the former CEO wouldn't have to worry about raising money; Forbes magazine estimates his personal fortune at $5.3 billion.

Bloomberg said his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, "was a very good mayor of this city ... wants to be president, would probably be a good president." He also noted the crowd of New Yorkers among the potential candidates, including Republican Gov. George Pataki and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton insists she's still mulling her next move, while Pataki has traveled extensively to the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Giuliani announced this week that he has launched an exploratory committee.

[Sepideh_UK]

NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday urged anyone contemplating

The three core staff reporters for CQPolitics.com have had a little bit of time to reflect on the 2006 congressional contests — the expected and unexpected — we have been covering for more than a year. Today, we’d like to reveal some of our thoughts about the “best” and “worst” of the 2006 campaign.

We have chosen seven categories:

• The race we found most unsatisfying to cover.

• The strangest race.

• The “best call,” or prediction we are most proud of.

• The biggest surprise winner, one whose victory we did not forecast.

• The best recovery by a winning candidate who seemed likely to lose.

• The “biggest freefall” by a losing candidate who seemed likely to win early in the campaign cycle.

• The most valiant effort by a losing candidate who ran a strong and unexpectedly competitive campaign despite seemingly insuperable odds.

Each CQPolitics.com reporter nominated a candidate or race in a state he or she was responsible for covering, so there will be no repeat answers. We invite you to submit your own nominations in the comments section.

This entry is from Marie Horrigan, CQPolitics.com reporter.

Most unsatisfying race: With Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton positioning herself for a highly likely 2008 bid for the presidency — formerly held by her husband, Bill Clinton — you would think Republican officials would have thrown everything they had against her as she bid this year for a second term in the Senate.

But only two Republicans, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and retiring Gov. George E. Pataki, were considered viable challengers to the hugely well-funded former first lady, and both demurred to explore possible campaigns for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. After both declined, Republican recruiters pretty much threw in the towel.

The party ended up giving its nomination to former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, who wasn’t well-known statewide, ran as a staunch conservative in a state that has trended strongly Democratic, and had some serious personal baggage in his background. Clinton soared to a 67 percent to 31 percent victory.

Strangest race: It is highly unusual for an incumbent senator to lose in a primary, and even rarer for the primary loser to reject the verdict of his own party’s voters and run as an independent. But that’s what Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (news, bio, voting record) did — and he prevailed.

Lieberman’s strong defense of the war in Iraq and implied criticisms of fellow Democrats who had attacked President Bush on the issue enraged liberal activists, who lined up behind the previously obscure primary challenge of anti-war millionaire businessman Ned Lamont. Lieberman lost the Aug. 8 primary to Lamont by a narrow margin.

But Lieberman had prepared for that eventuality by collecting petition signatures to file as an independent, which he did by the deadline the day after the primary. With Lamont failing to deflect the Lieberman camp’s portrayal of him as a one-issue candidate, Lieberman re-emerged as the front-runner.

The senator, a centrist who had earned strong job approval ratings from Republicans in his state, gained significant support from GOP voters — in part because their own party had nominated a weak and uncompetitive candidate, former state Rep. Alan Schlesinger.

Lieberman was re-elected with 50 percent to 40 percent for Lamont and 10 percent for Schlesinger. After the election, Lieberman said he would, as promised, continue to caucus with the Democrats, guaranteeing them the majority they won on Nov. 7. But he has requested that his party label be listed as Independent Democrat.

Best call: Some Republicans laughed when we picked the race in Arizona’s 5th District, between six-term GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth (news, bio, voting record) and Democratic state Sen. Harry E. Mitchell, as a toss-up. Hayworth, an outspoken conservative member of the House Republican takeover class of 1994, had won re-election just two years ago by 21 points, as President Bush also carried the district by 9 points.

But Mitchell, the popular former mayor of Tempe, turned out to be the most formidable challenger Democrats had ever presented to Hayworth, and the incumbent had a hard time deflecting questions about past campaign donations he had received from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Mitchell vindicated CQPolitics.com’s call when he won by 51 percent to 46 percent.

Biggest surprise: Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann insisted her reputation as an outspoken social conservative put her right in line with voters in Minnesota’s 6th District, which reaches from suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul to the city of St. Cloud.

I thought the anti-Republican climate would seriously hinder Bachmann, as would the apparent strength of her opponent, Patty Wetterling. The Democrat ran a viable campaign in 2004 against the Republican incumbent, Mark Kennedy, who left the seat open this year for a Senate bid that failed.

Wetterling, well known for years as a child safety advocate who had suffered the personal tragedy of losing a son, also had gained visibility late in the campaign as a sharp critic of the Republican leadership’s handling of the Foley page scandal.

In the end, however, Bachmann was correct about the socially conservative majority in the GOP-leaning district, and she prevailed by 50 percent to 42 percent.

Best recovery: The Republicans never expected the four-term congressman spearheading his party’s national campaign to maintain a House majority to be staring at possible defeat himself. But that was the exact scenario facing Republican Thomas M. Reynolds in New York’s 26th District.

Reynolds, who led the National Republican Congressional Committee throughout its successful 2004 campaign and the highly unsuccessful 2006 elections, found himself under attack for his handling of information concerning Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)’s inappropriate behavior toward House pages, and his campaign went into a tailspin in the early weeks of October.

Reynolds, considered a shoo-in before the Foley scandal broke, suddenly found himself trailing in polls to Democratic industrialist Jack Davis — whom Reynolds had trounced by an 11-point margin in 2004.

But Reynolds managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat by 52 percent to 48 percent. His Foley problem stabilized, as Reynolds insisted he had passed information about Foley’s behavior on to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois (which is still a matter of dispute).

He benefited from the district’s general Republican leanings, and by an event just as unexpected as the Foley eruption: A freak mid-October snowstorm in western New York that enabled Reynolds to take the spotlight in pursuing disaster aid for affected constituents.

Biggest freefall: The decision by Minnesota Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton (news, bio, voting record) not to seek a second term this year, announced shortly after the 2004 elections, put the seat in the politically competitive state in play; for much of the campaign, it appeared the Republicans’ best Senate takeover opportunity.

Republican Mark Kennedy, a three-term House member, was highly touted early on as a strong contender for the seat. But he drew a strong Democratic foe in Amy Klobuchar, the prosecutor for the county that includes Minneapolis. And Kennedy was never able to respond effectively to a hammering by Democrats who declared that he was way too close to President Bush, who by fall 2006 was highly unpopular in Minnesota. Klobuchar won going away, by a whopping 58 percent to 38 percent.

Most valiant effort: Democrat Tessa Hafen’s decision to take on Jon Porter in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District was a valiant effort in the face of long odds. Republicans threw everything they had at her, including charges she was a carpetbagger, a lightweight and a puppet for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, her former boss. But despite the unfavorable odds, Hafen raised $1.3 million to Porter’s $2.8 million and had a very respectable showing come Election Day, losing by fewer than 4,000 votes and a 1-point margin.

[Sepideh_UK]

Staff Reflections on the 2006 Elections: Greg Giroux

The three core staff reporters for CQPolitics.com have had a little bit of time to reflect on the 2006 congressional contests — the expected and unexpected — we have been covering for more than a year. Today, we’d like to reveal some of our thoughts about the “best” and “worst” of the 2006 campaign.


We have chosen seven categories:

• The race we found most unsatisfying to cover.

• The strangest race.

• The “best call,” or prediction we are most proud of.

• The biggest surprise winner, one whose victory we did not forecast.

• The best recovery by a winning candidate who seemed likely to lose.

• The “biggest freefall” by a losing candidate who seemed likely to win early in the campaign cycle.

• The most valiant effort by a losing candidate who ran a strong and unexpectedly competitive campaign despite seemingly insuperable odds.

Each CQPolitics.com reporter nominated a candidate or race in a state he or she was responsible for covering, so there will be no repeat answers.We invite you to submit your own nominations in the comments section.

This entry is from Greg Giroux, CQPolitics.com senior reporter.

Most unsatisfying race: The Pennsylvania Senate contest between two-term Republican Rick Santorum and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey. When the well-known Casey made his early entry into the race in 2005, it appeared a battle of the titans. But Santorum’s staunch conservatism, which he’d finessed in his 2000 re-election campaign, weighed against him this year in the Democratic-leaning state, and the anti-Republican national political environment weighed him down. Casey held a big lead in polls throughout the campaign and won by a whopping 59 percent to 41 percent.

Strangest race: I’m hard-pressed to come up with a race with more twists and turns than the contest in Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, the longtime Republican stronghold of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Plagued by ethics controversies, DeLay in March won his primary rather unimpressively, then a few weeks later announced his resignation — and his intention to relocate to Virginia in order to disqualify himself from running in Texas and allow GOP officials to substitute a different candidate on the ballot. But the Democrats contested the maneuver in court and won on the constitutional grounds that DeLay could not prove he would not be an “inhabitant” of Texas on Election Day.

Faced with the choice of running for re-election or leaving the GOP ballot slot vacant, DeLay chose the latter option. That forced the GOP’s substitute candidate, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, to wage a write-in campaign that failed Nov. 7.

Sekula-Gibbs lost to Democratic former Rep. Nick Lampson by 52 percent to 42 percent.

Adding to the oddity of this race was the unusual consolation prize obtained by Sekula-Gibbs. She won a special election, also held Nov. 7, to fill the few remaining weeks of DeLay’s unexpired term, though Lampson opted not to compete in that contest.

Best call: Keeping northern Kentucky’s 4th District in the “Leans Republican” category, rather than rate it as a tossup.

Democrats had touted the re-emergence of former Democratic Rep. Ken Lucas (news, bio, voting record), who as the incumbent in 2002 had defeated then-challenger Davis, and whose decision to not seek re-election in 2004 made way for Davis’ takeover. That year, some polls forecast a close race between Davis and Democratic nominee Nick Clooney, but Davis won by 10 percentage points.

Last week, the heavy Republican voting advantage in the 4th District again proved a solid shield for Davis, who was not as vulnerable to Lucas’ comeback bid as some pre-election polls suggested. Buoyed by a strong voter-turnout effort, Davis secured a second term with 52 percent to 43 percent for Lucas.

Biggest surprise: Democrat David Loebsack, a college professor, upset 15-term Republican Rep. Jim Leach (news, bio, voting record) in Iowa’s 2nd District and broke the GOP moderate’s hold on a constituency that overall is Iowa’s most Democratic-leaning.

I had written before about Loebsack’s candidacy, the partisan nature of the southeastern Iowa district, and Leach’s aversion to the breakneck fundraising and smash-mouth tactics that many incumbents employ to ward off political opponents. But I just didn’t think that Leach would lose in the end — which he did, by 51 percent to 49 percent.

Best recovery: My choice of Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce (news, bio, voting record) is somewhat unofficial, as votes are still being counted in the Columbus-based 15th District and a final outcome has not been declared in her very close race against Democratic county commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy. But her lead of 3,500 votes at latest report is an achievement for Pryce in a year when victory in her bid for an eighth term was very much in doubt.

Like most Republican candidates in Ohio, Pryce faced the double whammy of the national GOP’s low approval ratings and the dismal state of the Ohio Republican Party in the wake of serious ethics scandals. And Pryce’s personal situation was complicated by the fact that she held the fourth-ranking position in the House GOP, Republican Conference chairwoman, and thus was a member of a leadership that had grown highly unpopular.

Pryce, however, campaigned vigorously and tapped a well of personal popularity in her district. Her campaign also defined Kilroy as too liberal for the district.

Biggest freefall: Has to be Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record). A solid favorite when he began his bid for a second term, Allen’s gaffes and strategic missteps presaged his loss — albeit by a razor-thin margin — to Democrat Jim Webb.

There is some irony in the fact that Allen’s Nov. 9 concession clinched the six-seat net gain that gave Democrats 51 seats and a Senate majority in the 110th Congress that convenes in January. Allen headed the Senate Republicans’ campaign effort in 2004, and he helped deliver a four-seat net gain and a 55-seat GOP majority that seemed insurmountable at the beginning of this cycle.

Most valiant effort: Democrat Dan Seals of Illinois’ 10th District. It was a tall order for corporate marketing director Seals, little known when the campaign began, to take on Republican Rep. Mark Steven ***k, a popular GOP moderate seeking a fourth term in the politically competitive 10th District anchored in suburbs north of Chicago. But Seals took a respectable 47 percent of the vote to ***k’s 53 percent, suggesting potential for a bright future in politics if he so chooses.

[Sepideh_UK]

Shaken and Stirred

Last week's election didn't just change the lineup in Congress; it also winnowed the Republican presidential field. The big casualties were Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and George Allen of Virginia, two conservatives who lost their bids for re-election-and probably any hope for the White House.

That still leaves plenty of presidential wannabes for '08, led by Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record). But two other men are generating buzz as they jockey for position as the main alternative to the front-runner. First on the list is former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who leads some public-opinion polls. In a recent Gallup survey, 29 percent of Republicans supported him, compared with 24 percent for McCain (everyone else was in single digits). But Giuliani's position is based largely on name recognition and his reputation as a dynamic leader in the aftermath of 9/11. "He is the gold standard for leadership in the war on terrorism," says a key GOP strategist. As such, Giuliani has been a big draw as a fundraiser for GOP candidates.


The former mayor says he is considering a run, but political pros say his popularity could melt away once GOP voters understand his liberal views on issues like gay unions, abortion, and gun control. His abrasive manner can also be a turnoff. "Rudy plays well in the boroughs of New York but not in the Republican heartland," says a GOP critic.


Perhaps the most aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign is being waged by outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a strong conservative with movie-star looks and big-time charisma. Romney is modeling his approach on George W. Bush's pattern from 1999, when Bush, then governor of Texas, invited party leaders to Austin for persuasive get-acquainted sessions. Romney is doing the same thing in Boston and is apparently making a good impression as a fresh-faced Washington outsider who radiates competence and optimism while advocating smaller government. He is also a good listener, which impresses many of his guests, and in the past has appealed to independent voters and some Democrats in Massachusetts.


Drawbacks. Romney's Mormon faith, however, is greeted with suspicion by many evangelical Christians, while his lack of national-security experience could drag him down if the war on terrorism and the conflict in Iraq remain top concerns. Just as important, his popularity back home in Massachusetts has declined, which isn't a good sign.


Among the others who have expressed an interest in running are Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Gov. George Pataki of New York (both of whom are leaving office), Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.


One of the longest of long shots is Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record) of California, the gruff chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter has little national following; in fact, few have heard of him outside Washington and his home district in San Diego. That hasn't stopped him from declaring his candidacy as he attempts to find a niche as a hard-liner on national security and illegal immigration.


In a blast from the past, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is impressing the GOP faithful as he talks of a need to return to Republican ideals of smaller government, a strong national defense, and tough-minded realism in foreign policy.


But Gingrich was a polarizing figure in Congress, and voters may be more interested in a less divisive style of leadership for 2008. "People are fed up with politics as usual," says a prominent Republican who advises the White House. "They want to see politicians work together. That's one lesson we learned from last week's election."

[Sepideh_UK]

Last week's election didn't just change the lineup in Congress; it also winnowed the

LOS ANGELES - Another sign of the new Washington: bipartisan HIV testing.


At a World AIDS Day conference in California next month, two potential 2008 presidential rivals — Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. — will each take an HIV test and encourage others to do the same.

To reduce stigma around the test and publicize its value, "I'm happy to offer my body for science," Brownback said in a telephone interview Friday.

"People need to get the test," he added.

Obama press secretary Tommy Vietor said, "If two United States senators can do it, then everyone else can too."

The senators will take the test Dec. 1 as part of a two-day "Global AIDS Summit" at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, which sponsors the annual conference.

Rick Warren, the church's pastor, took an HIV test at the event last year to bring attention to its importance, said spokesman Larry Ross. The test can be done with a finger-prick to draw a blood sample, or by oral swab.

Obama and Brownback are featured speakers and will appear on a panel titled, "We must work together."

"I think you are seeing the beginning of a great coming together on the left and right dealing with Africa," said Brownback, alluding to the continent's AIDS epidemic and social and economic problems.

At the conference last year, Warren, author of the best-selling "The Purpose Driven Life," said he's encouraging other pastors to offer free AIDS testing and counseling at their churches, start service groups to help HIV patients with daily chores and train lay members to administer crucial anti-viral drugs.

[Sepideh_UK]

Immigration No Election Elixir, But It Likely Did Not Hurt GOP

The ballots were barely in before pundits declared immigration the winner. A tough stand against it failed to save Republicans in several key states, and control of Congress shifted to the pro-immigration Democratic Party.


But a closer look at the winners and losers tells a different story, in which Republican hawks on immigration fared better than GOP moderates.

The success of anti-immigration referendums also suggests hawkish stances might have helped Republicans as much as or more than it hurt them.

"Clearly what didn't happen is the people didn't endorse the amnesty-guest-worker approach of the president," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tough immigration controls.

"When people were voting on the specific issue of immigration control, they overwhelmingly supported it," he said. "What happened to particular candidates is a much muddier picture."

Immigration may be the one issue that the White House and the new Democratic Congress agree on. It's not on the Democrats' list for immediate action, but it could come up later next year.

Immigration advocates cite the defeat of Rep. J.D. Hayworth (news, bio, voting record) and Minuteman organizer Randy Graf (to replace Jim Kolbe) in Arizona, Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) in Pennsylvania and Senate hopeful Thomas Kean Jr. in New Jersey to argue that tough stands on immigration cost Republicans votes.

"Now that the people have spoken, maybe the Congress will finally listen and pass comprehensive immigration reform," wrote Linda Chavez in her first post-election syndicated column.

A week later, reform fans had a more nuanced argument: Republicans might not have lost because of immigration, but it wasn't a winning issue either.

"A segment of the Republican Party seemed to believe that this very aggressive anti-immigrant stance was going to be the wedge issue which would keep the control of Congress in Republicans hands, and it was a big flop as that," Chavez told IBD.

House Republicans bet wrongly that a hard line on immigration would make up for their other ills, said Frank Sharry, president of the National Immigration Forum.

"That's a different point than they lost because of it," Sharry said. "They thought that it would bring out the base, win over some Democrats, and that Latinos wouldn't show up. It did turn out some base voters. It didn't sway independents and swing voters... and Latinos turned out in record numbers."

Krikorian doubts that anyone expected so much from one issue.

"Of course immigration's not a silver bullet. I'm not sure who thought it would be," he said. "Obviously Iraq and corruption were at the top of people's minds, not the immigration issue."

Voters Had Other Priorities

Exit polls showed immigration as voters' No. 4 concern after Iraq, terrorism and the economy.

"It wasn't a defining issue of this race," said John Gay of the National Restaurant Association.

Republicans won just 30% of Latino votes, down 14 points from 2004. As the GOP's take of white voters dropped 6%, about half of the shift in Latino voters may have been because of immigration.

Even so, close-the-border incumbents fared better on average than their open-border colleagues.

The GOP lost 11.5% of its seats in Congress, but the hawkish House Immigration Reform Caucus, headed by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., lost just 6.7% of its members.

NumbersUSA lobbies for less immigration and grades lawmakers on that issue. It says 25% of those who got F's lost on Nov. 7 vs. just 9.6% of those with A's.

While Arizona voters opposed Hayworth and Graf, they overwhelmingly backed four initiatives that rolled up the state's welcome mat. The ballot measures declared English the state's official language, barred illegal aliens from some state benefits, barred illegals from collecting punitive damages in civil suits, and denied bail to illegals arrested for serious crimes.

Voters in Arizona also re-elected GOP Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), who voted against the comprehensive Senate immigration bill, turning back a challenge from Democrat Jim Pederson, who supported it.

The Kyl camp made much of Pederson's comment that the 1986 amnesty was the "the last effective measure that passed Congress."

Reformers Downplayed Issue

Immigration helped make the difference in Illinois' 6th District, where Republican Peter Roskam edged out Democrat Tammy Duckworth to claim the seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Henry Hyde (news, bio, voting record).

Duckworth, an Army veteran who lost both legs in Iraq, backed the Senate bill but lost to Roskam, who campaigned hard against it.

NumbersUSA's Caroline Espinosa noted while some candidates ran boldly against immigration, none ran boldly for it. "None of the candidates -- no Republican, Democrat, anybody -- ran on an open-borders platform," she said. "Nobody came out and said, 'Oh, we need an amnesty, we need to legalize 12 million illegal aliens.'"

[Sepideh_UK]

The ballots were barely in before pundits declared immigration the winner. A tough st

The election of a Democratic Congress was enough to cause executives of the big drug makers to reach for a headache pill.


Why worry? Democrats have talked about allowing the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices and letting consumers import cheap drugs from Canada. There also have been murmurs of barring the ubiquitous and highly effective direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

The post-election drop among drug and medical stocks illustrated the fears.

Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) fell 6.1% through the remainder of the election week. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - News) surrendered 5.8%. Wyeth (NYSE:WYE - News) dropped 5.7%.

Those three companies represent more than 40% of the assets held by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith's Pharmaceutical Holdrs fund (AMEX:PPH - News).

The fund, which tracks 20 top pharma stocks, had just begun eking out gains in early November after a dip to its 50-day line. In the three days following the election, the fund fell 5.3%, to 74.95.

Round Two

Medical stocks in general staged a rousing comeback last week as cooler heads prevailed. The Pharma Holdrs fund gained back 3.2% to end the week at 77.35. Launched in February 2000, the Pharma Holdrs fund, like the industry it reflects, has suffered travails.

Its shares fell steadily, from above 103 in January 2001 to below 70 last December. Prior to the election, it had gained ground, however. Year to date, it is up 11%.

That puts it even with the Powershares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals fund (AMEX:PJP - News), also up 11% for the year. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Pharmaceuticals Fund (NYSE:IHE - News) is up 6% from its May launch. The Streettracks SPDR Pharmaceutical Fund (AMEX:XPH - News) rose 9% since its start of trading in June.

Post-Election

Beyond Democrats, drug makers as a group face a complex maze of challenges.

Years of underinvestment in research and development has left the industry pipeline sucking the bottom of the cup. In addition, many branded drugs, the backbone of big pharma's sales, are nearing the end of their patent protection.

Analysts say the pipeline may be recovering.

But consensus estimates forecast essentially flat earnings for Merck through 2007. Pfizer is looking at a 1% EPS increase this year, 6% in 2007.

Wyeth shows more promise, sporting a consensus forecast gain of 145% this year, another 10% in 2007.

The Pharma Holdrs fund's largest single chunk of assets, 22%, is in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - News). The health care products maker has averaged 15% annual EPS growth over the past three years.

Analyst consensus looks toward a 10% gain this year, and about the same in 2007.

[Sepideh_UK]

The election of a Democratic Congress was enough to cause executives of the big drug

WASHINGTON - The Senate's next Republican leader issued a veiled threat to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush's troubled judicial nominations.



Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky, who will become minority leader Jan. 4, told the conservative Federalist Society Friday not to feel bad about the Senate election results because Republicans will hold 49 seats in a body that requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and bring legislation or presidential nominees to a final vote.

If the "Democrats want our cooperation, they'll give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote," McConnell said.

Vice President Dick Cheney told the same group Friday that Republicans' loss of Congress in last week's election won't dissuade Bush from continuing to nominate strict-constructionist judges to the federal bench.

Democrats have used filibusters and the threat of them to block several of Bush's more conservative federal appeals court nominees who had the support of a majority of senators but lacked the 60 pledges needed to force a vote.

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., became so irked that he brought the Senate to the brink of shutting down by threatening to get a parliamentary ruling forbidding filibusters on judicial nominations.

Only a bipartisan "Gang of 14" senators — seven Republicans and seven Democrats — averted the showdown with an agreement to allow some of Bush's nominees to be confirmed. Democrats subsequently rejected the idea of using filibusters to block Bush's two Supreme Court nominees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

"Senator McConnell wants bipartisan cooperation but that's a two-way street," his spokesman, Don Stewart, said Friday. "You can't expect easy cooperation on issues of importance to them unless they respect issues of importance to us, including the principle that judges deserve an up-or-down vote."

Democrats chalked up McConnell's comments to posturing and plain math.

"The president should stop picking fights and start working with Democrats to pick nominees who can be confirmed," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"When we work together on consensus judicial nominees we can make progress," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Bush did the opposite this week, renominating six judges, four of them vehemently opposed by Democrats. Leahy said the renominations amounted to the White House "taking the bait of right-wing partisan groups."

"Advice and consent does not mean giving the president a free pass to pack the courts with ideologues from the right or left," Leahy said. "The American people want the Senate to be more than a rubber stamp."

[Sepideh_UK]

Huckabee says campaign laws aid McCain

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday said potential 2008 presidential rival John McCain's campaign finance reforms gives the Republican senator an advantage over other candidates by allowing him to transfer money easily.

"If you're a senator, you can take the money you raise in a Senate campaign and transfer it to a presidential, but you can't take money you raise in a state campaign and transfer that to a federal campaign," Huckabee, a Republican, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

"McCain was very smart in creating a system where he could take all of this Senate money that he had and turn it over to his presidential campaign to give him a distinct advantage over anyone else who ran," he said.

Huckabee, who leaves office in January due to term limits, is considering a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. McCain, from Arizona, announced this week that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee.

A spokesman for McCain's committee said transferring the $1 million remaining from his 2004 re-election bid to a presidential campaign is an option, but denied that was a motivation for McCain's campaign finance legislation.

"That wasn't the intent of the law in any way, shape or form," said spokesman Craig Goldman.

Huckabee's comments came after a discussion he participated in at the Clinton presidential library in downtown Little Rock that focused on the 2006 election.

He has said he won't announce any decision to run until after his term ends in January.

During the forum, Huckabee criticized some campaign finance measures as encouraging independent groups, or so-called 527 groups, which are not subject to conventional campaign finance restrictions and can spend unlimited amounts on election advocacy.

"When you have a system that says you can't give to candidates except this much, but you can give to this independent group in unlimited amounts, guess where the money goes? It goes to the independent entity," he said.

When asked about the strongest ticket the Democrats could offer in 2008, Huckabee mentioned Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., praising her as smart and focused and calling her "a rock star in her own party."

"I think people will underestimate Hillary Clinton at their own peril," Huckabee said.

When asked about the best Republican ticket, Democratic National Committee Vice President Lottie Shackelford mentioned McCain, and then motioned to Huckabee.

"Arkansas has always been so underestimated by so much of the country, so I'd have to say Gov. Huckabee," she said.

The governor responded, "I think McCain would be a wonderful vice president."

[Sepideh_UK]

Howard Dean defends 50-state strategy

TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. - Democratic chairman Howard Dean on Friday took a swipe at Washington critics who questioned his strategy of spending money in all 50 states, dismissing them as the "old Democratic Party."



Basking in the afterglow of last week's election victories, Dean told the state party chairmen who were among the biggest beneficiaries of his strategy that it was an approach marked by Democratic wins at all levels of government.

"It was a great win for what I call the new Democratic Party," Dean said in a speech to the Association of State Democratic Chairs. "This is the new Democratic Party. The old Democratic Party is back there in Washington, sometimes they still complain a little bit."

In recent days, political strategist James Carville, best known for his work on Bill Clinton's campaign in 1992, has assailed Dean, saying he left too much money in the bank that could have been used to seize an even larger Democratic majority in Congress.

In one interview, Carville called Dean's errors "Rumsfeldian," a reference to the Defense secretary. In the past, Rumsfeld has railed about "Old Europe" and its reticence in the leadup to the Iraq war.

"The people who complain always get the headlines," Dean said, adding there are other high-profile Democrats who support his initiative. "But the fact is that this strategy not only works, it works in states Democrats have given up on for 30 years.

"We cannot give up on anybody."

The Association of State Democratic Chairs, gathering at this ski resort getaway, adopted a resolution voicing strong support for Dean, who turned 58 on Friday. The resolution said the state chairmen "honor and thank Governor Dean for his tireless commitment to state Democratic Parties and the '50-state strategy' ... and for never retreating from what was right for every Democrat in every state."

Not only did Democrats reclaim the House and Senate, they increased their control of governorships and legislatures. In January, Democrats will have 28 statehouses to 22 for Republicans. The breakdown of state legislatures are 24 with Democrats in full control, 16 Republican, nine split and one nonpartisan.

Dean said the victory included Republican strongholds that Democratic strategists wrote off. Even where they lost, he argued, Democrats made their best showing in years because of the beefed up state organizations.

"That is what the 50-state strategy is about," Dean said.

State party chairmen who receive their checks from the Democratic National Committee clearly took Dean's side.

"I don't think Mr. Carville knows what he's talking about," said Richard Stallings, the Idaho party chairman. "Democrats haven't been winning on the kind of stuff Carville is talking about. The 50-state strategy is the future."

The state chairmen and vice chairmen were key to Dean's successful campaign to become national chairman in 2005, giving him the votes he needed to trump critics from inside the Beltway, where he is not a favorite of the party's established powerbrokers.

The strategy worked, the state chairmen said, who hailed Democrats' victories not only in Congress, but in state legislatures and all the way down to county commissions.

"So when the James Carvilles of the world question the money given to state parties, I have to wonder why," said Mike Gierau, the Wyoming Democratic Party Chairman.

Dean was undeterred by the Washington criticism.

"We are going to do the 50-state strategy for the next 150 years so we can be the dominant party power in this country again," he said. "You can't be the powerful party in this country who controls the government unless you are willing to let the people control you. And the only way you can do that is ask everybody for their vote, understand everybody is our boss even if they vote for you or not."

[Sepideh_UK]

CORRECTED: Next U.S. vote on India nuclear deal may be December

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, following a strong Senate vote, aims to complete work in early December on legislation to allow nuclear cooperation with India for the first time in three decades.


An overwhelming majority has now endorsed separate versions of the bill in both the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, although different wording, including on nuclear-armed India's ties to Iran, could cause problems.

Still, supporters are optimistic the bills can be reconciled in negotiations between the two chambers and given final passage before the "lame duck" Republican-led Congress surrenders power to Democrats in January.

"I am confident that we can now work closely with our colleagues in the House to get this important measure to the President (George W. Bush) as swiftly as possible," Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said in a statement after Thursday's 85-12 Senate vote.

The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency still have to approve the agreement that would allow New Delhi to purchase U.S. nuclear fuel, reactors and related technology.

The U.S. Congress gets another chance to vote on the deal, probably next year, because it must approve technical details.

Bush and his administration argue nuclear cooperation is essential to relations between the world's largest democracies that will be pillars of security in the 21st century.

Opponents contend the agreement harms U.S. security by allowing New Delhi to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal, by fostering an arms race in Asia among India and nuclear rivals Pakistan and China and by undermining decades of U.S. non-proliferation policy.

CONTAINING IRAN

Thursday's vote approved changes in U.S. law to allow nuclear cooperation with India, which never signed the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The House had voted last July.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat who expects to be a House negotiator with the Senate, said New Delhi is unhappy with a Senate provision requiring Bush to certify that India is "fully and actively" participating in efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program before U.S.-India nuclear cooperation could proceed.

The House version addresses the issue in a way that is "less offensive to the Indians and yet serves the same purpose," he told Reuters.

But, he added: "I think we will be able to work something out."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she looked forward to the House-Senate negotiations "when remaining issues of concern to the U.S. government can be addressed." She did not specify those concerns.

"This initiative will help India meet its growing energy needs, enhance cooperation on energy security and nonproliferation, and increase economic investment opportunities," she said in a statement.

She also stressed the need for both sides to fully meet their commitments.

Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association and a leading opponent of the nuclear deal called the Senate bill a "great mistake for security and non-proliferation policy."

But the Senate version is better than the House version because it bars transfers of technology related to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production, which can aid nuclear weapons production, he told Reuters.

He said the nuclear agreement still faced substantial hurdles. "This is far from over." Kimball said.

[Sepideh_UK]

Votes still being counted in House races

Ten days after Election Day, the outcome is still in dispute in a handful of close contests for the House as election officials count and recount ballots from absentee voters and those who were challenged at the polls.


A North Carolina recount was expected to wrap up Wednesday, and a dispute in Ohio over a new voter identification law will delay results in one race until past Thanksgiving weekend.

Elections in Louisiana and Texas will go to runoffs in December.

And in Florida, a judge is holding hearings over ballots used by electronic voting machines that recorded a much higher number of undervotes in the close contest to replace GOP Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record). The Associated Press called that race for Republican Vern Buchanan.

The outcome of these races won't give Republicans a new chance to take back the majority in Congress that Democrats won Election Day, since Democrats have too big a margin of control. And most of the races are in seats already held by the GOP.

Right now, Democrats hold 232 seats and Republicans hold 199 seats — excluding four House seats where the outcome is uncalled (and not the Louisiana runoff, since it will remain Democrat regardless of who wins).

Late Friday, elections officials in New Mexico's 1st District released an unofficial tally showing that Republican Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record) won her race against Democrat Patricia Madrid by a margin of 879 votes out of more than 210,000 cast.

Still to be called are:

• North Carolina, 8th District: Rep. Robin Hayes (news, bio, voting record), a Republican, led Democrat Larry Kissell by 339 votes after results were certified by county election boards Friday night. Kissell asked for a recount, which officials said would begin next week and conclude by Wednesday.

• Ohio, 2nd District: Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican who called decorated Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) a coward, was ahead of Democrat Victoria Wulsin by about 2,800 votes. Workers were to begin counting as many as 10,000 provisional and absentee ballots next week.

• Ohio, 15th District: Rep. Deborah Pryce (news, bio, voting record), a member of the House Republican leadership, leads Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by 3,536 votes. Thousands of provisional ballots need to be recounted, but results won't be announced until Nov. 27 because of a dispute over a new voter identification law.

In addition, runoffs will pick the officeholder in Louisiana, where Democratic Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), the subject of an FBI bribery investigation, will face fellow Democrat Karen Carter in a Dec. 9 runoff; and in Texas, where GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla (news, bio, voting record) will face Democratic former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (news, bio, voting record) in a yet-unscheduled runoff to happen no sooner than Dec. 12.

In North Carolina, attorneys for Hayes — a four-term congressman who found himself in a much closer race with Kissell, a schoolteacher — had petitioned to have most provisional ballots thrown out because of missing signatures, Social Security numbers or other mistakes. Provisional ballots are filled out by voters whose names do not show up on precinct rolls on Election Day, and Democrats are counting on those votes to erase Hayes' margin.

In the Florida contest to replace GOP Rep. Katherine Harris, The Associated Press called the race for Republican Vern Buchanan. But the state has yet to certify he was the winner, with unofficial votes showing him ahead of Democrat Christine Jennings by less than 400 votes after a manual recount.

A judge is holding hearings in Sarasota County, where touch-screen voting machines recorded that 13 percent of voters did not choose either Buchanan or Jennings, despite casting ballots in other races on the ballot. That rate was much higher than other counties in the district.

[Sepideh_UK]

GOP chooses Boehner as minority leader

WASHINGTON - Cast into the minority by an angry electorate, House Republicans chose Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio on Friday to lead a return to power as quickly as possible. "We're going to earn our way back into the majority," he vowed.


To do that, he said, "we need to fight for a smaller, less costly and more accountable federal government."

Boehner defeated Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana for minority leader on a secret ballot vote of 168-27, a margin that demonstrated fellow lawmakers do not hold him responsible for the election losses the party suffered on Nov. 7. The Ohio Republican has been serving as majority leader, the second-in-command in the leadership, since February.

Another leadership veteran, Roy Blunt of Missouri, won a new term as party whip, defeating Arizona Rep. John Shadegg (news, bio, voting record) on a vote of 137-57. "You know, it's not our job to defend business as usual, not our job to try to define the federal government in the biggest possible way," Blunt said.

As Republican leader, Boehner's job, at least in part, will be to oppose legislation advanced by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the Democratic speaker-in-waiting, and help develop alternatives designed to appeal to the electorate in 2008.

"I think what the American people care about are: who's going to hold down spending in Washington, who's going to cut their taxes, who's going to make sure that America is strong and can defend itself and make sure that it's safe and secure for American families," he said at the news conference.

At the same time, Boehner will have to keep in mind the wishes of the White House, where President Bush will be in his final two years, and a need to work more cooperatively with Democrats if Republicans are to succeed in passing legislation.

Boehner's ascension as the top party leader followed a decision by Speaker Dennis Hastert not to seek the post in the wake of the party's losses. Hastert, of Illinois, is the longest-serving Republican speaker in history, a position that is filled by a member of the majority party. He announced last week he would remain in Congress.

Also notable was that while eight Republicans — the entire leadership — spoke at a news conference — none mentioned Bush in prepared remarks. The president has come in for criticism from many lawmakers in the days since Nov. 7, and some have said privately he probably cost the GOP some seats by waiting until after the election to jettison Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

In campaigning for their support in recent days, Boehner wrote fellow Republicans that the election had been in part a referendum on the administration and the war in Iraq — factors beyond their control. "What we can control is the third part of our loss: the simple fact that we failed to live up to the expectations of voters who had supported us since 1994," he wrote.

After more than a decade in power, he noted Republicans had struggled with scandal as Rep. Tom DeLay stepped down under pressure, Rep. Randy Cunningham (news, bio, voting record) pleaded guilty to bribery and Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) confessed to corruption charges.

These cases, as well Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record), who had sent sexually explicit computer messages to teenage pages, "mainly acted to confirm underlying concerns that voters had about us. They thought we were doing more to protect our jobs instead of ... real problems they face in their everyday lives," Boehner wrote four days after the election.

Boehner, 56, is a 14-year, pro-business veteran of Congress with a solidly conservative voting record. With Hastert's pre-election travels curtailed in the wake of the Foley scandal, the Ohioan campaigned extensively for Republican candidates. In the final days before the election, he was one of several senior leaders to make numerous appearances on cable television and talk radio programs favored by conservatives, part of an effort to maximize turnout at the polls.

"If you want bigger government and higher taxes, vote for Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. If you do want someone down on the border with open arms welcoming people across the border, vote for them," Boehner told Michael Medved, a conservative radio talk show host, in one appearance.

"And, if you want to let the terrorists win in Iraq, just vote for the Democrats."

In other GOP elections, Rep. Eric Cantor (news, bio, voting record) was named to a new term as chief deputy whip. He was in an enviable position — both Blunt and Shadegg supported him.

Rep. Tom Cole (news, bio, voting record) of Oklahoma won the race to lead the GOP campaign committee.