Entries for February 11, 2007

JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

He's back. A conservative back-bencher who fired up a lackluster GOP and grabbed victory in 1994, Newt Gingrich is being tapped by the newly out-of-power group to help map a return trip. "Unlike anyone else in the party," says a prominent gop insider, "Newt knows how to fight back." A potential 2008 presidential candidate, Gingrich has been meeting with Republicans at closed-door House gop retreats and suggesting ways to squash the Dems.

Initially, the former speaker urged a less in-your-face approach, advising Republicans to put it in idle and wait for the Democrats to "implode on their own," one gop lawmaker tells us. "Newt advised not to get out in front of them too fast, let them make some mistakes," says the lawmaker. Well, it hasn't happened fast enough, and now Gingrich is sounding the attack charge. At a second retreat of conservatives this month, he challenged them to bark loudly and often at Democrats and use parliamentary moves to thwart the opponents. His first order to conservative rabble-rousers: Take over the gop message. Next, he suggested tactics and rules to delay legislation and tricks to trap Democrats. Finally, drop a bomb the media will love. The gop did, slapping Speaker Nancy Pelosi's demand for an "Air Force Three" to fly her home to San Francisco. Says a leadership aide, "He brings up things that we didn't even know about."

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

The race to win the Christian-right vote has already narrowed to a battle between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, say activists. And for many at this month's closed-door summit of the Council for National Policy—a top-secret club of marquee conservative advocates—Huckabee was the 60-40 fave, say attendees. This crowd counts: Members include Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Left Behind author Tim LaHaye. Huckabee, a Baptist minister, wowed the confab, even though it's Romney who has won over evangelical leaders. What's more, activists say "in-the-pew evangelicals" will most likely gravitate toward Huckabee, who is strong on marriage and antiabortion issues.

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

Being the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee hasn't gone to Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson's head. In fact, it's prompted him to become even more of a man of the people: He's offering his own kind of whistle-blower protection for the Transportation Security Agency. The oft-traveling lawmaker gives TSA screeners his personal E-mail address and encourages them to reveal all. "They come in on my BlackBerry," he says. Thompson says he is particularly drawn to tsa screeners because they don't have whistle-blower protections and they're not allowed to join unions. "I want to hear from employees about what's going on in the field." Thompson says one E-mail came in late on Sunday night, and he responded "right after we were done watching the Super Bowl."

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

So it turns out that President Bush's new Central Command chief, Adm. William "Fox" Fallon, was barely in the running for the job when Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, first drew up his list. Until, that is, Bush met with Fallon, then head of Pacific Command, during a fueling stop in Hawaii. Fallon hit it out of the park when he bluntly said Iraq was a mess and offered a list of fixes. Bush liked it, and Pace moved him from fifth to first. Enter new Defense Secretary Bob Gates. The wily Pace asked if he'd like to meet Fallon. Sure, said Gates, upon which Pace produced his admiral and the deal was done.

It's been painfully long since Hillary Rodham Clinton spent time in Arkansas, where she once served as first lady, but the locals hold no grudges. The New York senator's visit there earlier this month came because Bill Clinton's stepfather died and there was a funeral in his childhood home of Hot Springs. But he wasn't the star of the show—she was. And we hear that in a very short time she won back the affection of the so-called Arkansas Travelers, who pledge to campaign door to door in early primary states for her just as they did for Bill in 1992.

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

Congress isn't just for lawyers and business types anymore. It's fast becoming home to former sheriffs, pages, Peace Corps volunteers, and blue-collar folks like meat cutters. Longtime Congressional Research Service Hill profiler Mildred Amer finds several firsts in the Democratic-controlled House and Senate. Such as: A record 90 women are serving in Congress; it's possibly the oldest ever, with an average age of 57; and it's home to the fewest-ever military men and women, with under 25 percent having served.

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

Maybe that copresidency talk in the early days of the Clinton presidency wasn't so far off. New details from an unusual source suggest that the tag-team presidency even filtered down to the kitchen. Former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier tells us that Bill and Hillary Clinton held his and her business meals: He morning confabbed to raise cash; she policy-lunched. "Our early impressions—that we were serving two presidents instead of one—were confirmed," he writes in the new All The Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House. More Clinton tidbits: The fave Christmas dessert is an "atrocious concoction" of Coca-Cola-flavored jelly served with black glacé cherries; Bubba ignored his allergies and ate chocolate cake, barking, "I'm the president around here" and Hillary used to don disguises to walk around Washington. Oh, and a hint to anybody serving sweets to the current first family: Laura Bush is sick of chocolate-covered strawberries, says Mesnier, who left in 2004.

With Dan Gilgoff, Linda Robinson, Angie C. Marek, and Suzi Parker

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?"

"That's such a w aste of time right now ... I came close, but so what? I didn't make it, so move on."

"This is not intimidating. Only Dracula would shrink from it."

"We're going to vote for you. We love you, Barack!"

Sources: Reuters, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Examiner