House GOP Leadership Up for Grabs
In a stark assessment of Republican losses in the midterm elections, Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt depicted a party that had lost its way, saying, "We have often become the defenders rather than the challengers of business as usual." But the speech to the Heritage Foundation last week was designed to defend at least one aspect of business as usual–Blunt's position as the party whip.
Congressional Republicans will vote Friday on whether Blunt and Majority Leader John Boehner should keep their leadership roles when their party becomes the minority. (House Speaker Dennis Hastert is bowing out of any such role.) Boehner faces challenges from Indiana Rep. Mike Pence and Texas Rep. Joe Barton, while Blunt will compete with Arizona Rep. John Shadegg.
Conservative pundits and the right-wing blogosphere have been abuzz with opposition to Boehner and Blunt, with columnist Robert Novak calling the probable re-election of the current leaders "an act of supreme irrationality." In a letter to colleagues, Boehner acknowledged that Republicans took "a pounding" on election night but cited efforts to curb pork-barrel spending and push tax cuts as reasons for Republicans to return him to the leadership. Boehner scored an upset win over Blunt for the majority leader position in February, arguing that a change was needed after Rep. Tom DeLay was indicted and stepped down from the post.
The rhetoric of both the current leaders and their challengers is strikingly similar. All blame a turn away from conservative principles–especially fiscal restraint–as the cause of the party's troubles and seek a return to the themes of the Contract With America that swept Republicans into power in the House in 1994.
"Republicans cannot simply be Democrats lite," Barton said in the letter announcing his candidacy.
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