Trade Czar's Roots: Comics & Curfews
Rob Portman , the president's new trade czar, thinks he's got just the right training to take on Hill opponents of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement and overseas movie and music pirates. But it's not his years as a trade lawyer or White House lobbyist or his previous post as the Republican congressman charged with winning Ohio for President Bush in 2004. It's more basic than that.
"I traded comic books" as a kid, he brags, citing Archie as his favorite. And baseball cards, though he concedes, "I don't think I ever got any great ones." Well, he did trade once for a Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Portman's team of choice is the rival Cincinnati Reds, so the deal wasn't too exciting. Worse: He doesn't have the prized card today. But his best experience has come in negotiating curfews and allowances with his teenage kids. "They are good," he says. "Every time I think I've won," he says, smiling, "there's another nuance--like the curfew goes from 11 to 11:15."
His homegrown skills are working. Portman is winning support for the troubled CAFTA proposal, which aims to open trade with Central America the way the North American pact did in Mexico and Canada. Next up: trade with China. One thought is hiring his kids to help out. "I think," he says, "they'll be tougher than the Chinese."
Talking the Talk, Driving the Drive
With Congress mulling the massive energy bill, we went to the Alliance to Save Energy with a question. House and Senate members talk a lot about saving energy, but do any drive a gas-sipping hybrid? Yes. Fifteen do, to be exact: eight Democrats, six Republicans, and one independent. "I get 32, 33, sometimes 34 miles per gallon," Rep. Jeb Bradley , a New Hampshire Republican, tells us about his Ford Escape Hybrid. "I'm really stoked about that." California Sen. Barbara Boxer has two Toyota Priuses--one in Washington and one at home. So do Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee and California Rep. Darrell Issa . Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar just got his Prius after being on the waiting list for months. And Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett , who has 80,000 miles on his Prius, is getting another. "It's the only time he ever bought a new car," says a spokeswoman.
In North Korea, a Hostage-Free Zone
What's the real reason behind the Pentagon's decision to suspend a program that sent teams to North Korea to search for the remains of Americans killed in the Korean War? "Do we want to put our people at risk?" asks one senior defense official. If the North Koreans test an atomic weapon in the next few months, it would likely invite a strong American response, and fears are that North Korea would retaliate by taking the teams hostage.
Can You Say, 'Chief Justice Scalia'?
It looks like the White House is considering only one sitting U.S. Supreme Court judge as a replacement for ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist , who's expected to step down this summer. Insiders tell us that Justice Antonin Scalia , not Justice Clarence Thomas , is the one President Bush is most likely to tap. The thinking: How could the Senate reject a judge they OK'd for the court 98 to 0?
This President Is One Tough Boss
New top aides and cabinet members are finding the hours and pressure imposed by President Bush even worse than expected. "I knew he'd be a task master," says one official, "and he is." Others say that Bush deputies Andy Card and Karl Rove also expect near perfection and 24/7 service. But, all agree, it's worth it. "It's a very tight family," says an official.
Hillary Fans: Enough Already!
It's a simple request, though one nobody's listening to: Friends of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton want the press to stop asking about a 2008 presidential bid when she's still got a 2006 re-election campaign to run. New York Sen. Charles Schumer is the leading "Leave Hillary Alone" advocate. "She gets out of bed," he barks, "and everybody says, 'Oh, that's an indication that she's running for president.'"
Killer Words From a Killer Consultant
Republican strategist Frank Luntz is a master at finding the best words for politicians and businesspeople to sell their programs and products, and soon he's going to publicly reveal the tricks of his trade. Luntz tells us he's writing Killer Words , a book that argues that simple changes in language can make all the difference in creating public appeal for an idea. The Hyperion book should be out by mid-2006.
A Congressman's Private Passion
Ohio Rep. Mike Turner has a secret life, but it's nothing his Republican district in Dayton will be embarrassed about: He's the biggest Star Wars junkie in Congress. How bad does he have it? Turner tells us he just returned from the "Star Wars Celebration III" convention in Indianapolis, where he waited in a really long line to pose his family with director George Lucas . He subscribes to Star Wars Insider magazine. And his office computer sports a Yoda screensaver. His daughters have it even worse. "It's been fun sharing that," he says. One example: His oldest wrote a three-minute film to submit to an annual Star Wars contest. Turner held the camera as his two girls acted out their version of Attack of the Clones and the new Revenge of the Sith . "They had a two-part movie," Turner says. "It was called the Attack of the Biological Sisters and Revenge of the Sis ." It didn't win, but a new one is planned. Turner says he fell for the movies because they promote good over bad, though the Dark Side succeeds in Sith . And what of the media comparisons of Darth Vader and other Sith bad guys to Republicans? Turner conjures up the ugly character Palpatine , the evil Galactic Empire ruler and former senator. "If you did a Sen. Palpatine lookalike comparison," he says, "you'd find more on the other side than our side of the aisle."
usnews.com You can see if your representative or senator drives a hybrid: www.usnews.com/whispers
With Marianne Lavelle, Julian E. Barnes and Kenneth T. Walsh
This story appears in the June 6, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.