Washington Whispers
New GOP Boss Brings His Game
Sports has often been the way for Mel Martinez, the Florida senator and new Republican Party general chairman, to prove he's different and a team player. As a kid in communist Cuba, for example, he'd show his rebel side by wearing a Catholic scapular around his neck during basketball and baseball games just to irk the authorities. "When you live in a totalitarian society, those are the little victories," he tells us. The result: His parents shipped him alone to Florida before he went too far. There, he used sports to fit in. "Hitting a line drive or trading elbows under a basket," he says, "makes you like everyone else."
Now, with the congressional GOP in the minority, Martinez is using those experiences to chart a comeback. "We need to be on the same team," he says, joking that he should get some team jerseys for the Republicans. To show the GOP is different, he says he wants to "improve our brand." That means going back to the basics of Reaganism "while understanding that times change." Next: Build consensus on key issues like immigration, spending, and the war. "I hope," he says, "that I will be able to bring some cohesion to our message so that we speak with one voice." And being Cuban, he adds, is a plus: He feels he represents "the new American spirit" and diversity. "You know the most common name in baseball is not Smith, not Jones," he says. "It's Martinez."
Still a Specter on Capitol Hill
It's been over five years since the first anthrax scare on Capitol Hill, but the fallout continues. Not only do letters sent to congressional offices get held up sometimes for weeks for inspection, but several offices ask couriers to open the letters before giving them to receptionists. It happened last week when a U.S. News intern made a delivery to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and presidential candidates Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Get this: One even asked him to open the envelope in the hallway. The offices don't like to talk about their mail policies, but one staffer says, "The mail is still slow, and irradiating it [to kill anthrax] often ruins it and makes it smell."
Donors Going to Bat for Giuliani
It's not just spring training for baseball. On March 14, donors will be warming up for the New York Yankees' No. 1 fan, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Insiders say he's hosting his first fundraiser, the "New York City Home Team Reception." A baseball theme will rule: The $2,300 price will include Cracker Jacks, hot dogs, and a Rudy '08 ball cap. The entertainment: the Yank's organist and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan singing "God Bless America." And depending on the amount, donors will be categorized as "team captain," "most valued," "all star," and "slugger." How big a fan is Giuliani? Pollster Frank Luntz, who's been to games with Giuliani, tells us, "The most dangerous place anywhere is the space between Rudy and the Yankees."
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