Word: hastert
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Last February a Gallup poll revealed that 66% of Americans could identify Regis Philbin as the host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, whereas only 6% were able to come up with the name of the Speaker of the House. That suits Dennis Hastert, congressional man of mystery to 94% of the population, just fine. "I don't want or need notoriety," he says. Too bad. It's coming. With a razor-thin Republican majority and House members on both sides of the aisle already in mid-tantrum over the presidential election, Hastert is not just about to become...
...When Hastert, 58, first became Speaker of the House, anonymity was his mandate. Following Newt Gingrich's 1998 self-immolation and Bob Livingston's scandal-plagued, 32-day stay as Speaker-designate, congressional Republicans needed a Speaker with an aversion to open microphones and a private life cleaner than soap. They wanted the Anti-Newt, and Hastert--a beefy, obscure, seven-term Congressman from Illinois--was their knight in a husky gray suit. He quickly put his stamp on the office by delivering part of his acceptance speech from the floor of the House. "My legislative home is here...
...Hastert grew up hoisting 100-lb. seed bags onto his father's feed truck in Oswego, Ill. After graduating from Wheaton College, he started a 16-year career as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, experience he brought with him to Washington in 1986. "Coaching is something that gives you discipline," he says. "You have to spend a lot of time working on technique and bringing people together to get things done. That's the same thing I'm doing here." Hastert's let's-all-pull-together style proved popular with Republicans in the House. He rose...
...short term. The acting president in case there is no president or vice president to fulfill the duties is (remember your civics classes) the Speaker of the House. Since the new Congress will already be in session on January 20, the Speaker will most likely be Republican Dennis Hastert. If for any reason the Coach can't take over the top job, next in line is the president pro tempore of the Senate, the venerable Strom Thurmond ("pro tempore," by the way, is fancy lingo for "oldest guy"). This of course has led to lots of ageist chuckling (the most...
...Cabinet issue is a particularly important one, because if Thurmond can't serve as president, the office then goes to members of the President's Cabinet in the historic order in which their posts were created. Because Cabinet members serve until they resign or are replaced, and if Hastert or Thurmond hasn't made new appointments, the succession goes like this...