Word: speakers
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...releasing an ad blaming it on Democrats in general and Obama in particular--but in modern Washington nothing is too important for partisan politics, especially a month before an election. Members in tight races don't think a lot about statesmanship; they think about survival. Even if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House minority leader John Boehner wanted to unite their caucuses behind a bill they thought the country needed, they don't have the power of a Sam Rayburn or a Tom DeLay to ramrod their members into line. In fact, with dozens of Republicans facing stiffer-than-normal...
That was then. Today Arapahoe's famous sons are Democratic governor Bill Ritter and Andrew Romanoff, the Democratic speaker of the house. The Republican Party is 4,000 voters away from losing its registration advantage in the county. And in 2004, Bush won by less than 3 points here, roughly half his margin across the state. Democrats now hold 8 of 11 state house seats in Arapahoe, and they are one seat away from taking over the county commission. What explains the shift? At the same time that nearby Jefferson and Douglas counties were wooing away Arapahoe's upwardly mobile...
...leadership needs to work the votes and get it done. It was disappointing," says Representative George Radonovich of California, the only Republican who switched his vote from no to yes during the vote. Boehner's initial clumsy attempt to blame the bill's defeat in part on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan speech before the vote didn't help his sinking standing; it was derided not just by Democrats, but also by his Republican colleagues (John Shaddeg of Arizona minced no words, calling it a "stupid claim...
...remember, was never forgiven by conservatives for breaking his "read my lips" no-new-taxes pledge, and he went on to lose his re-election bid two years later. The moderate Republican minority leader Bob Michel faced his own insurrection from conservatives, including Armey and Newt Gingrich, who became Speaker when the GOP won the House in 1994. "There are two or three Gingrich-type figures in the House, say Mike Pence or Jeb Hensarling, but they would come to the role reluctantly," Armey says. "Though, sometimes the conditions raise somebody, force them...
...That's not to say that Boehner hasn't been an effective partisan leader as well: last year the GOP won or drew more rounds than it lost to Speaker Pelosi. Its most recent victory: a relaxation on offshore drilling rules - though that victory was lost amid the bailout furor and stock market chaos...