Word: strausses
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...lawyer and veteran of hothouse politics, Texas style, Strauss has a way, as he puts it, of "getting things done and making things happen." To some that means "influence peddling." To others Strauss has become, at 69, Washington's pre-eminent cutter of Gordian knots. And if a deadlock develops at the Democratic Convention this summer, some Washingtonians think Strauss will be the keeper of the keys. In fact, a few of his closest friends -- with aw-shucks encouragement from Strauss -- want him to be the nominee...
...idea, of course, is pretty farfetched. Besides, though Strauss would disagree, the Oval Office might cramp his style. Is Mikhail Gorbachev in town? Strauss -- and Gorbachev -- are at Mrs. Reagan's table for the state dinner. (Helen Strauss, his wife of 46 years, is at a distant table, seated between Caspar Weinberger and Meadowlark Lemon of Harlem Globetrotters fame.) Is William F. Buckley using his TV show to conduct presidential campaign debates? Strauss is co-Grand Inquisitor. When bad blood develops between House Speaker Jim Wright and Secretary of State George Shultz over Nicaragua, Strauss mediates. When a new bipartisan...
...Strauss has gained influence by practicing politics the old-fashioned way. Whether he is pushing the Democrats' trade bill or trying to get federal help for Texas banks and savings and loans (including one in which he has an interest) or acting as a middleman for the U.S. and Canada on bilateral trade, the techniques are the same: press flesh, build relationships, probe for strengths and weaknesses. If he can't shake your hand, he'll give you a call. Strauss spends hours a day on the phone, staying in touch with his network of friends, his cello-like Texas...
...People will tell you," he says, "that Strauss is loyal to a fault." Yes, many will say that, if he doesn't beat them to it. And they'll relate his many personal kindnesses. Others will say, privately, that he's a fraud, an egomaniac, that his reputation is rooted more in legend than in fact, that he is too often the weather vane and too rarely the wind...
There's some truth in all of it, but there is no denying Strauss's reputation as a doer. He has never held elective office and has not even been in Government since he was Jimmy Carter's special trade representative and roving Middle East ambassador. But his circle of friends is as wide as any in Washington. Sit long enough in his law office on New Hampshire Avenue and you will hear him deal with a dazzling cross section of Washington's notables in both parties, from Senate Majority Leader Bob Byrd to Treasury Secretary James Baker to Newspaper...