Congress and the Midterms

↑ Nancy Pelosi.

Sabato said the first woman speaker of the House and “arguably, the most powerful elective office position” for a woman ever, Pelosi is on the rise. But knocking down the otherwise stellar year for Madame Speaker were the stumbles after Nov. 7 that included her staunch support in the House majority leader race for the loser, Jack Murtha, who’s mug appeared in FBI file video tape as part of the 1980 Abscam scandal

Pelosi also rode a bumpy road in deciding who would take over the House intelligence committee post, where she spurned the more tenured member, fellow Californian and political foe Jane Harman; nearly picked an indicted former federal judge, Alcee Hastings and finally tapped a former Border Patrol agent, Silvestre Reyes, who had trouble in a news interview distinguishing between warring groups in Iraq.

↑ Steny Hoyer.

The Maryland representative entering his 14th term in office beat the above-mentioned Murtha for the second-most powerful House seat — held recently by Tom “The Hammer” DeLay (more on him later) — in a landslide vote. Hoyer “managed to buck one of his parties icons,” Sabato said, referring to the heavy lobbying against him by Pelosi.

↑ Rahm Emanuel.

Known as much for his political savvy as for his coarse tongue, this former ballet student turned House brawler came on the scene this year wielding a heavy whip to get into shape on-the-ground efforts to win House seats.

“It takes that kind of energy and dedication to win. It’s all consuming. It may not be good for the human being but it’s great” for the political world, Sabato said. More is expected of the Illinois representative, even though he has now given up his seat as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

↑ Harry Reid.

“Anytime you go from being the minority leader to being the majority leader in the United States Senate, it has to be counted as a good year,” Sabato said. But the Nevadan probably would have a lot more fun if he were House speaker, he added. Just ask Bill Frist or Trent Lott, who titled his book about the his tenure as majority leader “Herding Cats.” ‘Nuff said.

↑ Mitch McConnell.

Despite being the new leader of the losing party, he moves up the ranks and takes the honorary chair of chief backseat driver. Sabato said the Kentucky Republican is well-versed in the workings of the Senate and with 48 other Republicans standing behind him, they’ll be sure to have a real say in what makes it past the Senate floor and what gets scrapped and tossed into the recycling heap.

↓ Dennis Hastert.

The House speaker who will be handing the gavel over to Pelosi on Jan. 4 “couldn’t have had a worse year,” Sabato said. In addition to losing his speakership as a result of the majority switch, the Illinois Republican also ended up getting into the muck of the Mark Foley scandal — with many believing he didn’t do enough to put a stop to Foley’s advances on congressional pages before the behavior was uncovered by media reports, forcing Foley’s resignation.

↓ Rick Santorum.

The red-state Republican in the blue-state Pennsylvania didn’t stand much of a chance in the 2006 political atmosphere, and any presidential ambitions appear to be dashed, said Sabato who called it an “awful year” for Santorum, who had been the No. 3 Republican in the Senate before the Nov. 7 Election Day “thumpin.’”

↑ Trent Lott.

Maybe the brightest star in the dim GOP twilight of 2006, Lott came up from the ashes of political disgrace two years ago, when he gave up his majority leadership in the aftermath of a poor word-choice incident praising former Dixiecrat, the late Sen. Strom Thurmond. Lott wrote a good book, took the Senate minority whip post and “now he’s back,” Sabato said.

↔ Tom DeLay.

“The Hammer” started out getting his own Texas whuppin’ facing indictments from a strident — critics say partisan and witch-hunting — Travis County district attorney and was mentioned way too frequently for comfort as part of the Jack Abramoff story. Still facing legal troubles, DeLay was forced out of the House majority leadership and then finally chose not to seek re-election.

But a new Web site, a fresh attitude and a sweet Rolodex help 2006 end on an upswing for this former pesticide applicator. Sabato said right after the elections, DeLay was preening to him: “I’ve got a life again.”

↓ George Allen.

It’s almost never good when something a politician does gets crystallized in a catch-phrase followed by the word “moment.” Allen’s “macaca moment” may as well have been a control stick breaking off in his hand as his plane crashed into a mountain. Thanks to the ever-speedy Internet, a pesky Indian-American Democratic operative with an off-beat hairdo and the video the said operative took of Allen issuing the “macaca” vective, the staunch Bush supporter’s re-election hopes and presidential prospects lost altitude with every new click that YouTube.com logged.

Others in the News

↑ Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California’s Governator cast off his shoot-from-the-hip Hollywood vocabulary that included calling political foes “girlie men”; he sucked up major ballot initiative losses in 2005 and separated himself from the Bush administration while staying a pro-business Republican who also managed a signature clean air bill and other popular legislation. It was enough to beat liberal Democrat Phil Angelides and hang on to the governor’s mansion in Sacramento.

“If not for the Constitution, he’d be at the top of everyone’s list for president,” Pinkerton said.

↓ Jimmy Carter

The former president’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” might have sealed Carter’s fate as an outsider in Washington. The book, which rapped Israel for its Gaza policy, drew criticism not only for many of its conclusions but also for its “truthiness.” Carter’s longtime adviser quit and protest. Former Amb. Dennis Ross noted that a map in Carter’s book looks strikingly similar to a map from Ross’ own book, so much so that when asked if the former president ripped him off, Ross replied: “It sure looks that way.” NPR’s Williams said the former president isn’t going away any time soon in Washington, but his currency is diminished heading into the New Year.

↑ Al Gore

This green Democrat might be his party’s answer to the political resurrections of the GOP’s Gingrich and Lott. The former senator turned vice president turned sore loser in the 2000 presidential race starred in the widely-viewed film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” The film with an accompanying book herald the dire straits the world is in due to carbon emissions and the global warming that will destroy the planet if something isn’t done soon.

“He’s the comeback kid,” Williams said. With his now-prescient early warnings about the Iraq war, Gore could be on a trajectory to threaten Sen. Clinton for an ‘08 challenge.

↔ U.S. Supreme Court.

The top judiciary in the land is not nearly as scary as liberals predicted it would be nor likely conservative enough to satisfy those who fought tooth and nail to get Sam Alito seated. Chief Justice John Roberts, who barely had a month on the court when 2006 kicked off, seems to have maintained stability on the court, Williams said. With major decisions like school integration waiting for 2007, Americans will have to wait and see if Alito is the far-right jurist everyone expected.

↔ Immigrants.

“Their political fortunes have been a roller coaster right through ‘06,” Williams said.

Things were looking good for immigrants — especially the estimated 12 million illegals in this country. Legislation coursed through the Senate that fell in line with Bush’s call for comprehensive immigration reform and a guest worker program that could lead to citizenship, but things started to backslide in the House and midterm campaigns started taking on anti-immigration platforms.

Another twist came when immigration hardliners like Arizona’s J.D. Hayworth got beat Nov. 7. With Democrats now in power in Congress again, the Bush-styled plan is looking a lot more plausible and “at the moment, immigrants and immigration reform … are back on a good note,” said Williams, who favored the Senate bill.

↔ Evangelical Christians.

Transition marked 2006 for evangelical Christians, who proved to the rest of America that they’re not a monolithic group. They increasingly supported Democrats and took positions on global warming and societal issues that are at odds with the GOP agenda they largely helped to create, Williams said. But scandal didn’t leave evangelicals alone. Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed was rejected by Georgia voters as he sought the governorship, a loss that is chiefly attributed to his close ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. A former president of the largest evangelical Christian lobbying organization, Ted Haggard, found himself at the center of an unseemly sex scandal.

↑ Independent voters.

“There’s no way Democrats would have won control of the House and Senate without the support of independent voters,” Williams said. Problem is, you can’t define “independent voters” with a broad brush: Some were Republicans, some were registered “independent” or with other parties, some were Democrats who don’t necessarily vote with their party.

Democrats are going to have a tough time keeping this group together, but they’re already trying with independent-styled issues like reducing the deficit, making it easier for college students to get loans, immigration and and increasing the minimum wage, Williams said. Dangerous for both Republicans and Democrats, Williams said, is the fact that “they’re looking for somebody with ideas on the [Iraq] war.”

Edwards’s Theme: U.S. Poverty  For the roughly two dozen candidates considering a run for the White House, it is perhaps the jackpot question: What might be the winning message in a contest whose first nominating vote is still more than a year away?
Today, former Sen. John Edwards begins testing his hunch that Americans, though focused [...]

Passing of President Gerald R. Ford  Former President Gerald R. Ford, who declared “Our long national nightmare is over” as he replaced Richard Nixon but may have doomed his own chances of election by pardoning his disgraced predecessor, has died. He was 93.
The nation’s 38th president, and the only one neither elected to the office [...]

Romney set for presidential announcement   Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is making plans for his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in two phases early next month, a top adviser told The Associated Press on Friday. 
The Massachusetts chief executive is expected to file paperwork as early as Jan. 2 with the Federal Election Commission, establishing a [...]

Rice: Black U.S. president possible  America is ready to elect a black president, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.The nation’s highest-ranking black government official, Rice has said repeatedly she will not run for president despite high popularity ratings and measurable support in opinion polls.
“Yes, I think a black person can be elected president,” Rice said [...]

More troops needed for ‘long struggle’ The White House is considering an expansion of the U.S. Army and Marines for “the long struggle against radicals and extremists,” President Bush said during a Wednesday news conference.
Bush would not elaborate on where that struggle would take place, only that he wanted to ensure that the U.S. military [...]