[Gipper08]

Having lost two runs for the House in 1988 and 1990, Pence finally got to Washington, D.C., in 2001 — a moment when the possibilities for conservative Republicans seemed limitless.

President Reagan had been thwarted by a Democratic Congress; Newt Gingrich had been outmaneuvered by Bill Clinton. But now, with Congress and the White House under Republican control, conservative dreams of cutting government could finally come true.

Pence describes his feeling of the time: "Here I am, I'm finally all suited up. Gen. Washington, I'm here!"

But instead of the end of the Department of Education — a Republican goal since the Reagan years — the first piece of legislation he was handed was No Child Left Behind, the largest expansion of the federal government's role in education since the Carter years.

"They tell me: Don't worry about it, it's an anomaly," he recalls.

But after being re-elected in 2002, the next top-priority bill he got handed was the $1.2 trillion Medicare prescription-drug giveaway.

"That's when I began to speak publicly about these matters," Pence recalled. "I don't try to be all holier-than-thou . . . But you want to create a new entitlement, you want the federal government to do national testing in my local school? Wrong answer. Not what I came here to do."

[Gipper08]

"REP. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who came to Congress six years after the 1994 Repub lican takeover, says he feels like a Minuteman who showed up late for the revolution."

[jla]

But instead of the end of the Department of Education — a Republican goal since the Reagan years — the first piece of legislation he was handed was No Child Left Behind, the largest expansion of the federal government's role in education since the Carter years.

"They tell me: Don't worry about it, it's an anomaly," he recalls.

But after being re-elected in 2002, the next top-priority bill he got handed was the $1.2 trillion Medicare prescription-drug giveaway.

"That's when I began to speak publicly about these matters," Pence recalled. "I don't try to be all holier-than-thou . . . But you want to create a new entitlement, you want the federal government to do national testing in my local school? Wrong answer. Not what I came here to do."

"Take that!...you fence-straddling moderates!"

[Stellar Dendrite]

pence bump!

[demkicker]

I hate to sound pessimistic, but after seeing Ted Stevens (R), Alaska, throw his hissy fit on the Senate floor threatening to quit the Senate if anyone dared touch his enormous pork, spending hundreds of millions on two bridges to nowhere, then it looks pretty grim.

I know there are great conservative Republicans in congress. Trouble is, they're too few and grossly outnumbered by the free wheeling spenders. There needs to be a HUGE overhaul in Washington.

[Badray]

bttt