GOP Contest Prompts Yawns Outside Beltway

As some House Republicans campaign to oust their scandal-blemished GOP leadership team, they are facing an obstacle back home. It seems many voters could not care less. In interviews, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers who are home for a long January break said constituents are talking a great deal about high gas prices and even a best-selling book about killing the Internal Revenue Service, but not much about the intrigue gripping Capitol Hill. Even many of those voters who are closely following the leadership contest or the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal reportedly tend to deride all lawmakers as money-grubbing operators, and express little faith that Congress can be cleaned up by any politician. "I don't get the sense many people are paying attention," said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), who has been hoping party activists would lead demands for a shake-up. "Corruption is still 90 percent an inside-the-Beltway" issue. The lack of grass-roots enthusiasm for broad changes on Capitol Hill may work to the advantage of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), several legislators said. By most estimates, he is leading the race to become the next House majority leader -- despite his extensive connections to lobbyists, including some involved in the Abramoff scandal. Blunt's right-hand man, Rep. Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.), another member of Rep. Tom DeLay's leadership team, is similarly favored to replace Blunt as majority whip, the third-ranking party leadership post. The absence of a grass-roots rebellion has hindered the insurgent leadership campaigns of Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and others who are calling for fundamental changes in the way House Republicans govern in Washington, lawmakers said. Shadegg is running a distant third behind Blunt and Rep.

What it sounds like is that certain people with an ax to grind saw an opportunity to topple Delay and took it. Typically to have an ax hacking at someone, they have to have done something to earn it. In this case, Delay was good at whipping people into line.

Bloggers, apparently not having learned their lesson with toppling Lott and ending up with Frist...which, btw, not averse to Lott being gone but detest the manner it happened... have decided they want to handpick the successor to Delay. Given they were among the few with an ax that led to his fall, it's no surprise they want a say in who follows.

The trouble is that they were trying to sell this as a grassroot conservative uprising to justify their interference. And most conservatives don't give a damn about Abramhoff or useless promises about reform fixes that will probably result in us being worse off than before. Ex. CFR.

The congressman isn't making an excuse when he states it's an inside the beltway issue, it's reality. The only people caught up in it are some activists, and the MSM.

persoanlly I'm not impressed with any of the three in the race, though I'd probably lean toward Blunt just because those that toppled Delay don't deserve to benefit for their own lapse of ethics. Then I'd call another election a year from now when we're removed from MSM hyped scandals of Abramhoff and can have a real race on a) idealogy 2) effectiveness. Some people seem to forget it's nice to be conservative, but that doesn't mean you can get the votes. You can't get the votes, then you are useless.

On the second line, I'd semi agree with you. IMO, this isn't a race of reform at all. There is unlikely to be a strong statement made no matter how it winds up on that matter. All spin to the contrary.

I'm actually more in line with Mark Levin. I'd rather pencil in Tom Delay. ;-)

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