January 2003

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Bush: 'Our Union Is Strong' 1/28/2003 9:52 PM Building a case for war against Iraq, President Bush said Tuesday night he will present fresh evidence to the United Nations next week of Saddam Hussein's illegal weapons and vowed the United States will lead a campaign to disarm the Iraqi regime if he refuses to surrender its arms. "The course of this nation does not depend on the decision of others," Bush said in his second State of the Union address. "We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," the president said. Speaking to Congress and a global television audience, Bush presented a laundry list of Saddam's alleged offenses, some of them newly revealed to the public. He said intelligence sources have reported that thousands of Iraqi personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. weapons inspectors. Read the article Congressional Leaders Select Blunt to 1/28/2003 9:50 PM He’s the third-ranking House Republican, but Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt was absent from Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Congressional leaders designated Blunt to miss President Bush’s speech to a joint session of the House and Senate for security reasons, according to Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor. The four-term lawmaker plans to watch the speech at an undisclosed location. The precaution was established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to ensure that Congress could be reconstituted after a disaster, she said. The policy is separate from the long-standing tradition that one Cabinet secretary stay behind when the president addresses Congress to maintain the presidential line of succession. As majority whip, Blunt is not in the line of succession. Read the article Bush Chooses Ashcroft as "Successor" During State of the Union 1/28/2003 9:42 PM President Bush designated Attorney General John Ashcroft to stay away from his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, making Ashcroft the successor to head the government should catastrophe strike at the Capitol. The absence of a Cabinet secretary maintained a long-standing tradition that one member not attend presidential addresses to Congress. Ashcroft stayed in an undisclosed location Tuesday night as the rest of Bush's Cabinet, top military aides and three Supreme Court justices gathered for the State of the Union address. Read the article Transfer Of Reagan Home in Question 1/27/2003 5:38 PM Almost a year after President Bush signed a bill to make former president Ronald Reagan's boyhood Illinois home a national historic site, the place remains privately owned. The foundation that owns and manages the site is not happy with the federal government's offer for it. Norman Wymbs, head of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Foundation in Dixon, Ill., called the Interior Department's $420,000 offer in December for the site "kind of insulting." The foundation values the site -- which includes the home, an adjacent visitors center and a park with a statue of the 40th president -- at $2.5 million to $3 million. Wymbs, a close friend of Reagan's and author of two books on the former president, said his foundation cannot accept the offer and that if Interior doesn't "think it's that important -- we do." Read the article GOP Looks to Recruit Minority Candidates 1/26/2003 12:47 PM Republicans coming off historically successful midterm elections are intent on broadening their party's base by recruiting more minority candidates to bring a gradual change in the complexion of their party. The most crucial task is to develop more support in the Hispanic community, where President Bush is relatively popular. In the 2002 elections, when the GOP increased its hold on the House and won the Senate, Republicans fared well among Hispanics in New York and Florida while Democrats dominated in the Southwest and West. Beyond its control of the White House and both branches of Congress, the party will take its usual financial advantage into the next round of elections. Read the article Partial to Texas and Camp David, Bush Has Made Few Forays Into Unofficial Washington 1/26/2003 12:45 PM The president and Laura Bush decided one night this month that it was time for a night out in Washington. Shortly after 7 p.m. on Jan. 15, they walked through the doors of the Cactus Cantina on Wisconsin Avenue NW and into a dining room filled with about 250 unsuspecting locals. Their table was near the back, away from the windows. She got the fajitas. He got the cheese enchilada. Such adventures have been rare since the Bushes moved into the White House two years ago. Asked for examples of similar forays, White House staff members and keen-eyed presidential observers often pause, in a head-scratching sort of way, before proceeding. "Well, they actually haven't done much of that," said Noelia Rodriguez, the first lady's spokeswoman. "They pretty much every night have dinner together when they're at the White House. They spend a lot of time reading. And he might watch some sort of sporting event, especially during baseball season." Read the article White House Seeks to Steer Senate Races 1/22/2003 11:17 PM White House officials have put pressure on at least two House Republicans to put their Senate ambitions on hold and leave the way clear for the administration's favored candidates, Republican sources say. To engineer victories in South Dakota and Washington, Reps. William Janklow (R-S.D.) and George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) have been asked to let former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.) weigh their options first. The White House operatives have also played up preferred candidates in the Carolinas, North Dakota and Nevada. Some Republicans are holding back for fear of taking on the White House. The White House apparently seeks a repeat performance of the 2002 midterm elections, when President Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, persuaded several Senate hopefuls not to run. Read the article The Detail Man Behind Bush's Wins 1/22/2003 11:02 PM It all started with Ronald Reagan. A 13-year-old in Baltimore with an interest in politics volunteers for his first campaign -- and finds a hero for life. Twenty-two years later, Ken Mehlman is White House political director, a major force behind the Republican victories of November and the man in line to run President Bush's reelection campaign in 2004. "My job," Mehlman says, "is to look after the president's political interests." That's a pretty broad field, and obviously Mehlman is not the only person tending that territory. But he is the one who does the actual plowing and planting. From his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mehlman takes the Big Ideas from his boss, Bush strategist Karl Rove, and others and does the hard, detailed work of customizing them and dispersing them to far-flung candidates and contexts. Read the article Family Members Among White House Staff 1/21/2003 5:29 PM After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, White House aide Jeanie Figg made a pledge to see her grown daughter in person - every day. Turns out that wasn't too tough. Just a quick dash from East Wing to West Wing. Figg, the White House deputy social secretary, and daughter Kara, deputy director of scheduling, are among a smattering of family duos who can put the world's most prestigious office address on their business cards. For at least a dozen people on President Bush's staff - husband-and-wife pairs, sibling combinations and parent-child teams - the job of a lifetime takes on a pinch-yourself-twice dimension: dining in the White House mess together, taking your children to the president's Christmas party. Read the article Conservative Alexander Likely to Vote with GOP 1/21/2003 4:51 PM When Rodney Alexander attended his first meeting of the House Democratic Caucus on Dec. 10 - just three days after his upset runoff victory in Louisiana's 5th Congressional District - his future colleagues gave him a standing ovation. The Democrats' euphoria was based more on mathematics than philosophy. Mr. Alexander's victory reduced the Republicans' majority from 10 seats to nine, but the applause may fade once he starts casting votes. "He's pro-life and pro-gun; you have to be up there [in District 5]," said John Maginnis, a Baton Rouge-based political columnist who has observed Mr. Alexander as a member of the state House of Representatives since he was elected in 1988. "But given the poverty in the area, a Democrat has to support government programs like health care and vital services." Read the article Bush Faces Choices for 2004 Fund Raising 1/21/2003 2:35 PM Whenever President Bush chooses to enter the 2004 presidential fund-raising race, he will do so with considerable advantages over his Democratic rivals. Bush already has shattered records as the Republican Party's fund-raiser-in-chief, taking in more than $140 million for the GOP last year and some $100 million for his own campaign in 2000. Here, in question and answer form, is a preview of the president's fund raising for his re-election effort, starting with the primaries: Read the article New Governor Puts Georgia on GOP Map 1/19/2003 11:15 AM History was looking on when Sonny Perdue was sworn in last week as the first Republican governor of Georgia in 130 years -- and so was a stage full of Democrats. On one side of the dais in the converted hockey-basketball arena, where thousands of Republicans gathered to watch Perdue take the oath, sat six former Democratic governors, from a succession stretching back to the 1950s, and the widow of Herman E. Talmadge, a dominant Democrat in the 1940s. On the other side was an array of Democratic state officials, from the lieutenant governor to the agriculture and labor commissioners, all reelected on the day Perdue upset Gov. Roy Barnes (D) -- and all with much larger vote totals than the new GOP chief executive. Read the article GOP Governors Grit Teeth and Raise Taxes 1/19/2003 11:12 AM Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, a proudly conservative Republican, was determined to solve his state's fiscal crisis without raising taxes. Last year, he pulled it off, but the pain was everywhere: large layoffs and tuition increases at state colleges; reduced child-care subsidies for parents among the working poor; an end to dental care for adults on Medicaid. This year, facing another 10 percent budget gap, Kempthorne said these were his only options left: Close the state parks; end state aid to public health clinics; abolish state support for community colleges and student financial aid; cut public education; slash Medicaid and programs for seniors and veterans. He couldn't do it. In a turnabout that echoes nationally as states face their worst fiscal crises since World War II, the governor who cut taxes 48 times in his first term opened his second one by calling for increases in state cigarette and sales taxes. Read the article Hulshof Bows out of Race for Missouri Governor 1/19/2003 11:09 AM Republican U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof on Friday bowed out of a race for Missouri governor in 2004, clearing the way for the GOP to throw its full support behind Secretary of State Matt Blunt. The race is nearly two years away, but Republicans are itching to take on Democratic Gov. Bob Holden after his rocky first two years. However, GOP leaders worry that a primary contest between prominent Republicans would damage the nominee who challenges Holden. Hulshof, a four-term congressman from Columbia, Mo., was leaning toward the governor's race until his father, Paul, died Nov. 22 after battling lung cancer for several months. Hulshof's second child was born on Dec. 7. "Ours is not a political family," Hulshof said in a statement. "I cannot in good conscience provide the representation people deserve, be a good husband and father, take on the additional responsibilities of the family business and meet the demands that a statewide run would create. Read the article Cornyn, Bush Have Ties of Long Standing in Texas 1/14/2003 7:19 PM Sen. John Cornyn was ex-Texas Gov. George W. Bush's state attorney general who, like "Dubya," won three statewide victories as a Republican office-seeker before coming to Washington. Like Mr. Bush, Texas' new junior senator marched across America's second-largest state in cowboy boots on a libertarian-conservative platform promising to help "those most vulnerable" in society. He's perhaps the only freshman member of Congress who could get the president on the phone. "Well, I think I can get through to him - I probably can," said the courtly 50-year-old former Texas Supreme Court justice, who exudes thoughtful caution and Southern courtesy. Read the article Senate Committee System in Chaos 1/14/2003 7:16 PM Senate Republicans have been back in power for a week now, which means they're supposed to run the committees and schedule hearings. But new committee chairmen haven't gotten their gavels, new senators haven't gotten their committee assignments and hearings are being rescheduled. What's missing is an "organizing resolution" that details exactly who reigns over what committee and how much money the majority and minority parties divide up in each committee. The standoff is causing quite an organizational ruckus on Capitol Hill, and at least 11 new senators are floundering without portfolios. Read the article For Perdue and Georgia GOP, It's Worth the Wait 1/14/2003 7:10 PM Thirty-nine words ended 130 years of history today, as Sonny Perdue took the oath of office as Georgia's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. He pledged to "forge a new spirit of cooperation, consensus-building and reconciliation" in the last state of the Confederacy to turn Democrats out of the highest office. Perdue, 56, who switched parties in 1998 after rising to leadership as a Democratic state senator, offered a rhetorical olive branch to Democrats still shellshocked by his upset victory over Gov. Roy Barnes (D) last November. That election, he said, "was not about the elevation of one party or person over another," but "about putting the interests of the people first." But for the thousands of Republicans who jammed Philips Arena this afternoon for the inauguration ceremonies, it was a sweet victory. Read the article GOP Leaders Tighten Hold In the House 1/13/2003 10:32 PM House Republican leaders, through a series of little-noticed rule changes and key appointments, are dramatically tightening their hold on power as they prepare to push for new spending cuts, bigger tax breaks and a more ambitious social agenda. Since padding their majority in the November elections, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) have circumvented the seniority system to reward their most loyal allies with important chairmanships. They have systematically changed internal rules to seize greater authority over rank-and-file members, and they unexpectedly scrapped the eight-year limit on Hastert's reign. Read the article Young Presidential Adviser Returns Home -- for Now 1/13/2003 10:29 PM Around the White House, he was known as "Farm Boy," for his months of toil on the record-setting agriculture bill President Bush signed last year. Among national Republicans, he is known as one of the party's most promising weapons for reaching young African Americans. Now Dylan C. Glenn, after two years as a deputy at the National Economic Council, has gone home to Georgia to join the senior staff of incoming Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. Glenn, 33, was one of two blacks appointed to Perdue's senior staff, bringing him in-state praise for diversity after his bruising, Bush-supported campaign against Gov. Roy Barnes (D). Republicans in Washington hope Glenn will parlay his new job into a congressional or statewide race two years from now, extending Republican gains in a traditionally Democratic state. Read the article Black Conservatives Advise Republicans 1/13/2003 10:23 PM The forced resignation of the Senate's GOP leader over racially insensitive remarks and the departure of the only black Republican in Congress has black conservatives lecturing party leaders that the GOP "cannot be lily white any longer." Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator who organized a two-hour meeting Monday at Republican National Committee headquarters, stressed afterward that the party must increase its efforts to prove its commitment to blacks, both as voters and candidates. Williams, a former aide to retired Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., was among more than a dozen black conservatives who met with RNC Chairman Marc Racicot and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to discuss how the GOP can put more blacks in office and increase its standing among minorities. Read the article Frist Kept His Eyes on the Prize 1/12/2003 11:55 AM Bill Frist was in a small, shaky plane, racing toward a hospital across Tennessee. Someone was dead in Chattanooga, the heart available for transplant. This time, an old college professor was aboard. Uwe E. Reinhardt, the noted Princeton health economist, had been in Nashville to talk to alumni; Frist, one of Reinhardt's brightest students from the early 1970s, was his escort. When the surgeon's beeper had gone off at dinner, he invited the teacher along. By that night in late 1993, such interruptions had become routine for Frist. In a family of successful medical men, he had outdistanced them all, coming home to build from scratch a transplant program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. There, he had replaced nearly 200 hearts and lungs. As the plane flew southeast, Reinhardt was surprised to see Frist, amid all the jouncing, buried in a book. What, Reinhardt asked, was he reading? Campaign literature, the surgeon replied. On the return flight -- with the heart he had removed on ice in a Snoopy lunch bucket -- Frist told Reinhardt that this transplant would be his last: He was going to run for the U.S. Senate. Read the article Missouri GOP Hopes to Take Gephardt's Congressional Seat 1/12/2003 11:42 AM The last time a Republican held Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, the state's own Harry Truman was calling the White House home, Uncle Miltie ruled TV in its infancy, and the New York Yankees beat the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. Still, the GOP drought since 1949 isn't all that deflating to Missouri Republican Party chief John Hancock, who notes that Republicans hadn't controlled both chambers of the state Legislature since 1948 -- until now. And with Dick Gephardt, the Democratic holder of the 3rd District seat since 1976, not planning to seek another term next year as he chases the presidency, Hancock believes "the GOP is going to have a real shot in a very competitive district." "We look forward to the battle," Hancock said. Read the article Missouri Congressmen Gain Clout in D.C. 1/12/2003 11:40 AM When it comes to assuming the mantle of leadership in Washington, D.C., six Missouri officials from both parties have been able to compete with the nation's larger states for plum leadership slots. Most notably, John Ashcroft -- a former Missouri senator and governor -- was tapped as Attorney General for President George Bush. Recently, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, was selected to the third-highest post in the U.S. House of Representatives when he was elected majority whip. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, is the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Military Procurement and Armed Services, and Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Missouri, sits on the Ways and Means Committee. Read the article In Senate, Opening Act Presages Theatrics 1/8/2003 8:43 PM The Senate, normally a slow, staid venue, reopened yesterday with a new director, a modified cast and several story lines that should make it the hottest political theater in Washington. Vying for starring roles are nearly a dozen presidential hopefuls -- past and future -- including a fast-rising heart surgeon-turned-politician and two famous-in-their-own-right wives of 1996's presidential nominees. Read the article Georgia's Zell Miller Not Seeking Reelection 1/8/2003 8:40 PM Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, a popular former Georgia governor, announced Wednesday he won't seek re-election in 2004 - a move that could complicate Democratic efforts to retake the Senate. The surprise announcement came in a statement in which Miller explained he was making the announcement early so that others could prepare to run for the seat. Miller had been retired from public life in the summer of 2000 when he was appointed to fill the Senate vacancy created by the death of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell. Miller won a special election in November of that year to fill the remaining years of Coverdell's term, which concludes in 2004. In his short time in the Senate, Miller made his mark on several key pieces of legislation - often aligning himself with President Bush and against fellow Democrats. He was the Democratic sponsor of Bush's 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut and his Homeland Security Department, among other things. Read the article Pomp and Circumstance Abound on Capitol Hill 1/7/2003 9:15 PM Giddy newcomers to Capitol Hill were sworn in Tuesday as the 108th Congress convened for its legislative session, which is likely to be chock full of agenda items such as economic stimulus and leftover appropriations bills, as well as political squabbles. At the start of each Congress, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate -- the newly elected senators -- perform a solemn yet joyous constitutional rite that has its roots in the first Congress in 1789. It's a rite of passage that takes them from the position of constituent to that of elected representative. Vice President Dick Cheney called the Senate into order and administered the oath of office to senators four at a time, shaking hands with newcomers, including Republicans Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas. The House held a similar ceremonial oath at the same time. Read the article Jeb Bush Takes Oath for Second Term 1/7/2003 9:13 PM Jeb Bush was sworn in Tuesday as the first Republican to be re-elected governor in Florida, promising to promote strong families and to continue with his conservative agenda. Bush stressed that faith and families are needed to strengthen Florida and he spoke of a dream that government buildings will someday sit empty as the state plays a lesser role in people's lives. "We can embed in society a sense of caring that makes government less necessary," he said. "There would be no greater tribute to our maturity as a society than if we can make these buildings around us empty of workers, silent monuments to the time when government played a larger role than it deserved or could adequately fill." Read the article Bush Renominates Pickering, Other Judges 1/7/2003 9:12 PM President Bush on Tuesday renominated appellate court nominees Charles Pickering of Mississippi and Priscilla Owen of Texas, who were rejected by the Democrat-controlled Senate last year but will likely have a better shot of confirmation under the newly Republican-controlled chamber. Pickering and Owen's nominations were returned to the Senate along with 28 other judicial nominations who were not considered by the full Senate last year. Pickering and Owen, however, were the only two who were specifically rejected last year by the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. "All judicial nominees deserve consideration by the full Senate," White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee said. Read the article New Congress Begins With GOP at Helm 1/7/2003 12:18 PM The 108th Congress is commencing with Republicans at the helm on both sides of the Capitol hoping to swiftly pass a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits so they can shift their focus to President Bush's plan for stimulating the economy and overdue budget bills. With Bill Frist of Tennessee poised for his first day as Senate majority leader, Republicans planned to begin Senate debate on the jobless assistance package on Tuesday and hoped to finish by Thursday. House passage could come Wednesday, reflecting a GOP desire to quickly quiet Democratic criticism that Republicans have ignored victims of the struggling economy. "This is an issue that we cannot dawdle on," Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the No. 3 Senate Republican leader, told reporters Monday. "We have to find a bipartisan consensus and get it done quickly." Read the article GOP to Lift Term Limits on House Speaker 1/6/2003 10:21 PM House Republicans were voting Monday night to lift the eight-year term limit on House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The vote was to come during the first meeting of House Republicans in the new 108th Congress. Several sources told Fox News that it was expected to pass overwhelmingly. The vote will then be submitted to the Rules Committee for floor passage on Tuesday. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the new House Majority Whip, was to propose the change during the GOP conference meeting. Read the article GOP 2004 Convention to Be Held in New York 1/6/2003 10:16 PM Republican Party leaders on Monday chose New York as the site for their 2004 presidential nominating convention. "New York is exactly the right place for the president and for the Republican Party. ... The RNC is making history," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, calling the convention a "tremendous boost for the city." "The labor unions have been exceptionally helpful in assuring the Republican Party that the convention will go forward with all of the efficiencies" the party wanted, Bloomberg said. There was no immediate word from the mayor as to what details still needed to be worked out. Read the article Jeb Bush for President in 2008? 1/6/2003 10:28 AM Even before he's begun his second term, Gov. Jeb Bush is facing questions about his next political step. Will he run for president in 2008? Bush was in the midst of discussing his policy goals over the next four years Sunday when he was asked the presidency question. ''It's like talking about whatever that group is from outer space,'' Bush said, blanking on the group's name until someone shouted out: ``Raelians.'' ''Right, Raelians,'' Bush said, returning to the idea of running for president. ``It's weird. I never think about it.'' A moment later, the crowd at Miami-Dade County's Tropical Park cheered. A man behind Bush had raised aloft a sign. It read: ``Jeb Bush for President 2008.'' Bush sighed and asked a reporter, ``Did you set him up''? Read the article Poll: Republicans Answer More Online Polls 1/5/2003 10:38 PM Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to participate in online surveys, according to a poll that found a modest growth in the number of people using the Internet to get campaign news. Among those who go online to catch up on politics, almost half of Republicans, 46 percent, said they like to register their opinions in online surveys. Fewer than three in 10 Democrats, 28 percent, said they like to participate in the online surveys, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, in cooperation with the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Read the article GOP Attacks Edwards 1/5/2003 10:23 PM The Republican National Committee wasted no time responding to Sen. John Edwards's announcement Thursday that he would seek the presidency. "Who is John Edwards?" an RNC press release Friday asked about the North Carolina Democrat. "An Unaccomplished Liberal In Moderate Clothing And A Friend To His Fellow Personal Injury Trial Lawyers." Funny, that's not how Edwards described himself Thursday, when he announced his candidacy: "I run for president to be a champion of regular people." Read the article Teen Autograph Seeker Nails Big Names 1/5/2003 10:14 PM While some kids collect autographs from their favorite sports players or rock stars, one teen is pursuing autographs from a different sort of idol. Seventeen-year-old Adam Parkhomenko has collected over 5,500 autographs, mostly from politicians. "While other kids are hanging out at the mall, I'm usually on Capitol Jill watching the Senate or trying to meet new members," Parkhomenko told Fox News. Parkhomenko has 12 boxes - 75 binders - plus a computer database for all the autographs and photos he owns of congressmen, governors, senators, and the occasional media star. Read the article Santorum to Give Committee Chair to Lott 1/5/2003 10:13 PM The Senate's No. 3 Republican, Rick Santorum, confirmed on Sunday that he was stepping aside as a committee chairman in favor of ousted GOP leader Trent Lott. "One of the things I believe very strongly is that we need to put our best team on the field," said Santorum, R-Pa. Santorum, recently elected to a second term as GOP conference chairman, pointed to his other Senate duties as well as Lott's institutional experience in explaining his decision to let Lott take over as chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee. The committee controls the assignment and administration of prized office space on the Senate side of the Capitol and resolves disputes on Senate rules and procedures. "It basically runs the Capitol" and the chairman is "sort of the mayor of Capitol Hill," Santorum said. "I think someone with his tremendous experience as leader in running the operations of the Senate would bring a lot to the table," he told "Fox News Sunday." Read the article New Senate GOP Leader Aids Victims at South Florida Wreck Scene 1/1/2003 11:39 PM Incoming Senate majority leader Bill Frist, a surgeon, helped tend to six victims of a rollover accident on a Florida highway New Year's Day, earning praise from paramedics for stabilizing some of the four survivors. Frist, 50, was driving east on the highway, the Everglades portion of Interstate 75, heading to a family vacation home in Fort Lauderdale with his two sons when he came across the accident minutes after it happened, said Nick Smith, Frist's communications director in Washington. He stopped and went to work checking the victims. When paramedics arrived, he pointed them to the ones in the most severe condition. Frist helped paramedics and several off-duty firefighters stabilize the victims until they were transported to area hospital after about 30 minutes. "Senator Frist greatly assisted Broward County Fire Rescue. The Senate majority leader was really instrumental in helping us treat the victims," Leduc said. "We'd like to get in contact with him and recognize him for his efforts." Read the article Getting the Votes -- And the Kudos 1/1/2003 2:43 AM When the history of the Republican Party's midterm election victories of 2002 is written, President Bush will get the headline and much of the credit, but a large footnote will go to a young political operative named Blaise Hazelwood. Hazelwood, 31, serves as political director of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and it was her responsibility to coordinate the party's "72-Hour Project," an 18-month effort designed to put shoe leather back into politics and give Republicans parity -- or better -- with the Democrats in turning out the vote. The work paid big dividends on Election Day, when a surge of Republican voters in states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Missouri overwhelmed the Democrats and turned what many had called one of the most competitive midterm campaigns in history into a substantial Republican victory. Read the article Bush's Top Political Adviser Takes Risks 1/1/2003 2:39 AM When it comes to setting priorities for President Bush's new-year domestic agenda, White House political adviser Karl Rove argues for a politically risky path: revive Bush's plan for riding some Social Security funds on the volatile stock market. There could hardly be a trickier time for putting the cherished entitlement program within reach of the market. But Rove is proving more of a risk-taker than his reputation has suggested until now. Painted by critics as the White House's all-powerful, all-politics, win-at-all-costs animal, Rove shows at a closer look more mastery of policy, more willingness to make waves on politically sensitive matters %u2013 and less command over Bush's decisions than conventional wisdom holds. At 52, Rove shows little care about his own personal style (no designer suits, expensive coif or cufflinks for him), but he fiercely guards his professional image. Suggesting a thin skin unusual to hardball politicos, Rove has been known to take a fine-toothed comb to news articles about him and harangue their writers about the smallest critical details. Read the article