[Mb-civic] DeLay's Week to Reassert Command - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

DeLay's Week to Reassert Command

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 30, 2005; Page A10

When Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) hustled onto the House floor 
Wednesday night, he knew that he was about five votes short of the 
number needed to pass a trade agreement that had become the toughest 
bill of the year for the Republican leadership.

"Your adrenaline is pumping 100 miles an hour -- you're excited about 
the prospect of winning a big one," he recalled in an interview. "At the 
same time -- especially in something like this, when you go on the floor 
knowing you don't have the votes -- there's this seed of doubt back 
there that we may not win this one."

His game plan was familiar. Republican leaders extended the usual 
15-minute vote to more than an hour while they cajoled and offered deals 
to win over reluctant Republican colleagues. The decisive 217th vote 
came from Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), who had told constituents 
for months that he would oppose the trade deal, which labor unions 
insist could cost jobs in the United States.

But after Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) sidled up to LaTourette and 
pressed him to help the party out of a jam, a green rectangle signifying 
a "yes" vote lit up next to LaTourette's name on the wall of the packed, 
rowdy House chamber.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/29/AR2005072901978.html?nav=hcmodule

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