The right-wing blogosphere is abuzz with energetic endorsements of dark horse House Majority Leader candidate John Shadegg of Arizona. We'd better hope his momentum outside the Beltway doesn't catch on among Republican House members. The media narrative is already being written about this guy....and it's a sympathetic one.
If Shadegg prevails and is elected Majority Leader, he will be lionized as a modern-day Martin Luther by the conservative blogosphere, and the script will be followed by the mainstream media who will lavish nightly attention upon this "reform-minded rising star." A series of lobbying reforms will then breeze through Congress, with both sides feverishly creating new loopholes that will make the reforms obsolete even before the ink dries. The final result: the Democrat's "culture of corruption" theme falls on deaf ears, and the need for a "new sheriff in town" loses its momentum because we already got one in Shadegg.
To be sure, the Republican Congress is likely to pass a lobbying reform agenda even if Blunt or Boehner wins (although they're looking weaker by the hour ever since Shadegg's name was tossed in the hat), but anything Blunt or Boehner may do would be unlikely to generate the media buzz that the underdog Shadegg would. This would be Newt Gingrich circa November 1994 all over again, with the media obsessively tracking Shadegg's every move and splashing his pseudo-populist reform quotes all over their front pages for weeks, if not months. The Democrats, investing so much of their political capital in making Tom DeLay and Bob Ney the faces of the Republican Party, will have nowhere to go.
I'm not from Connecticut, but as I understand the story there, corrupt Republican Governor John Rowland fell on his own sword, with Democrats cheering on his demise every step of the way. But in a classic case of "be careful what you wish for," Lieutenant Governor Jodi Rell took the reins, forwarding a reform agenda, and has become the most popular Governor in America.....untouchable in this fall's gubernatorial election. If the Democrats aren't careful, John Shadegg could be the national GOP's Jodi Rell, effectively taking away Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi's primary campaign theme.
If the Dems don't diversify their 2006 message beyond draining the GOP swamp (and it appears right now as if they're betting the farm on that theme), they may find themselves in the same position as Jodi Rell's Democrat opponent in Connecticut if John Shadegg is able to convince the American people that the swamp has already been drained.