WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Leadership: Republicans -- Senate Republicans have confirmed their leadership for the next Congress. As expected, Trent Lott of Mississippi will once again be the Senate's majority leader. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., becomes the new whip.
Other new members of the team are Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, as president pro tempore; Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., as chairman of the Policy Committee; and George Allen, R-Va., who will be the new chairman of the National Republicans Senatorial Committee. Re-elected to their current positions are Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Conference Vice-Chairman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
Over in the House, Tom DeLay of Texas was, as expected, elevated to the post of majority leader. He will be succeeded as whip by his principle deputy, Roy Blunt of Missouri. Debra Pryce of Ohio emerged the victory in a three-way race for GOP conference chairman while Jack Kingston of Georgia, who has heretofore led the GOP's "Theme Team" communications and media outreach effort outreach, is the new vice-chairman. John Doolittle of California, who was first elected to the House as part of 1990's "Gang of Seven" freshman reformers, becomes conference secretary.
Leadership: Democrats -- The race to succeed Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., as leader of the House Democrats expanded Wednesday as Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat who, like Gephardt, has strong ties to organized labor, jumped into the race. The 10-term Ohio representative says she will urge her colleagues to postpone Thursday's leadership vote. Her late entry, coupled with the late-but-still-earlier-than-Kaptur entry of Tennessee's Harold Ford, Jr., suggests that front-runner Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., may be losing her status. While Pelosi claims to have things sewn up, the presence of two last minute candidates in the race suggests that a "Stop Pelosi" movement might be gaining steam.
Here's a switch -- Nevada State Sen. Ray Shaffer has crossed the aisle, joining the Republicans after 19 years in the state Legislature. Shaffer's switch comes on the heels of a disappointing performance by Nevada Democrats in the Nov. 5 election. They failed to win the state's new congressional seat, something they believed they would do at the outset of the election, and lost all six statewide constitutional offices. They also lost four seats in the Assembly, where they still maintain a slim 23-19 majority. With the addition of Shaffer, who was not up for election the year, the GOP majority in the state Senate increases to 13-8 from 12-9.
Cyber-tour -- To celebrate the West Wing's 100th anniversary, a new feature called "Life in the White House" has been placed on the executive mansion's Web site. The site provides Web-exclusive video tours of the White House led by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush, Mrs. Lynne Cheney and White House officials. It can be found on the net at whitehouse.gov/history/life.
Axis of evil plus 1 -- Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the Belarusian opposition United Civic Party will attend "The Axis of Evil: Belarus -- the Missing Link" conference being organized by the New Atlantic Initiative after all.
The conference, scheduled for Nov. 14 at the American Enterprise Institute, almost went on without him as he was detained by the Belarusian KGB on the morning of Nov. 5. Even his status as an elected member of the former Belarusian parliament -- which had been disbanded by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko -- did not protect Lyabedzka.
Evoking the darkest days of Stalinist terror, Lyabedzka's captors warned him that attending the NAI conference might result in prosecution for high treason and collaboration with foreign "spies," e.g., for his contacts with Western human rights groups.
Lyabedzka's detention and similar acts of intimidation prove yet again the urgent necessity for discussing the violation of human rights in Belarus say those who follow the issue closely. Calling Lukashenko "an embarrassment to Europe," pro-democracy activists cite the disappearance of many of the regime's opponents, the shutting of newspapers, and the wrecking of churches as evidence of his perfidity. The conference can also be seen on the Internet at aei.org/inv021114.htm.
Personnel notes -- The White House has announced the president's intention to nominate Coloradoan Elizabeth Hoffman to be a member of the National Science Board, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring May 10, 2008. Hoffman currently serves as the president of the University of Colorado's four-campus and 45,000-student system ... President Bush has also announced his intention to nominate Raymond T. Wagner, Jr., of Missouri to be a member of the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring Sept. 14, 2004. Wagner is currently the legal and legislative vice president for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in St. Louis, Missouri.
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