The waning days of the 109th Congress, from The Chicago Tribune:
About the only Republican spotted with a joyous mood was Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, who said he had just returned from South Carolina where he had been “rolling and rocking” in his campaign for the presidency.
Hunter rode the House subway to the Rayburn Office Building, where he immediately ran into Rep. James Leach (R-Iowa), a 30-year veteran who lost his seat in the Democratic victory. Leach, like the other losers, said he has been consigned to a small office in an isolated corridor of the basement, with enough room for a computer, table and chair.
This corridor is like a losers’ ghetto, a big comedown for once-powerful members like Leach, considered one of the most thoughtful members of the House.
They talked politics for a while and Leach offered this advice: The value of experience, he told Hunter, is “learning what does not work.”
Asked to recall highlights of his career, Leach cited passage of bills dealing with financial modernization, AIDS prevention, aid to poor countries and Internet gambling restrictions. He said his biggest regret is the development of divisive, ideological politics. “I see both parties as mirror images of each other,” he said.
And then he headed toward his tiny office in the corridor of lame ducks.
