www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/20/141615.shtml
WASHINGTON -- In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an "October surprise" to help win the November congressional elections. President Bush's political strategist is also saying that the final two weeks before the elections will see a blitz of advertising, and the Republican National Committee is deploying an army of volunteers to key locations to help the grass-roots effort and monitor the elections. The RNC is offering to fly in volunteers and cover their expenses.
The previous NewsMax story quoted Mehlman as saying that Republicans will hold their majority in the House and Senate. He bases that conclusion on a recent meeting with his regional political directors, on private polling, and on analyses of individual races. Mehlman conceded that the House is in a "competitive situation." To tilt the balance, Democrats would have to pick up six seats in the Senate and 15 seats in the House. But, Mehlman said, "I believe that the combination of the relatively narrow playing field, the relatively strong financial position our folks are in and the national party is in, the good turnout operation that we have, the motivation of our base, and the lack of motivation of their base as indicated by turnout in a number of recent Democrat primaries," will do the trick. However, he said, "Hoosiers want us to come home, but they want us to win and come home." When he was with Bush recently, the president asked him, "What do you have to say, Pence?" "Thanks for being more determined than our enemy," Pence said.
Tony Williams and DC's Strange Election One of the strangest elections is being held on Capitol Hill, where a black Republican is running for city council in a city where no Republican in memory has ever defeated a Democrat. In this case, it helps to be the son of Juan Williams, the Fox News contributor and National Public Radio host. With that kind of entree, Juan's son Tony Williams has been able to line up an impressive array of backers to help raise money for his campaign for Washington's Ward 6, which covers Capitol Hill. They range from Republican guru Grover Norquist and GOP operative Ed Rogers to Fox News contributor Fred Barnes. Four Democrats are also vying for the City Council seat, which is open to Republicans and Democrats. Some other city council seats are reserved for Republicans. Tony Williams, 26, is taller than his father but has inherited his chiseled good looks. When the younger Williams was attending Macalester College in St. Back when Tony, as a high school kid, attended New Year's Day brunches with his parents at my home, his mother Delise, a social worker, called him Antonio. After college, he became a speechwriter and legislative correspondent for Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-SC "My connection with the city and its movers and shakers has allowed prominent DC residents, many of whom have never supported a non-Democrat candidate, to support me," Williams told me in his baritone voice. While Williams was raised in a liberal home, he thought liberals at Macalester College took liberalism to an extreme, and it made him uncomfortable. "I am just a middle-of-the-road person generally," he said. At first, I just thought these guys were throwing names out." But Williams realized that he really did identify more with Republicans. When Williams began interning for the RNC, his father questioned him. But the whole idea was to raise a young man who was empowered to make his own choices in life. Tony Williams told me he is most impressed by the difference in the way Democrats and Republicans try to solve problems. "Democrats wait for problems to happen and put a Band-Aid over them," Williams said. "Republicans get out in front of problems and take a proactive approach to solve them. Over the years, Republicans have been on the correct side of civil rights issues, but they aren't afraid to say that personal responsibility is also important in solving problems." Ronald Kessler is Chief Washington Correspondent for NewsMaxcom.
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