Sunday, March 25, 2007

Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date.
Voted YES on approving removal of Saddam & valiant service of US troops.
Voted YES on authorizing military force in Iraq.
Voted NO on enlisting

Amid the sea of square jaws and swept-back gray hair in Congress, Representative Adam H. Putnam, a tousled redhead whose cherubic appearance still causes Capitol police to stop him occasionally, appears a bit out of place.

But Mr. Putnam, 32, a Florida Republican, has become the unlikely mouthpiece for the beleaguered minority in the House, taking over as chairman of the Republican Conference, the third-ranking post behind the minority leader and whip, as his party struggles to right itself.

Mr. Putnam, something of a political wunderkind who at 26 was one of the youngest members of Congress in decades when he was elected in 2000, has taken on the role of attack dog over the last three months.

Combining agility on the issues and controlled partisan outrage, he has helped lead Republicans in the debate over the war in Iraq, lambasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her use of a military jet to fly across country to her home district, and generally tried to eke out political points at every opportunity.

“I think in the minority, the challenge is to get noticed,” Mr. Putnam said in an interview. “In a presidential election cycle, the novelty of a new Democratic majority, the historical nature of a woman speaker, it becomes very hard to be heard above all the noise.”

He quickly ran into controversy when he waged a full-throated attack against Ms. Pelosi’s use of a military transport jet — larger than the plane used by her predecessor, Mr. Hastert — to fly between California and Washington, accusing her of “an arrogance of extravagance.”

It turned out that the House sergeant of arms, not Ms. Pelosi, had asked for the plane because of the distance involved. Mr. Putnam remains unapologetic, saying he was only responding to news reports. “I always thought it was reporters’ jobs to confirm their stories,” he said.

If yesterday was any indication, the 110th Congress will be highly entertaining, if not terribly productive. So far, it's hard to tell which will be a larger impediment to Democratic leaders: the McHenrys or the Sheehans.

The day began when House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (Fla.) led fellow House GOP leaders to a news conference in a Capitol basement hall. At 32, he is a year older than McHenry, and several inches taller, but no less outraged by Democrats' refusal to bestow on Republicans the rights that Republicans refused to bestow on Democrats.

"We are disappointed," protested Putnam, whose fair skin was covered with a layer of makeup.

"We're clearly disappointed," seconded Roy Blunt (Mo.).

"I'm disappointed, as are some others," added Kay Granger (Tex.).

"I am very disappointed," concurred David Dreier (Calif.).

It fell to CNN's Dana Bash to point out the awkward truth. "You can play back, almost verbatim, Democrats . . . saying almost exactly what you all just said," she said. "So is there a little bit of hypocrisy in you saying that you want minority rights?"

"This is a missed opportunity to really change the way that the House does business," Putnam offered, citing Democrats' campaign promises for "a new way of doing business."

"What stopped you from taking that opportunity when you were still in the majority?" inquired Rick Klein of the Boston Globe.

"Well, I'll let Chairman Dreier speak to that," Putnam ventured.

Voted YES on $167B over 10 years for farm price supports. (Oct 2001)

Voted NO on providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers. (Jun 2006)