The American Spectator

In the immediate aftermath of the election, Boehner made a point of visiting Blunt in his offices, of publicly stating his support for Blunt to remain in the Whip position, and claiming the overall Conference leadership would hold moving on in this election year.

But Blunt hasn’t made life easy for Boehner. The private meetings are said by staff who heard about them after the fact to have been chilly and awkward.

Blunt has been perceived to be an unenthusiastic participant in leadership strategy sessions, say others who have attended those meetings, prompting some Republican members to approach Boehner about whether there shouldn’t be a change made now before serious legislative battles take hold.

Boehner has been quiet on the subject, and has been seeking advice from some members about what his options are now that Congress is back in session. According to some leadership staff, he is hesitant to do anything that would create the appearance that the Republican Conference is again in disarray or engaged in infighting, particularly with mounting evidence that Democrats are in worse shape in that regard.

Conservatives are insisting that Shadegg deserves to be given some leading role in the coming months, particularly in an election year when it is more critical for the base to be energized and out voting.

p> THE CALIBRATOR br> Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner got good marks for a recent appearance in New Hampshire, where he test drove a slightly revamped stump speech from the one he has been giving around the country for the past six months. /p>

Not surprisingly, the speech’s new touches reflect polling Warner’s advisers have undertaken coming out of the President’s State of the Union address, as well as strategy sessions with national Democratic political advisers.

Warner has also quietly been snapping up former staffers for Al Gore and Bill Clinton to fill jobs in his leadership PAC and his campaign for what is expected to be a presidential nomination bid.

p> LABOR COSTS