The American Spectator

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On the Prowl

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Putnam won reelection to the House but announced the next day that he would not stand for a leadership job. Some believed that if Cantor chose to challenge minority leader John Boehner, Putnam would seek to challenge minority whip Roy Blunt. Instead, Cantor is looking to take Blunt's job and wait out Boehner for another election cycle.

Putnam was viewed as a fast riser in the House and, coming from Florida, as perhaps someone with the ability to grow into a national leader, but his strength was not in fundraising, as it is with Cantor.

"Adam is a good man. He's the odd man out, but Cantor isn't doing himself any favors by playing politics the way he is," says another House Republican. "Given where we are politically in the House, it will be interesting to see how he handles the situation. He isn't going to have much to whip, that's for sure."

Subprime Slippers

One reason Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was eager to jump to the White House as Barack Obama's chief of staff: hope that he could use the White House communications infrastructure to block attacks on him for his role in the mortgage and housing scandals sure to envelop Democrats in the coming months.

Emanuel served on the board of Freddie Mac after leaving the Clinton House, and by some accounts pulled down more than $250,000 for less than a year's work in that capacity. He also earned millions working for hedge funds and Wall Street speculators before running for his congressional seat. That's a lot of dough for the former ballet dancer to spend on whatever it is former ballet dancers spend their money on.

The Anti-Palin Louts

Fallout continues from the smear campaign against Sarah Palin engineered by bitter McCain aides and former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers. At press time, conservatives loyal to Palin were attempting to unmask those responsible for spreading what many say are totally false tales of Palin, portraying her as a diva and slow on the uptake.

Romney supporters, some working for McCain, others working as talking heads on TV, were actively seeking to diminish Palin, attempting to present her as a second-tier contender for 2012.

"Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012," said one former Romney aide working for McCain-Palin. "The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He's in charge on November fifth."

As is becoming increasingly clear, that simply isn't the case. If anything, the attacks on Palin have increased talk that she will have long-standing leadership role in the conservative movement, if not the Republican Party.