Cantor assumes leadership post (w/ video)

By NEIL SIMON
Media General News Service
Published: November 19, 2008

WASHINGTON-Rep. Eric I. Cantor became the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House Wednesday, winning an uncontested election as the party’s whip.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,“ Cantor said before the 175 Republican members of the House unanimously elected him.

Cantor is the first Virginian ever to hold the post in either party. As whip, he will work with Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, to coordinate the votes and messages of GOP House members. The two men announced their party is united.

“We know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,“ said Cantor. Republicans lost dozens of House seats Nov. 4. “We will serve as a check in the balance to the power of President-elect (Barack) Obama and Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi.“

Cantor’s rise in the leadership after being appointed deputy whip in 2002 marks a high point in the Richmond lawyer’s political career. But it also comes at a low point for his party.

“House Republicans are practically an appendage. That’s how insignificant they will be in this upcoming session,“ said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Cantor has called for his party to cooperate with Democrats when possible, namely on tax breaks for small business and on other economic issues. But he was also clear about where Republicans should draw the line.

“(If) their proposals end up being the tired, old, big government spending proposals, we’re going to oppose them,“ he said.

Cantor had said he sought the post - vacated by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. - to restart the momentum behind “common sense conservative” values and strengthen the voice of the Republican Party in reaching new, younger voters. Cantor is 45.

He encouraged his party to “not just talk in ideological terms” but to apply its principles to challenges like health care, jobs, and generally “the affordability of life.“

Republican House members know Cantor for the help he has given them in campaign fundraising.

“They know this down to the cent,“ said Sabato, who said Cantor’s fundraising prowess helped him rise quickly in the ranks.

Sabato said the whip role is a stepping stone for Cantor, even though Republicans may have a weakened legislative voice in the Democratic-controlled House.

“This is about positioning for the future,“ Sabato said. “To be in his position at his age means that if he makes the House his career he has a shot at being speaker.“

The leadership election puts Cantor, who is the only Jewish House Republican, in historic company.

In the first Congress, James Madison held the job of corralling party members in an unofficial capacity. Cantor, the 17th Republican to serve as whip, now represents Madison’s old district.

“As a Virginian we have a very special legacy that we hold and there is an obligation attached to that legacy,“ Cantor said.

But only one Republican whip has made the leap to speaker—Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Vice president Dick Cheney was whip for a few months before becoming Secretary of Defense in 1989.

The job comes with extra staff and office funding and some choice space inside the Capitol, where Cantor already has a smaller office as chief deputy whip.