Barbour's pitch coincided with an unexpected move by his fellow Mississippian and close political ally, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, who proposed doubling President Bush's $17.1 billion request for Katrina aid. Because the money is offset by reducing Bush's spending requests, the Barbour-Cochran position is widely interpreted as a challenge to the White House.
Although Barbour so far has not pointed fingers at either the president or the congressional leadership, friends said he may get specific if no money is forthcoming within a week. The governor might also take issue with Louisiana officials for poisoning the Washington atmosphere by calling for $250 billion in aid.
RAHS FOR RAHM
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, in only his second term as a congressman from Chicago, gets high praise from Democratic activists outside Congress for his performance as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Emanuel's success in recruiting candidates and management of the '06 campaign earns him higher grades than the performance of his immediate predecessors: Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, Nita Lowey of New York and the late Robert Matsui of California. A former Clinton White House political aide, Emanuel at age 46 is considered a rising star in House Democratic ranks.
A footnote: One outside Democratic campaign operation, eyeing a good chance to pick up the 16 seats in 2006 needed to win control of the House for the first time since the 1992 elections, calculates that over 50 seats out of 435 are now in play. That's twice as many competitive seats as were estimated in 2004.