NANCY'S NEWT:

A Fresh Face Vows to Revive the G.O.P. (MICHAEL LUO, 3/26/07, NY Times)

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."

His tactics, however, have earned him the enmity of the speaker's office, as well as others who accuse him of partisan showboating.

However? That's the point.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 26, 2007 7:40 AM