By 9:00 it was obvious that we were witnessing something massive and historic. I mean, even I knew we were in for a change, and it seemed phenomenal to me, too. As we put the numbers up on the board, there would be occasional cheers, but as the evening went on, the networks began interrupting with some really big fucking news! John Thomas was on the phone, and he tapped me and looked at me awestruck. "Rosty's gone!", he told me just before it was announced on television. Dan Rostenkowski had failed to win re-election, which didn't surprise me in some ways, considering he was linked to the House Post Office mess. Then it got crazy – Tom Foley out of Washington, the Speaker of the House, failed to win re-election! They were saying nothing like that had happened since Reconstruction!
Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather both seemed thunderstruck by what was happening, using terms such as "historic", "unprecedented", "watershed", and the like. I just sat out there in the big room, taking it all in, with Marilyn sitting sideways on my lap, while John Thomas and the others kept changing the numbers on the board. People were coming up to me and congratulating me, and asking how this was going to change things in Washington. I would mumble something, and talk to a reporter or two, saying some routine phrases. By the end of the evening, the Republicans had control of both houses.
It was after midnight when we went home, and the final numbers weren't clear yet. Some of the races were still too close to call, but even so, we had won big. I made the appropriate phone calls and interviews on Wednesday and then on Thursday morning we kissed the family good-bye and flew down to Hougomont for the rest of the week. Interestingly, Marilyn and I were asked to a small reception at Government House while we were there. We met with the Prime Minister, Hubert Ingraham, who had succeeded Lynden Pindling a couple of years earlier. Marilyn and I went, had dinner and drinks, talked a little shop about the election, and then headed over to Paradise Island for a bit. We flew home on Sunday after working on our tans for a few days and drinking our share of the rum.
The final results were back by the time we got home. We had picked up 60 seats in the House, and were up to 238 Republicans! The Democrats were down to 196 seats (plus Bernie Sanders as an Independent) and it was like a bomb had gone off in the Capitol. People were wandering the halls of the Capitol with shocked looks on their faces. The Senate was almost as bad. We had started out at 47 Republicans and picked up 10 seats, to end at 57. The Democrats were down to 43, and if we got just 3 to go along with us, we could block a filibuster whenever we wanted to.
The staff in my office was positively gleeful! For one thing, Newt had passed the word along to them that if I wanted it, we could find a new home over in the Rayburn building. I had barely walked in my door when my staff started bombarding me with questions. I quickly called a time-out, and looked over at Marty, who was grinning at me. "Is this for real?"
He nodded. "I got the word from Newt's office while you were gone. I also checked with the House Administration Committee. Newt spoke to them, too. We've got a very nice place on the third floor in Rayburn opening up."
I waved him quiet for a moment and then turned back to the others. "Okay, it sounds official. Start making your plans. When we get the word we can move, we want to do it quickly and cleanly and efficiently. Get with Marty on what we need to do, and let me know how I can help you."
Around us the room erupted into a gabble of noise again. The Longworth Building hadn't been bad, but Rayburn was a lot more modern and had a lot more amenities. I motioned for Marty to follow me into my office, and he did so, trailed by Sherry Longbottom. I eyed her curiously, and she said, "I wanted to see you, Congressman. You should probably be here, too, Marty."
I leaned back against my desk and said, "All right. Is there a problem, Sherry?"
"Well, yes and no. I mean, not for me, but I needed to let you know. You see, I've been offered a position over at the Heritage Foundation."
I smiled and nodded. I wasn't terribly surprised. Sherry ran my legislative staff, so she had been involved with the bills we had written with the Heritage Foundation for the Contract. They must have seen in her the same abilities I had seen! "And for probably twice what you're making here?" She gave a shrug and a smile at that. I looked over at Marty. "You know about this?"
He shrugged and smiled too. "I caught a whiff of something, but can't say I knew about it. I'm not surprised, though. Are you?"
"No." I turned back to Sherry. "When do they want you?"
Sherry looked relieved by my obvious acceptance of this. "The beginning of December. They wanted me sooner, but I needed to give you some time to replace me."
I smiled at her. "I can't replace you. I can only find somebody else and hope they'll do as good a job as you did. Who in your staff can move up to your slot, and who do we get to replace them? I'd prefer to move somebody up rather than bring in somebody new." The three of us made some plans, and after a bit, I shooed them out. "Make sure we have a nice going away party and have a cake I can get a piece of." I told them.
Sherry was the first senior staffer I had lost. I had replaced a couple of very junior people prior to this. I wasn't surprised though. Sherry was very good at her job, and most Congressional staffers are trying to move up the ladder into the private sector. The system had an incredible potential for abuse and corruption, but she couldn't be blamed for playing the game by the rules she didn't create. I just smiled and shook my head, and asked Mindy to get me a meeting with Gingrich at his pleasure. We had a lot of details to go over about the new session.
When I did meet with Newt, I got another thank you from him for helping with the Contract. I was out of both Science and Veterans Affairs, and was in Armed Services. He would let me pick which subcommittee I wanted, and I promised to let him know in a few days. Armed Services was one of the important committees, and a regular Congressman could make a lot of money by knowing about pending appropriations bills. That wasn't an issue for me, but maybe I could make the services more efficient. I had some potential in the committee, too, because since the election I was about a third of the way up the seniority ladder. After only four years, I was one of the seasoned veterans!
I also stroked his ego some, by referring to him as 'Mister Speaker.' He liked the way that sounded! You could almost see his dick getting hard. Terrible mental image. In some ways, the biggest problem we had going forward was to keep Newt from self-destructing. He had immense talents and brainpower, but an ego and self-image to match. Right now he was damn near at the peak of his political power. He had just managed to thoroughly hose the Democrats, was about to be named Speaker of the House, and had a raft of legislation to be brought to the floor.
Unfortunately, Newt was matched up against probably the wiliest politician of the age, Bill Clinton. I don't think the nation had seen a politician of his caliber since FDR. Now it was the two of them going head to head. In my previous life, where I had just been a spectator of all of this, Newt had really thrown his weight around for the next few years, and ultimately shut down the government in a spending showdown with Clinton. Clinton came out of it smelling like a rose, and Gingrich ended up in big trouble. He wore out his welcome in only four years and found himself voted out as Speaker, and then left the House in disgrace. Could I change that? Should I change that? Did my presence in Congress now mean things would be different?