For GOPers, inauguration is time to flee Washington

As millions of Democrats and others hoping for a glimpse of history crowd into Washington for inauguration, a number of local Republicans say it’s the perfect time for a winter vacation.

As many as 5 million people are estimated to be descending on Washington to see Barack Obama become the nation’s first black president, and Republican staffers say they are willing to surrender the town for warmer weather and, in some cases, a nice profit.

{mosads}Some Republicans contacted for this story reported that they’ve heard of GOP operatives and staffers renting out their homes to out-of-town visitors for as much as $2,100 a night.

Jason Roe, a GOP lobbyist with Federal Strategy Group and former chief of staff to outgoing Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), said he plans to leave town. “I am hoping to capitalize on the enthusiasm by renting my house for $2,000 a night and spending it in the Virgin Islands,” he said.

One Republican strategist said the weather is enough reason to leave Washington in late January, but the idea of millions of Democrats crashing the roads, restaurants and Metro is added incentive.

“A lot of people are headed to Mexico or someplace warm,” the strategist said. “I mean, Mexico is a three-hour direct flight.”

Some Republican staffers on Capitol Hill said they may have be at the office in order to help constituents coming to town. Some lamented that their presence will be required at the epicenter of an orgiastic Democratic celebration.

Gregory Keeley, communications director for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), said he would like to rent out his place on Capitol Hill, but he might have to stay in town for work. Keeley said the fact that Obama is being sworn in is not as much of an issue as the size of the crowd that’s expected for an event just blocks from his front door.

“It’s not going to be my favorite place to be, put it that way,” Keeley said. “If there’s a horse out of Dodge, I’d like to be on it.”

Other Republicans, however, said they would stay and watch out of curiosity or a sense of history.

“I plan to stay in town,” said a female spokeswoman. “Although Obama wasn’t my choice for president, his winning of the highest position in the United States is still a historical event, and I want to be a part of it.”

“I’ll probably stay here and watch it on TV,” one GOP House aide said. “To see 4 million people show up to the Capitol … it’s kind of cool no matter what party you’re in. It is a historical event. How do you not appreciate that in some way?”

While the aide joked that he will “probably have an Obama T-shirt on,” he did admit to having “mixed feelings” about the incoming Democratic administration.

“Unfortunately, he [Obama] is inheriting a s–tstorm,” the aide said. “So we’ll see what he does with it. The Mayan calendar is going to end in 2012, so we’re all going to die anyway.”

Other Republicans said that an inauguration is a great excuse for a party in Washington, regardless of the party of the person putting his hand on the Bible.

Juleanna Glover, a lobbyist with the Ashcroft Group and a frequent party-thrower around town, said she is planning to host at least two large cocktail receptions on behalf of nonprofits, with a mixture of Democratic and Republican operatives attending.

One Republican lobbyist who works for a bipartisan firm and has worked for Republicans over the years says he will celebrate Obama along with everyone else in Washington.

“Sure, love a good party,” the lobbyist said. “[I] don’t take my politics personally and everything goes in cycles.”

Democratic veterans of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns empathized with the plight of Republicans — though they all noted it’s easier to talk about their past experiences now that they’re on the winning side.

Mark Kornblau, the spokesman for 2004 vice presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), said he was still in Boston the “awful” day after the election, but he was based in Washington and decided to be somewhere else when President Bush was sworn in for his second term.

“There was no way I was sticking around,” Kornblau said. “By Wednesday afternoon I had ended my lease, reserved a moving truck and booked a three-week trip to Asia with my friends.”

Veterans of the 2000 race said they faced a tougher time because of the Florida recount.

Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said he was back in Washington after trips back and forth from Nashville — the site of Vice President Al Gore’s headquarters — and West Palm Beach, Fla., home to the hanging chad.

Simmons said a couple of days before the inauguration, he was sitting in the Oval Room near the White House, having drinks with friends, when limousines started pulling up at neighboring restaurants. When people started piling out wearing cowboy boots, fur coats and cowboy hats, Simmons said he made the decision to flee.

“I turned to my friends and said, ‘I can’t take it. I’m outta here,’ “ Simmons said. “I packed a bag the next morning, went to New York and stayed for the next week.”

Simmons said allies of vanquished Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) might have an easier time because the race wasn’t as close as the Democratic losses in 2000 and 2004.

“Losing in a landslide is so much better than losing in a nail-biter,” Simmons said, laughing.

But at least one Gore aide from the 2000 race still didn’t seem ready to laugh about his escape from Washington, even eight years later.

“I headed to the sanctuary city of San Francisco,” said Gore operative Chris Lehane.

Lehane said that he decided that “other than being 12 miles offshore and out of reach of any Bush Department of Justice subpoenas — a somewhat prophetic analysis, in retrospect — the 4-1-5 was the safest place to be for someone from the previous regime who had just been on the wrong side of a coup d’état sanctioned by the Supreme Court in the guise of a legal ruling not to count the votes in Florida.”