It takes more than a hurricane to sever a flack from the press

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) top spokesman, Don “Stew” Stewart, was more than ready for his summer vacation this year. 

It had been a year since the BlackBerry-bound flack had headed out of town for a non-work-related reason, so his wife and daughter must have been thrilled to take off Aug. 14 for their long-awaited reprieve to … Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Yep, out of all of the vacation destinations in the world, Stewart headed for the one that was evacuated for a Category 5 hurricane.  The family headed inland from the beach after a few days to take cover, and they did a lot more driving than they intended, but Stewart said the trip was a fun adventure.

Perhaps as importantly, Stewart said his handheld device worked even in the middle of a Mayan ruin, “and fortunately, no news happened during August,” he joked.

Former senator returns to the simple life of books and crops

Former Sen. Mike DeWine (R), who was defeated last year by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in what he called “the perfect storm,” said in an interview that he sometimes misses his old job and his colleagues, but that he has gone back to the basics in many ways over the last seven months.

The low-key native Ohioan has traded bill texts and cloture votes for textbooks and crops, having taken teaching positions at two different colleges and purchased a farm near his home.

“I worry about my soybeans now,” DeWine said of his new life. Plenty of his students don’t address him as “Senator,” but that doesn’t mean the wonky Republican has checked out of his old stomping grounds entirely.

He said he wouldn’t rule out a return to politics one day, and, in the meantime, he is staying involved to help an old friend, as the head of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign in Ohio.

Other ousted Republicans are working harder to stay in the public eye. Sen. George Allen (Va.) just launched a blog and recorded a Virginia radio show. Allen, whose staff did not respond to requests for an interview, was spotted at a Beach Boys concert Aug. 19 in his home state — this despite his avowed love for country-western music.
 

War over steak and potato salad

You won’t be able to toss a steak bone without hitting a Democratic presidential candidate on Sept. 16, at the 30th annual steak fry held by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

The event, which takes place four months before the Iowa caucus, will host Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), as well as former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (D) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D).

Fortunately, it is an outdoor event, guaranteeing enough oxygen for the other guests.

Resignation redux

Are you a senator with a secret? Did watching the spectacular crash of Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) political career send a shiver down your spine?

When your skeletons come creeping out of your own closets, will your story share a chapter with Craig, whose party turned on him faster than a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat? Or will your past indiscretions allow you to join the ranks of Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), whose vague admission to “a serious sin” related to his association with an alleged prostitution ring resulted in not a single collegial call for early retirement?

Well, skittish pols, allow us to offer some advice: If you want to survive your future scandal, stop adding locks to that closet door, and start campaigning for a governor of the opposing party.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala made the excellent point on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Aug. 28 that the salvation of naughty pols comes from an unlikely place.

“I think the difference is, Idaho has a Republican governor. If Craig resigns, the governor will appoint a Republican, presumably. Louisiana has a Democratic governor. And, so if Vitter were to resign, the Republicans would lose that seat,” Begala said.

By our count, 21 Republicans and 17 Democrats in the Senate have the relative job security of knowing that their governors would cost their respective political parties the seat. And, at a time when Democrats hold the majority — and the committee gavels and control over the Senate floor that come with it — by only one seat, you 38 members of the Senate can sleep well knowing that you can expect a modicum of loyalty from your colleagues when you get into trouble.

As for the 24 Republicans with Republican governors and the 32 Democrats with Democratic governors, we don’t know what to tell you. Maybe, “Be good.”

Worse off, though, are the senators from Arizona, Wyoming and Hawaii. Those states’ governors subscribe to the opposite party of their senators, but state laws are set up to ensure that interim appointments will be of the same party as the vacating senator. To you six senators, we say, “Good luck.”

Jennifer Yingling contributed to this page.