Mr. Kempthorne Goes to Washington (Again)

By Shea Andersen, 4-05-06

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, also known as the Bush Administration's Interior Secretary nominee, now has a date: May 4.

That's the date most news reports cite as the one on which he'll get his vetting before the U.S. Senate, a body he used to be a member of.

His job now? Meet, greet, and deflect any and all questions about his future job. But politics are already getting in the way.

Comes now Sen. Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, who is upset in a major way that her state hasn't gotten more money for levee repairs. As political retribution, she's been quoted as saying she'll make life difficult for The White House, including tripping up the nomination/confirmation process.

Not that Democrats have a whole heckuva lot of sway in Washington just now. But as has been predicted before, ahem, these are highly-charged political times. It's called "election year." And that makes seemingly simple tasks such as confirmation of a nice-guy Republican in a Republican Senate for a Republican President just a little less simple. [End of article]