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Blunt steps aside as No. 2 House GOP leader
Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the No. 2 Republican in the House, announced Thursday that he is stepping aside after Democrats added to their numbers in Congress and captured the White House.Blunt said he had long ago decided that if Republicans did not reclaim the majority in Tuesday's elections, he would leave the difficult job of shepherding votes. "Ten years of asking people to do some things they don't want to do is a long time," Blunt, 58, told reporters Thursday morning. "I can tell you more problems about more members of Congress than you'll ever want to hear; I can tell you more reasons not to do something than you'll ever want to hear." Blunt was elevated into leadership by former whip and majority leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and was schooled in the hardball tactics employed when DeLay was a driving force in running the House. Blunt's move avoids a difficult intraparty battle with protege Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican who's already campaigning for the job of Republican whip. Blunt says it's time for a new generation of Republicans to assume leadership roles. Cantor is 45. "We're in a totally new environment now," Blunt said. "We need to find a new way forward." Posted by: Fred 2008-11-07 |
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