Issa Gains Momentum

House Republicans Dan Burton of Indiana and John Mica of Florida have formally signed on to Darrell Issa's bid to become ranking member of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee in the wake of Tom Davis's retirement and Christopher Shays's defeat. And their endorsement letter gives a sense of what they hope Issa will do in the position:

At the full committee level, he has never shied away from issues nor from standing up for the positions and ideals of our Conference, which have come under attack by Henry Waxman and the Democratic leadership...We believe he is the best person to further the positions of the Conference while acting as a counter to the Democratic Committee Chairman. This Committee can be an effective tool for helping Republicans retake the majority, and Darrell Issa is the most able to represent our Conference.

It's clear that Henry Waxman, who enjoyed tearing into the Bush administration, thinks that chairing the Oversight Committee will be less interesting with the White House occupied by a fellow Democrat, which is why he's engaged in a battle royale with John Dingell over the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. If he succeeds, it'll be interesting to see which Democrats want to chair the committee--it could be a real prize for one of the Democrats interested in management reform. Edolphus Towns of New York is second in seniority to Waxman, but he hasn't come out publicly to say he wants the chairmanship, which probably makes sense until the dust settles.

But while Democrats may regard this, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the Senate, as second-tier committees without Republican red meat to chew on, they're a great opportunity for Republicans who want to make names for themselves. In the Senate, Susan Collins, the ranking member on HSGAC, presumably isn't going to go anywhere, but she's not going to go out of her way to score points against Obama. So it makes sense that members of the Republican Conference would look for an attack dog in the House. Issa fits that bill.