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By Lynn Sweet
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Posted: 04/19/07 06:10 PM [ET] |
A new book about Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), entitled The Thumpin’: How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution, will hit the shelves in a few weeks.
It’s by the Chicago Tribune’s Naftali Bendavid, who was allowed to follow Emanuel behind the scenes through his romp as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for the 2006 cycle.
Bendavid got access in return for not using the material for daily reports before the November election. The book is an expansion of a 6,130-word story Bendavid wrote for the Trib that ran Nov. 12, days after Emanuel consummated the Democratic House takeover, ending 12 years of Republican control.
Emanuel keynotes the North Carolina Jefferson Jackson dinner on April 28 in Raleigh. And he has started new rounds of national travel for the next cycle to fundraise for the DCCC and his own war chests, hitting New York and Texas in recent visits. First-quarter FEC reports show Emanuel has a $1.145 million reelection kitty in his safe North Side Chicago Democratic district.
My previous column here told of how Emanuel was preparing for his comedic debut at the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club, where he was the Democratic speaker, paired with GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney.
Emanuel, known for his use of curse words, was lampooned in song in a skit the club performed before he spoke. One set of lyrics about Emanuel: “Who is that frickin’ dude? And why is he so crude?”
Of course, Emanuel came armed with his own zingers, as well as an ample amount of self-deprecating humor. He called himself House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) “valet.”
Emanuel, who lost part of the middle finger on his right hand while working the slicer at an Arby’s while in high school, zinged, “Of all the fingers to lose! I could not express myself for months!’’
And he had more to say on his relationship with Pelosi: “Actually, Nancy gave me two very important tasks as soon as she became Speaker: Sit down and shut up. I got pretty mad. I said, ‘Nancy, there is only one woman in my life who can order me around like that — Hillary Clinton.’’
Riffing on Barack Obama, Emanuel noted that he and the senator have more in common than representing Illinois. “We also share exotic names — Barack, which in Swahili means ‘blessed,’ and Rahm, which roughly translated from Hebrew means ‘Go screw yourself.’”
Durbin’s Money Shield.First-quarter fundraising numbers show that Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has stockpiled $4.069 million cash on hand — of which $1.333 million was raised in the first three months of the year. Durbin is up for reelection in 2008, and his big balance is serving so far to scare away any GOP challenger.
Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail:
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