New Hampshire Sen. John E. Sununu is the "fastest man in the Senate," an honor he achieved after finishing ahead of his colleagues in a three-mile race last fall. It was a comeback of sorts. He had won the crown in 2004, only to lose it in 2005 after going out too fast and realizing at the mile mark that if he didn't slow down, he might have a heart attack. The 42-year-old Sununu is younger than most of his Senate colleagues. He told a public policy forum founded by tennis coach Kathy Kemper that he quickly came to the realization that "being the fastest man in the Senate is like being the best surfer in Kansas. It doesn't carry a lot of weight."
Sununu is up for re-election in '08 and is on the Democrats' target list. He won his seat with less than 55 percent of the vote, and John Kerry won New Hampshire in '04, which puts his seat in play for the Democrats. During the April congressional recess, Sununu skipped four town meetings, sending staff instead and fueling speculation that he was ducking hard questions on the Iraq War, which he supports.
Asked at Kemper's "Info" breakfast the morning of the Senate vote on the Iraq funding bill if he anticipates Republican defections on the war, he told Roll Call executive editor Morton Kondracke, "Not in the way you describe," then laid out his best-guess scenario of what likely lays ahead. In the September time frame, General Petraeus will put out a statement of what has or hasn't happened on the ground in Iraq "and it has to be factual," Sununu said. "He'll make an assessment and the president will reconsider." The most likely scenario then, Sununu continued, is the withdrawal of American troops along the lines of what the Baker-Hamilton report suggested, with combat troops out of Iraq by March of '08. If President Bush wants to sustain the U.S. military presence into the summer of '08, he'll have to answer these questions. "What has the Iraqi government done by that point? Have they passed an oil law?"
Sununu's prediction: The Baker-Hamilton report, spurned by Bush, will be back as a measure of progress and embraced by both parties as a road map out of Iraq. Sununu voted with his party Thursday against setting a timetable for withdrawal of troops. But judging by his comments earlier in the day, his support for an open-ended commitment in Iraq could soon be up for grabs.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
