SCALISE THE VICTOR? – AT 2:30 P.M. ET:  We may well be looking at the next speaker of the House.  From the great Salena Zito, at the New York Post: 

A year ago, the Louisiana congressman was near second base at an early-morning baseball practice when the sound of shots pierced the quiet of suburban DC. A bullet zigzagged through his left hip, slicing muscle tissue, crushing his femur and mangling his organs.

Now, he is recognized by passersby as the man whose survival is nothing short of a miracle.

And...

Now the House majority whip is looking toward a bright future. He is considered the person most likely to replace Paul Ryan as the next speaker of the House if Republicans keep their seats in November.

Scalise, 52, and his wife and two children live not far from the very working-class neighborhood in Louisiana where he grew up. He caught the politics bug at college and without any experience he ran and won his first race for Louisiana state representative aged just 29. That race forged his reputation as a rebellious and likeable populist conservative, a not-yet identified faction of the Republican Party.

Later, in 2016, he was one of the early and few members of Congress to back presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“The appeal of Scalise is that he is an everyman. He is you, he is me. He is the guy who no one really notices until he shows up and wins when no one expects it,” said Charlie Gerow, a media specialist who’s at the Duquesne Club for a meeting between Scalise and local entrepreneurs.

Gerow said Scalise first proved his political skills when he came from behind and won the chairmanship of the conservative Republican Leadership Conference in 2012 and “then surprised the outside world when he became the majority whip in the same year.”

Both jobs, said Gerow, are like herding cats, “because every member comes from very distinct districts, and they have their very distinct needs that fit their district.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  Any piece by Salena Zito is worth reading because she truly gets to know her subject.  We hope to see Speaker Scalise, but first the GOP must hold the House, and that is a tough order.

July 22, 2018