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Durbin’s Long Shot Pays Off

More than a year and a half ago, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) gambled on a long shot, a really long shot: that his newly elected, junior home-state colleague, Sen. Barack Obama, had the makings of a president. He took the risk against what was then the party establishment’s view that another prominent Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), would easily secure the Democratic nod for the White House in 2008.

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Rep. Frank Pallone waits Feb. 8 for the start of a news conference to introduce legislation to keep arsenic and lead out of fruit juices.
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30 Hill Aides to Know

30 Hill Aides to Know

The clear expectation is Congress will get very little done this election year. But what does get accomplished, at least in the high-profile areas, will largely be the handiwork of an elite group of staffers — who combine policy expertise, political acumen and the trust of their lawmaker bosses to drive much of the legislative agenda.

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