Life goes on for House's Hastert

"I do have a schedule," he laughs when asked how he fills his time in the minority and proves it by holding up a printed card that lists his day's events.

He also has a postcard-gorgeous view of the National Mall from his Capitol office, one floor beneath his former suite. "Lower to the ground," Hastert chuckles, a self-deprecating reference to the lofty position he held for eight years in an era of terrorism and political tumult.

The memories are fresh.

Looking out his office on Sept. 11, 2001, Hastert could see smoke rising from the wounded Pentagon. Several attempts to reach Vice President Dick Cheney on a secure line had been unsuccessful. The phone rang in the speaker's office and without waiting for a secretary to answer, he picked up.

Instead of Cheney, "It was some wacko, saying, 'What in the hell are you guys doing in Washington? Taxes are way too high,' " Hastert, R-Ill., recalls.

"I told him he had the wrong number."

Defending controversies

A tough partisan, he has no apologies for the time Republicans kept the House in session all night to pass Medicare prescription drug legislation bitterly opposed by Democrats.

Hastert says he had commitments from 16 Democrats to vote for the bill and that many of them melted away under threats from Democratic leaders. "So I had to find enough guys" to offset the losses, he says matter-of-factly.

In rebuttal, a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., referred to a statement she issued last year when Hastert became the longest-serving Republican speaker.

"Speaker Pelosi has a great deal of respect for Speaker Hastert, but he is not entitled to rewrite history. Everyone knows that the Medicare vote was held open for a record three hours so Republicans could twist arms to pass the bill, which was written by and for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries," it said.

Hastert's defense of a controversial rule change in 2005 designed to benefit former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is more nuanced.

"The Texas delegation led the drive," for the move, he recalled. "I don't know if Tom was behind it. He swears he wasn't." In an hour-long interview, Hastert was at his most animated while discussing DeLay, a longtime friend whom he predicts "will be exonerated" on Texas state charges of campaign finance wrongdoing.

Hastert attributes the Republicans' loss of the House last fall to several factors, including ethics, and volunteers an insight into President Bush's views on the matter.

"I think the (Iraq) war was part of the problem. Now, the president will deny that," he says without further explanation.

Hastert was second in line of succession to the presidency then, but the voters changed that in November. If he is not exactly a backbencher now, he is attempting something almost as rare as his longevity in power — a graceful exit.

His immediate predecessor, Republican Newt Gingrich of Georgia, was dogged by scandal when he stepped down as speaker after two terms, then resigned from Congress a short while later.

Before Gingrich, Democratic Rep. Tom Foley of Washington was defeated for re-election in 1994. Foley's predecessor, Democratic Rep. Jim Wright of Texas, resigned under an ethics cloud in 1989.

Out of the limelight

"It was time to step back a little bit," says Hastert, who pre-empted any possible challenges when he announced the day after the election that he would not run for another term as party leader.

Now, as the senior Republican on an energy subcommittee, Hastert finds that his principal official duties center on issues such as global warming, nuclear power and clean coal technology.

At home, Hastert no longer travels on a chartered jet raising millions for GOP candidates.

His own campaign account showed cash on hand of about $59,000 on March 31, with debts of about $52,000, suggesting this term will be his last.

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