Politics: How Jim DeMint Changed the Senate

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Politics How Jim DeMint Changed the Senate His goal was to recruit conservatives and make the chamber a more combative place. Mission accomplished.  By David Weigel Posted Thursday, Dec 06, 2012, at 11:10 PM ET For quite some time, in quiet tones, the friends of Jim DeMint had been expecting him to leave the Senate and take over the Heritage Foundation. On Thursday morning, when DeMint said he'd be quitting the Senate four years early, the believers were gleeful. "I'd secretly wished for it," said one staffer from the conservative think tank. "I always thought he was going to head Heritage," said an alumnus of DeMint's Senate staff. At 11 a.m., outgoing Heritage President and CEO Ed Feulner introduced DeMint to most of the think tank's staff. They packed the Allison Auditorium, the seventh-floor venue that has a clear view of the nearby Capitol, and they gave the new guy a standing O. "I feel like I just walked in the front door of my own house," said DeMint. "Leaving the Senate to become president of the Heritage Foundation is a big promotion." Senators don't typically talk like that until they've lost re-election. Heritage, like D.C.'s other think tanks, is peopled by "fellows" who lost their last elections and want to keep respectable toeholds in the city. DeMint will probably sextuple his salary by moving out of the Senate,  but he's giving up the ability to introduce bills, filibuster Democratic legislation, put holds on nominations, and humiliate presidential nominees on C-Span 2. Why did DeMint want to quit, and why did Heritage welcome him so warmly? DeMint-ism was never about legislating. It was about blocking ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate How the Iron Curtain Survived for So Long The Devil Is in the Heels Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?	Advertisement
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