Rep. Clay Shaw: I might have won if Rumsfeld had left before the election [View All]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1110shaw,0,3346094.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Shaw: I might have won if Rumsfeld had left before the election

Still smarting from the first loss of his 35-year political career, U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, said Friday morning that if the news about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's departure had come out before the election, he and many other losing Republicans could have won their re-election bids.

Shaw lost his bid on Tuesday for a 14th term representing Broward and Palm Beach counties as voters nationwide turned over control of Congress to the Democrats.

In an hour-long interview in his Fort Lauderdale office with reporters who covered his campaign, Shaw said if he had thought the Republicans would lose the House, he wouldn't have sought re-election.

He said serving in the minority --- which he did early in his tenure in Congress -- isn't nearly as satisfying as holding a position in the majority party. In the majority, he said, it's possible to get things done.