WEEK IN REVIEW: WASHINGTON D.C.

Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007 | 2:22 a.m.

Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign strode briskly into the room, a tall, commanding presence who looked even more so in a gray pinstriped suit that probably cost more than the ensembles of all the gathered reporters combined.

He settled into the worn leather chair in the Senate press gallery and began holding court.

Unlike in days past, when Ensign would sometimes draw only a handful of reporters to hear him out, he had a crowd. The New York Times wandered in. The Washington Post took a seat. A dozen other reporters crowded around.

Ensign had summoned reporters to discuss his new bill that would charge wealthier seniors more for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D.

But really, it was a chance to see the rising Republican leader in action.

He was explaining how his bill would impose higher costs on individual seniors with incomes of more than $82,000, or couples with more than $164,000. His left foot, snug in a buckled black shoe, kept time with a rhythm only the senator could hear.

Reporters grilled him about the political suicide of asking seniors to pay more for prescription drugs.

"You're only talking about $10 a month," Ensign batted back. "So it's not like we're putting this huge burden on seniors. I think it's OK to ask them to pay a little more."

One reporter asked whether he was prepared for seniors banging on his car as he drove by. Another wanted to know whether he would be counseling Republicans running for the Senate to follow his lead.

Ensign swatted off the questions, shrugged off the skepticism.

Nearly a year into his second term - and his new role as chairman of the committee trying to elect Republicans to the Senate - Ensign said he has learned how things work on this side of the Hill.

Case in point: His amendment that is holding up a long-fought bill that would require senators to enter the 21st century and file their campaign disclosure statements electronically, as House members do.

Critics have been badgering him for months to drop his amendment. Because it blocks the broader electronic filing bill's passage, the public won't know who is financially contributing to senators in the 2008 election until long after Election Day.

When asked if he had reached any agreement with Democrats to drop his amendment, Ensign shook his head and smiled, saying, "I don't know why I would."

He knows his amendment would fail if brought to a vote, he said. That's not the point. His amendment would require nonprofit organizations filing ethics complaints against senators to disclose their financial backers of $5,000 or more - a move he says is needed to stem an increasing number of complaints, but that the nonprofit community and some Democrats say would put a chill on nonprofit groups.

The point, it became clear, was to force Democrats to take a vote they didn't want to take.

"I've been around here seven years now," he explained. "You have certain ways you have leverage around here. I have leverage right now ... They need something, I want something. This place is about learning to compromise. They have to learn to compromise on this."

Then, to take it down a notch, he indulged in one of politicians' greatest weapons: humor. When asked about a fellow senator's new beard, he gamely played along. All's well that ends on a chuckle.

But the senator's political insight is still being put to the test.

The next day reporters stopped Ensign in the hall for some questions. One was about the Democrats' signature energy bill heading to the Senate after a scheduled vote in the House that afternoon. (This is the bill that renewable energy producers who are interested in doing business in Nevada have been watching intensely for the tax credits they say they need to make their projects work. Ensign has opposed the bill because it would also put an end to some tax breaks for oil companies.)

Before the question was even posed, Ensign interjected.

"It's not coming over from the House, so it doesn't matter," he said. "The Democrats can't agree amongst themselves ... so they're not doing it. They can't pass the House - the Democrats are too split over there."

Of course, later that afternoon, the House voted 235 to 181 to pass the sweeping energy bill, which includes a landmark increase in automobile fuel efficiency standards, tax incentives for solar, wind and geothermal energy production and a repeal of tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

Ensign missed the vote on the bill the next morning in the Senate. It failed to advance. He was already back home in Nevada, having left the night before.