Outlook on Iraq puts Porter on offense and defense

Michael J. Mishak

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 | 7:56 a.m.

Rep. Jon Porter made his fourth trip to Iraq last week and, by his account, spent time "in the trenches" with troops and faced two mortar attacks. What he witnessed and heard from U.S. and Iraqi leaders gave him much cause for hope, he said. The three-term Republican then returned to his Nevada district, where that very optimism about the war clouds his political future.

Party is spending millions of dollars in Nevada in a charade of trying to use the war as a way to win an election," he said. Porter has been working campaign donors vigorously to rebuild a bank account nearly emptied in 2006. Helped by Republican leaders and by his new seat on the influential House Ways and Means Committee, he raised more than $695,000 in the fi rst six months of the year, making him one of his party's top incumbent fundraisers. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political newsletter in Washington, has identified Porter as one of 15 House Republicans facing a competitive race next year.