Cornering Heller is tricky business

By Lisa Mascaro

Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Sometimes the best preparation for a day at work here is not a quick reread of the Constitution, but a little practice time stealing bases on the ball field.

Reporters routinely congregate in the halls of the Capitol while the House and Senate are voting, because it offers a prime chance to catch lawmakers for a quote. It is an attribute of the legislative branch, this potential access, without gatekeepers, for a few moments of each day.

Some elected officials want to be caught, and they hang out in the House speaker’s lobby waiting to be spotted. Others hold court, gathering reporters around. Others prefer to be summoned with a calling card slipped to the staff.

And sometimes, some want to be left alone.

Such was the case last week with Republican Rep. Dean Heller.

Heller has been a sought-after man of late, as he continues to mull whether he will, or will not, challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the 2010 election.

The two were rumored to be meeting last week to discuss their political futures, according to Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.

Heller and Reid had met about six weeks ago. A small buzz had emerged about the majority leader making the trip to visit the congressman’s office.

Reid’s spokesman downplayed any such visits, saying Reid routinely meets with members of the Nevada delegation in Washington.

In fact, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley had been to the senator’s office for a one-on-one the week before.

Maybe Heller would, if cornered, offer a hint to whether he and the senator were meeting.

That brings us to Friday afternoon, with Heller bounding out of the elevator off the House floor for the final votes before the long August recess.

How was the meeting with Sen. Reid this week?

The meeting? he responded, still walking. In my office or his?

Either way.

Didn’t have a meeting in his office, Heller said, disappearing through the doors to the House floor.

This is where time spent stealing bases comes in handy.

The House chamber has no fewer than six sets of main doors through which lawmakers can enter and exit, and a few minor ones.

Chances are an elected official who does not want to talk to a reporter will leave from a different door than the one he entered. But which one?

After casting a vote, Heller makes a move for the cloakroom door, on the other side of the chamber.

A quick dash down the hall, around the corner, and sure enough, by the time I arrive, he emerges, ice cream cone in hand.

It’s Friday, the House is about to adjourn for the five-week summer break. Why not a little ice cream? A sugar cone, it appeared to be, with vanilla ice cream, dipped in chocolate. Crushed nuts sprinkled on top.

Hi! Ice cream day?

An aide rushes up to the congressman. Papers are exchanged in a flurry. There is a sudden need for an urgent hallway meeting.

Will you excuse us? Heller says.

We’re standing outside the door to the chamber, guards at the ready. Surely, they don’t allow ice cream on the House floor.

Ice cream in one hand, papers in the other, the congressman holds his head high and walks inside.

Nicely done, without missing a beat.

From there, Heller is hard to spot. Even a quick trip upstairs to the third floor press gallery, which provides an eagle’s view of the panorama of the floor below, yields no sighting.

Back to the halls, roaming up one corridor, down another.

No luck.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus walks by. We exchange hellos.

Around the corner Berkley passes. Are you looking for me? she says. We talk a bit.

The final votes are cast. The chamber empties out for recess.

Heller escaped. He is safely home.

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at [email protected].