By: Patrick o'Connor

In politics, like in boxing, every rematch hints at the fight that came before it.

That might explain why House Republican leader John A. Boehner is making a few extra calls this time to ensure that Texas Rep. Pete Sessions ousts Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole in the race to run the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Sessions was the clear favorite to chair the NRCC after the 2006 elections, but Cole squeezed past the Texan in a tight three-way race.

Republican oddsmakers say Sessions is the favorite again this year for the NRCC chairmanship, but Cole still has a shot to keep his post for a second term — despite heavy Republican losses in the Nov. 4 election.

The Sessions team — strongly backed by Boehner — is confident heading into Wednesday’s election. “We’re going in the right direction,” one aide said.

A Cole supporter believes the Oklahoma Republican will eke out a win to retain his chairmanship by “less than 10 votes,” because “he will do well with the freshmen.”

Indeed, many of the newly elected GOP lawmakers — in town for orientation this week — feel like they owe Cole a vote because he helped them win in a terrible environment for Republican congressional candidates.

Republican Rep.-elect Aaron Schock, who will succeed retiring Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois next year, plans to back Cole because the NRCC chairman supported him during a three-way primary.

“He’s been very supportive of me,” Schock said Monday as he entered the freshman orientation seminar in the Cannon Caucus Room.

And many of the newly elected members plan to split their tickets between the two rivals.

Colorado Rep.-elect Michael Coffman is backing Boehner for leader and Cole for another term at the NRCC. He’s also supporting Texas Rep. Michael Burgess over Michigan Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter as the next chairman of the Policy Committee.

Boehner is also reaching out to incoming Republican freshmen, according to an aide involved in the leadership race.

Boehner sparred privately with Cole over the past two years, and the feud spilled out into the open during a conference call on Election Night, when Cole sidestepped two questions about whether he would back Boehner as leader.

Days later, Boehner issued a statement backing Sessions over Cole.

Cole is using the election results to make his case for another term, arguing his campaign team minimized the Nov. 4 losses despite a “toxic political environment” by making ruthless decisions about which candidates to back down the stretch and waiting as long as possible to buy advertising.

“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes,” Cole told the people placing his ads.

Cole, who served as the top staff director of the committee before earning his seat in the House, is also casting aspersions on his predecessors, such as retiring New York Rep. Thomas Reynolds.

“When I took over at the NRCC in January 2007, it was evident a great deal of reform was required,” Cole wrote colleagues in the letter on Monday. “We exposed and corrected the corruption that was allowed to run unchecked for years.”

Republican Rep.-elect Leonard Lance didn’t want to discuss the Cole-Sessions matchup, but after emerging from a hard-fought election in the New Jersey suburbs, he does have a message for the eventual winner.

“We need more moderate Republicans in the Northeast,” said one of the few GOP lawmakers to win in that region. “To regain the majority in the House, the party has to be a big tent.”

Sarah Abruzzese contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC | Distributed by Noofangle Media