Time Magazine: Eric Cantor works to regain GOP majority

"I feel that my obligation is to be a prudent guardian of taxpayer money."

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA 7th Congressional District)

Rep. Eric Cantor has a giant mounted photo propped like a canvas on the arms of a chair in the corner of his office in the Capitol. The image seems an innocently iconic one — a shot of the National Mall from Congress — until a staffer explains to you that it's the view from the Virginia Republican's old office when the GOP controlled the House, and it's there to serve as a daily reminder of what he's working toward: regaining the majority.

So begins Time Magazine's new article about Republican Whip Eric Cantor, a popular servant of the people who hopes to bring the majority back to DC and the GOP. Capturing the mover-and-shaker of the forty-something set, Time reported:

Taking on the relatively unpopular congressional Democrats is one thing, but flagrantly opposing a wildly popular new President is risky, especially when the payoff could take years, if at all. But the move energized the GOP for the first time in a long while, inspiring six Republican governors — all rumored 2012 wannabes like Cantor himself — to threaten to decline some of the stimulus money.

The opposition also heightened Cantor's profile as the Newt Gingrich of his generation, a wonky, partisan bomb thrower who can rake in well over $300,000 in a single fundraiser, as he did last week. The Richmond, Va., Republican, who likes to remind folks he holds James Madison's seat in Congress, is one of the few rising stars in a party struggling to reinvent itself. But at 45, the baby-faced Cantor is hardly new to the scene. A player in House leadership for seven years, he has raised more than $16.5 million for himself and his colleagues in the last three election cycles — the carrot to his ideological stick when he's keeping his conference in line.

Read the entire article here.

Cross-posted at SixtyFour81.com