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Rep. Eric Cantor Climbs GOP Ladder; The sole Jewish member of the House Republican Caucus, Rep. Eric Cantor impresses observers with his solid conservative values and strong leadership.

Article Excerpt
Byline: John Berlau, INSIGHT

When Rep. Eric Cantor was a child in Richmond, Va., he was one of the few Jews to attend Collegiate, an elite private, predominantly Christian school. Now, as the GOP congressman for Virginia's 7th Congressional District that includes Richmond, he is the sole Jewish member of the House Republican Caucus. Yet in neither situation has Cantor ever been an outsider for long. At school, he became a leader of his class. And since coming to Congress in 2001, after nine years in the Virginia House of Delegates, Cantor quickly has climbed the leadership ladder again. Early this year, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) named Cantor his chief deputy majority whip. This is a position that was held just four years ago by Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), now the Speaker the House. Cantor also serves on House Ways and Means, the powerful tax-writing committee.

Pro-American, pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Israel and for school choice, Cantor has a lifetime rating of 100 percent from the American Conservative Union and fast is becoming a favorite on the conservative speaker circuit. "Cantor has built a reputation as a smooth political operator, a workhorse, and an articulate, energetic spokesman for the cause," writes savvy political reporter Susan J.

Crabtree in an article in the conservative Weekly Standard. Political observers are talking about him as a future candidate for one of the top House leadership posts, and Virginia politicos are talking about him as a potential U.S. Senate candidate should GOP incumbent John Warner retire in 2008.

Picture profile recently caught up with Cantor in his office in the Speaker's Lobby on the House side of the U.S. Capitol.

Insight: How did you become a conservative and a Republican?

Eric Cantor: I am one of the few Jews my age to have grown up in this country with Republican parents. My father was very involved in the mid to late 1970s with the Republican Party in Virginia, and one of his friends, Dick Obenshain, actually ran for Senate and probably would have been elected. He was the party's nominee in 1978 and was killed in a plane crash. That's when John Warner, who was married to actress Elizabeth Taylor, became our party's nominee.

My father was attracted to the party because of its principles, and he and my mother got very involved at the grass-roots level as Republicans in the Richmond area. He was treasurer of the state for Reagan-Bush in 1984. So early on I was out there handing out literature at polls, walking door-to-door with candidates and was exposed to...

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