REP. JEFF FLAKE IN HIS CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE. (Original photo at americanradioworks.publicradio.org.)

In the aftermath of widespread Republican defeats in this year’s federal elections, Arizona’s own Jeff Flake keeps popping up among a small list of names that party activists and conservative pundits believe are now the future of the GOP. After a Nov. 5 column in the Washington Post, he’s being talked about by everyone from random bloggers to prominent political sites. One Web site even polled 42 conservative bloggers about their favorite Republicans and Flake came in ninth.

Flake’s rise to national prominence continues Friday when he takes part in the 40th anniversary celebration of Reason Foundation, the Los Angeles-based libertarian think tank that sponsors Reason Magazine and Reason.TV. Flake will be the keynote speaker at a Hollywood gala banquet emceed by comedian and “Price is Right” host Drew Carey. It’s safe to say one of these two guys is probably the reason that the banquet and the related two-day conference have been sold out for weeks.

By chance, the Reason Foundation’s top award, “The Flame of Freedom,” will be awarded to two couples — R. David and Judith Threshie and Richard A. and Patricia Wallace. These people have been prominent leaders of Freedom Communications, the Tribune’s parent company, and active supporters of Reason as well. David Threshie is the Freedom board chairman emeritus and a former publisher of the Orange County Register. Richard Wallace recently retired as Freedom vice president of corporate affairs. Judith Threshie and Patricia Wallace are two granddaughters of company founder R.C. Hoiles, and have been active in the family partnership that ultimately owns the private company.

JEFF FLAKE

Back before the Sept 2 primaries, I wrote a blog post about why it didn’t really matter which of two Democrats emerged to challenge Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., as neither one had raised any money for their campaigns while Flake was sitting on pile of cash. If you read the comments under that post, you’ll note I took quite bit of criticism for suggesting that advertising funds and name recognition have far more influence over election campaigns than ideas, character, values or any of the other issues that voters are supposed to weigh.

Well, with the vote counting nearly over, Democrat Rebecca Schneider stuck to her principles in the 6th Congressional District, but failed to make any sort of impression in the general election. Through Oct. 15, Schneider had raised only $4,900 compared to Flake’s $1.2 million. That lopsided advantage was reflected on election day as Flake had the largest margin of victory among Arizona’s Republican candidates elected to Congress. This includes not only the percentage of votes cast (62.5 percent for Flake vs. 34.5 percent for Schneider) but also the difference in voting totals (191,540 for Flake vs. 105,862 for Schneider as of today, for a gap of about 85,300 votes). Arizona’s senior congressmen, Democrat Ed Pastor of Phoenix, defeated his largely unknown Republican opponent with 72 percent of the vote in the 4th Congressional District. But his winning margin was only about 56,300 votes.

I mentioned in my original post the difficult cycle that exists between money and federal candidates. You have to raise a good sum of money to get serious attention (at least a million dollars in Arizona); but you have to be taken seriously in order to raise that kind of money. A lot of people don’t like that, which is one big reason behind the push for publicly funded campaigns. But the federal courts appeared headed to ruling such systems unconstitutional if they force, coerce or intimidate any candidate into participating instead of running with private donations.

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., often appears to be a lone wolf crying in the distance as he is among a handful of conservatives voting against spending measures and piddling acts of recognition that Congress wastes its time with instead of just closing up shop for the day. But Flake’s consistent philosophy has brought him some special attention after six years in the U.S. House, as Esquire magazine has named him among the 10 best members of Congress.

Flake is best know for his vocal campaign against earmarks. But Esquire is praising him for his opposition to sweeping powers of surveillance presumed by the Bush administration that Congress has sought to rein in:

A true conservative, Flake is as rare as the dodo. Republicans should learn from him, and liberals and libertarians will find in him a strong privacy-rights ally. With Democrat Adam Schiff (Calif. 29), he’s led a rearguard action to place domestic terror surveillance under court guidance.

Other members of Flake’s class, according to Esquire, including Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Mike Pence, R-Ind. and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, as well as Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

The popular magazine has a worst-10 list as well, surprisingly topped by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas (who shouldn’t be on the list simply because of his strong support for open government laws). Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, also made the list (just barely) as did Democratic Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and William Jefferson of Louisiana.

     BOB LORD

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, sounded pathetic today when he blamed the defeat of President Bush’s $700 billion bailout for Wall Street on a floor speech from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But Democrats like Bob Lord aren’t looking much better when they test where the winds are blowing and then pretend they are taking a strong stand on the hottest issue of the moment.

Lord, the challenger in the Fifth Congressional District, sent out a last-minute news release claiming the bailout has been wrong since it was first proposed a week ago. But Lord’s news release was delivered, at least to my e-mail box, at 10:53 a.m. Monday as the bailout package already was going down to defeat and the stock market plunging in response.

By contrast, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has been objecting for days to the Bush administration proposal and issued his own news release rejecting the new compromise version on Sunday afternoon, more than 12 hours before the vote took place.

Lord isn’t the only Democrat in making a political calculation about whether to support a plan that Wall Street desperately wants but has the public hopping mad. Every single House member from Arizona cast their final vote against the measure today. I can see Reps. Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords making a safe play, as they have serious Republican challengers this year. But I wonder how Reps. Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva will justify voting against their own party’s leaders and with Reps. John Shadegg and Trent Franks?

      RUSSELL PEARCE

I wasn’t able to attend Thursday’s legislative candidate forum for District 18 in Mesa. But reading between the lines in Tribune writer Sonu Munshi’s coverage, I think Pearce still wishes he was running for Congress this fall instead of the Arizona Senate.

Pearce seriously considered challenging incumbent Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., in the primary because Flake has been a proponent of immigration reform that would provide an opportunity for otherwise law-abiding immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally to remain here. But Pearce found out when he tested the waters that running for Congress is a whole different ballgame than running for the Legislature. Access to cash, and lots of it, is much more important in a congressional campaign, although some East Valley Democrats want to believe I don’t know what I talking about.

Flake’s warchest is well-stocked and Pearce learned he would have a tough time matching it. So Pearce ran for the Legislature again, and even took public campaign funds to help fend off the heavy attacks from business-friendly critics.

Meanwhile, Flake isn’t taking any chances and he has launched a new fundraising tool called the Pork Parade. Technically, the site is supposed to be devoted to building support against pork-barrel spending and earmarks. But given its emphasis on the use of Twitter and its relative lack of content, the real purpose likely will be to build up Flake’s personal image and gather contact information for future donation appeals, ala Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.