Washingtonian

From the December issue of the Washingtonian comes an article entitled "Driving a Jag and Making a Million or More a Year":

Watch for Washington kingmaker Bob Barnett to play a key role in finding a new position for former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

One of the issues that led to Daschle's defeat in South Dakota was the recent purchase of a $2-million Foxhall Road mansion plus his wife's blue Jaguar that sits in the driveway. Now that he has been defeated, friends say, he might finally be able to pay for his family's new toys.

Barnett spent much of the preelection season shopping one of Daschle's colleagues, retiring Louisiana senator John Breaux. Asking price for Breaux was said to be $1 million to $1.5 million a year.

Showing lots of interest in Breaux was the law/lobbying firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. One of Baker Donelson's most sought-after lobbyists is aviation expert Linda Daschle, the one-time beauty queen and wife of Tom Daschle.

Unlike Breaux, Daschle is not an attorney--so he might not attract offers quite as high as for Breaux, whose wheeler-dealer Louisiana persona is tailor-made for lobbying.

Daschle is more cerebral than your average politician, and he has a keen interest in writing and history. One possibility, friends say, would be to succeed Lawrence Small as head of the Smithsonian. But he might well be recruited to head Common Cause or some other good-government group.

Breaux received a yearly Senate salary of $158,100; as leader, Daschle got $175,700. The tears Daschle might be shedding over his November defeat may be dried by Barnett, who negotiated a book advance of $500,000 for Daschle in 2002, when he was still considered a prospect for the presidency.