WASHINGTON — More than a week after Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigned from the House over his messages to teenage boys who had served as congressional pages, other Republicans are struggling to get off the defensive and back onto the campaign themes they hoped would help preserve their House and Senate majorities after the midterm elections Nov. 7.
In appearances on the Sunday news shows and elsewhere over the weekend, Republicans have tried to defend their leaders' handling of the Foley matter and reassure voters that it will be investigated -- even as they sometimes have blamed Democrats for stoking preelection revelations of Foley's salacious messages.
Even a close ally of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) acknowledged Sunday that time was running short for the GOP to get onto more hospitable political terrain.
"There's a little window of opportunity, but it's closing on us fast," Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) told CBS' "Face the Nation."
"We need to really take advantage of the next 30 days and our resources to persuade the American people that we can govern," he said. "This is going to be the most difficult 30 days in the last 12 years that we've been the majority party."
In a sign of how hot the scandal has gotten, Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) -- one of the GOP leaders under fire for his handling of information about Foley -- canceled an appearance booked weeks ago on ABC's "This Week."
Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was to discuss the midterm elections with his Democratic counterpart, but begged off because of "flu-like symptoms," an aide said. Reynolds has said he was told in the spring of overly friendly, but not sexual, e-mails Foley sent to a former page from Louisiana and discussed the matter with Hastert. The speaker has said he does not recall the conversation but does not dispute Reynolds' account.
Even Republicans further removed from the scandal, speaking for the party on the Sunday talk shows, found themselves hard-pressed to focus on several recent economic developments that should be good news for the GOP: a lower unemployment rate, record highs in the stock market and falling gas prices.
That points to a big part of the challenge Republicans face in the final month of campaigning. Even if voters do not blame others in the GOP for Foley's conduct or the potential negligence of their leaders, the scandal is eating up precious time that Republicans had hoped to use to remind voters of their accomplishments.
