WASHINGTON — Half a dozen Republicans decamped from Washington to Southern California this weekend to get away from the crowds, the cold and the Barack Obama bobbleheads. They've rented a house in Palm Springs with a heated swimming pool, a hot tub and an outdoor fire pit.
"We'll toast the new administration and, fingers crossed, wish them well before we return on Wednesday and see what the future holds for Republicans in Washington," said Karen Johnson, a lobbyist and former Bush administration official who organized the long weekend.
Many Democrats are approaching Obama's inauguration as the 44th president with unbridled excitement, but Republican spirits are considerably muted. They are bracing for the couple million Democratic partygoers expected to invade the capital, not to mention the loss of thousands of Republican jobs.
The switch from a Republican to a Democratic White House will put at least 8,000 members of the GOP out of work. The loss of Republican seats in the House and the Senate has added to the party's employment problem.
And the consultants and lobbyists who do business based on their relationships with Republican lawmakers and administration officials are expecting to feel the pinch too.
"I literally don't know a single Republican who's going to be in town over the inauguration," said Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign and who is headed to New York. "This is not an easy time. It's not the politics, it's the economics."
Charles Spies, a Washington lawyer who was counsel for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, is planning to have a party in Las Vegas. He's holding an "inaugural in exile" dinner with his wife and about a dozen GOP friends.
"We live in downtown D.C., and decided we would let Barack Obama have his moment in D.C. and we would get the heck out of town," Spies said.
But John Feehery, a Republican consultant and former spokesman for onetime House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), is staying.
"For me it's a historic moment, and you don't necessarily want to root for the other team, but you want to be there and observing history," he said.
Besides, said Feehery, who plans to attend a couple of inaugural parties, "if all the Republicans leave town, this makes for more business opportunities for me."
