I worked on Dan Coats' very first campaign many years ago but this is not the same person. He eventually slipped into the reformer mode, which I am wondering if this is SOP for some politicos. Perhaps bellying up to the reformer bar in order to suck up to the progressive independents among us. Then they routinely back off when the hierarchy of their party announces "No Way."
Case in point is Dan Coats advocating two-term limits, also John McCain's. At that point in time I e-mailed him that if he ran for president I would vote for him, for which I received a Christmas card. Mark Souder, who also had proposed term limits at one time, had it right when he said that the limit should also apply to staff members, compelling evidence of how powerful the staff is, unelected though they are.
But I digress - back to Mr. Coats, who quit D.C. after some years, saying, and I quote, "There is life after Washington." Being a loyal member of his party he was rewarded with the political plum of an ambassorship to Germany but that apparently grew dull. Perhaps he left something out for the tooth fairy. So back to life in Washington as a lobbyist.
My favorite fantasy is that on a Sunday afternoon when there is not a soul, including animals, on K Street, a constricted tsunami comes in a flash and carries the entire street with all the buildings to the bottom of the sea. But that is absurdly naive, as by Monday evening the lot of lobbyists would be ensconced in plush hotels around town, raising their glasses on high and toasting their survivability; nothing under the sun survives so well as greed.
By the way, those who are under the illusion that Mark Souder, after winning the election, would relinquish his position in his seat of power, well, there is that tooth fairy again!
