Baucus, Messina, Among ‘50 Most Powerful People in D.C.’

By Kellyn Brown, 10-13-09

	Caption: From GQ.com

Two Montanans made GQ’s annual list of the 50 most powerful people in Washington, D.C. Montana’s senior Sen. Max Baucus came in at No. 4 and his former top aide, now President Barack Obama’s deputy White house chief of staff, Jim Messina ranked No. 25.

GQ on Baucus: He may rep a state populated by only 967,000 people, but as chairman of the committee that controls the money (and as the recipient of very large amounts of lobbying dollars per citizen represented), Baucus controls the fate of every bill to affect all 300 million Americans. Health care? Cap and trade? Light rail? All roads lead through Baucus.

GQ on Messina: Messina is seldom in the headlines. But this 40-year-old former top aide to Baucus is now the president's designated fixer—the guy who muzzles a mouthy administration official, drops the hammer on White House military director Louis Caldera for the creepy N.Y.C. flyover last April, and strong-arms aye votes out of jittery Democrats.

Neither the president or vice president is eligible for the list, which is, of course, highly subjective. Interestingly, while House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, didn’t make the rankings, his Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., did. Boehner’s spokeman told POLITICO:

"GQ's prejudice against brightly-colored golf sweaters is well known, and it seems to have affected their judgment in this situation."

[End of article]