The leading candidate for the coveted freshman spot on the House Republican Steering Committee appears to be Rep-elect Ted Poe of Texas. A conservative since he was a volunteer for Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964 while in high school, Poe was a prosecutor and an elected district judge in Houston before winning the GOP nomination for Congress last year over six opponents and then defeating Rep. Nick Lampson (D.-Tex.). Dubbed "America's Judge" by friend Jack Kemp, Poe is best-known for making those found guilty in his courtroom parade in public with sandwich-board signs saying "I drove drunk" or "I was a shop-lifter."
