House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.) will retire at the end of this Congress, and three Republicans on his committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Dan Burton (Ind.) and Chris Smith (N.J.), are already vying to succeed him. Although there is sympathy for Smith, who was dislodged from the chairmanship of Veterans Affairs earlier this year, Capitol Hill sources say the Republican leadership would be reluctant to pass over Ros-Lehtinen as the first Cuban-American to chair a House committee.
