No rest for the weary, at least in the case of Florida Republican Rep. Ric Keller, who on Nov. 7 survived a tough challenge to win a fourth House term. Keller already faces competition for 2008 in the Orlando-area 8th District — from a fellow Republican.

Todd W. Long, a lawyer and conservative radio host, filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to seek the GOP nomination in 2008.

That was supposed to be the effective year of the term-limit pledge Keller took when he first ran for the House in 2000; he then promised to serve no more than eight years in the House.

But just two weeks after this year’s win over Democratic marketing consultant Charlie Stuart, by 53 percent to 46 percent, Keller effectively renounced the term limit pledge, announcing that he would seek a fifth term in 2008.

Long is determined to take on the incumbent — and to make an issue of his broken promise.

“Now that his eight years are up, he’s breaking the pledge and continuing to become the career politician that he said he’d never be,” Long told CQPolitics.com Monday. “He’s the epitome of the problem that I see, and the epitome of why the Republican Party’s been going backwards for the last six years.”

Keller took the four-terms-and-out pledge in 2000 as he was vying to succeed Republican Rep. Bill McCollum, who left the seat open for a Senate bid that failed. Keller was embroiled in a competitive primary election that he eventually won, then went on to a narrow general election victory over Democrat Linda Chapin (who also signed the term limit pledge that year).

But Keller now says that his pledge was short-sighted, the action of a novice politician who did not appreciate the benefits of seniority to the voters back home.

“I don’t like making mistakes, but I admit that was a big one,” Keller said in his 2008 candidacy statement. “As a rookie candidate, I underestimated the value of experience and seniority.”

Keller said that he has “unfinished business” on issues such as education and tax policy. Keller is one of the House Republicans’ leading advocate of Pell Grants, which help students pay for higher education tuition, and has taken a hardline stance against illegal immigration.

Keller acknowledged that his broken pledge “will be a campaign issue,” but said that he is comfortable leaving the issue in voters’ hands. And elections elsewhere in the nation over the past few campaign cycles indicate that it probably will not be a major liability.

Term limits reached their peak in the early 1990s. Several states passed limits for their legislatures, and some also put limits on members of Congress; the House Republicans’ “Contract With America” platform in 1994 called for imposing congressional term limits.

But the movement stalled with a 1995 Supreme Court ruling that the Constitution allowed only Congress, and not states, to place tenure limits on its membership. Congress, during the first two years after the GOP gained control of both chambers in the 1994 elections, considered but failed to approve a proposed constitutional amendment to invoke congressional term limits.

Fervor for term limits dropped sharply, and not coincidentally, as the Republicans took root for a House majority that would last a dozen years — ending when the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, elected Nov. 7, is sworn in next month.

The path taken by Keller for 2008 is well blazed. A lengthy list of Congress members have broken term-limit pledges, with impunity from their constituents.

Nonetheless, Long is seeking to present Keller with his first serious Republican primary test since his first House campaign in 2000. This year, the incumbent easily fended off primary opposition in the Sept. 5 primary from businesswoman Elizabeth Doran, winning with 72 percent.

Long said his campaign won’t face the “traditional problems” that plague other first-time candidates, namely a lack of name recognition and campaign funds. He believes the attention he has received from television appearances and his radio show provide him a leg up heading into election season, and he believes fundraising support will follow.

“That won’t be an issue,” Long said. “It will be an issue of who’s got the better ideas and who the people of District 8 feel will be a better representative for them.”

Long, though, may be hard-pressed to court Republican donors now that Keller has made it clear that he is seeking re-election. Keller had already raised more than $1 million leading up to this year’s GOP primary.

© 2006 Congressional Quarterly

Tips