Colleagues Offer Hugs and Jeers as Rep. Condit Returns to Work

For a few moments Wednesday night, Gary A. Condit stood alone at the back of the House chamber, arms locked across his chest, glancing around as if searching for a friendly face.

As his colleagues began to fill the room for the first vote after returning from their August recess, the Democratic congressman from Ceres found several.

A hearty handshake from North Carolina Republican Richard M. Burr. A buss on the cheek from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Hugs from Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Atherton) and Sam Farr (D-Carmel), who both sat alongside the beleaguered Condit in the last row as a dozen or so fellow lawmakers made their way over to say hello.

Earlier in the day, however, the homecoming outside the House floor had been decidedly chillier for Condit. The nationally televised interview last month in which he offered his first public comments about Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old intern with whom he was involved and has been missing since early May, had earned him bipartisan jeers.

The political fallout continued with the return of lawmakers to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, even as Condit’s 24-year-old daughter, Cadee, became the latest of his relatives and aides to go on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to defend her father.

On Wednesday, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) suggested his counterparts across the aisle should force Condit off the sensitive House Intelligence Committee.

“Prudence might suggest . . . that [House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri] think about asking Gary about stepping down,” Armey told reporters. Armey added that, while he thought the danger of Condit being blackmailed was “exaggerated,” he nonetheless believed Gephardt should “err on the side of prudence.”

For his part, Gephardt let stand the harsh critique he offered the day after Condit’s Aug. 23 interview with ABC-TV’s Connie Chung, when he chided the California congressman for a seeming lack of candor. And Gephardt reiterated his intention to consult with fellow Democrats about Condit’s assignment on the House Intelligence Committee while declining to speculate about the likelihood of the congressman’s removal from the panel.

“I don’t know what the options are at this point, and I don’t know what will come of the process. But you have to deal with a fair process here,” he said at a news briefing where he fielded more than half a dozen questions about Condit.

While Condit appeared relieved by his reception on the floor--where he was among the first members to heed the bell for the roll call and among the last to leave--the chamber seemed likely to provide only a temporary sanctuary.

Much remained the same since Condit left Washington for the monthlong summer break.

Camera crews were stationed outside at least three doors to the chamber while he voted. Across from his office on the Hill, reporters filled a roped-off section of the marbled hallway. And once again he faced an encampment of cameras and reporters outside his Washington home.

What had changed for him, however, was the political atmosphere. Despite the shoulder pats from several colleagues, signs of Condit’s political decline were clear.

Armey’s comments about Condit--who as a moderate “Blue Dog” Democrat played an important role in the tightly divided House--marked what has been snowballing sentiment against a man who many on both sides of the partisan divide had hoped would have more to say about his involvement with Levy.

Those hopes were deflated by Condit’s interview with Chung. And while close friends of Condit’s continued to say privately they believed fellow politicians had deep sympathy for his situation, others said the more widely held sentiment was escalating disdain.

In a CNN interview Tuesday, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) speculated that many of Condit’s colleagues were not looking forward to seeing him again. “It would be an embarrassing encounter. He has publicly displayed an unreasonable conduct that does not answer questions forthrightly.”

On “Larry King Live,” Condit’s daughter acknowledged Wednesday the turning political tide, saying: “I think there’s just a bandwagon to bash Gary Condit when he’s down.”

Cadee Condit and her brother Chad last week quit their jobs in the administration of California Gov. Gray Davis, a longtime family friend, to protest his criticism of their father after the Chung interview.