I’ve been holding onto this piece about Ken Mehlman because Alito is a bigger story. But I just want to throw up an extended blockquote from the article because it involves a very interesting group of observations by Grover Norquist (and none of them have a thing to do with Mehlman).

A short bullet of a man, Norquist, seems particularly wound up on this wet, wintry day. Accompanying Norquist is his chief of staff, Chris Butler, a young man with blond hair plastered flat across his broad head, a shiny porcelain complexion, and cheerless, pale eyes. I ask the Republican maverick, who heads up Americans for Tax Reform, whether Ken Mehlman can rescue the formerly invincible GOP in time for the 2006 midterm elections, and more crucially, the 2008 presidential race.

While Norquist concedes 2005 was a terrible year for the Republicans, he’s quick to point out the silver lining: “It was the perfect storm for the Democrats,” he admits, before unleashing a gloating grin, “but the wrong year!” Then it’s onto the day’s spin, washed down with ice tea. Sure, he says, losing two crucial governorships (in Virginia and New Jersey) has ramped up party anxiety, but two out of fifty is no cause for alarm “By the 2006 elections, we’ll have gas prices down, people will have forgotten about Katrina, and we’ll get the troops coming home from Iraq,” suggesting that one of Brazile’s prediction is not far off. “Trust me. They’re gonna cut and run,” said Brazile, “but they’ll call it something else.” And then for the coup de grace, says Norquist, his baby face breaking into a wide grin: “We’ll bring in al-Zarqawi and Osama Bin Ladin.”

Curiously, Norquist’s praise for Mehlman seems parsimonious. “He’s a competent manager,” he says. That’s it? “He managed the 2004 campaign very well, and he’s been rewarded for his loyalty. He speaks well and he’s very good on the chat shows. He’s trusted by state leaders and he has 2004 street cred.” I mention that his enthusiasm is less than contagious. Norquist shrugs, “Competence is a compliment,” he says. Then he adds, without any expression, “a big compliment.”

“Grover blames Rove for the Harriet Miers mess,” says one of Washington’s shrewdest readers of GOP tea leaves, “and Mehlman is Rove’s creation and minion. Grover thinks Rove should have blocked Miers and he didn’t because he was so tied up trying to save himself from Fitzgerald and jail.” Worse, Mehlman has been known to be a pragmatist and nifty dealmaker,- a facility that makes the Party’s red meat ideologues twitchy.

I ask Norquist about Beltway rumors that Mehlman will inherit Rove’s job should Bush’s consigliere be indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald. “Karl’s been whacked, but he’s fine now,” says Norquist, who ties with Abramoff go back decades – and is himself now endangered. “Look, Karl’s not going to get indicted. Fitzgerald interviewed him for 20 hours about one phone call. If you can’t get Karl to contradict himself over a twenty hour period in four interrogations about a three minute conversation, then it ain’t going to happen. He’s not going to be indicted.” Where Mehlman really matters, he adds, is as “the public face of the party,” someone to do the chat shows and interview circuit. “Karl is damaged as a spokesman because he can’t do interviews anymore – because all he gets asked about is Fitzgerald and the leak business. But Karl’s not been damaged internally.”

Having heard that Bob Woodward has been dining out for months on Dick Cheney’s “desire” to be president in 2008, I ask the big question: What if Fitzgerald’s leak investigation implicates the Vice President? For example, what if Cheney turns out to be Bob Woodward’s source? Norquist’s eyes widen but betray nothing. Quickly, he counters, sotto voce. “I heard it was [Richard] Armitage,” he says, referring to Colin Powell’s former deputy at the State Department. Then he cuts to the chase. “If Cheney is involved in any way, then [Scooter] Libby pleads guilty and stops the hemorrhaging.”

And then Bush pardons both of them? I ask.

“Sure,” says Norquist.

What part of that gave you the worst chills? Take the poll.