THE RACE FOR THE 47TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Alex Coolman

His name has a way of cropping up in connection with all manner of

high-level political assignments: once it was speaker of the House, then

it was vice president, and recently it was a hypothetical slot in a

George W. Bush Cabinet.

Chris Cox (R-Newport Beach), the 47th District congressional

incumbent, has never ended up grabbing any of these jobs that people say

he might want.

But every time he talks about the work he already does as a

congressman, one thing seems clear: he likes things pretty well right

where he is.

“Serving in the leadership of the House with a president of your own

party, with the exception of just a few Cabinet positions, is the

superior choice,” Cox said this week.

And if voting records are any indication, Cox’s constituents like him

right where he is. He’s in his sixth term this year as half of the

Cox-Rohrabacher combo that has the Newport-Mesa area sewn up for the GOP.

Cox’s foreign policy profile has been high this year as a result of

the publication of a report on the Clinton administration’s approach to

Russia. Cox is the chair of the Speaker’s Advisory Group on Russia, which

prepared the report.

Additionally, Cox chaired the Select Committee on U.S. National

Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People’s Republic of

China, which released a May 1999 report on what it characterized as the

Chinese threat to United States security.