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He was so powerful. 
I mean he'd have dinners with Presidents, Democrats, Republicans.

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He knew the tax code backwards and forwards.

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And two or three weeks, two weeks before he was ever going to
bring a tax bill to the floor, you'd see him.

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bring a tax bill to the floor, 
you'd see him.

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You wouldn't see him the rest of the time,
he'd be busy in Ways and Means.

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But he'd come out to the floor,
and he'd start renewing acquaintances.

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It was fascinating to watch him work.
I mean he was a pro, at his best.

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And he'd renew acquaintances— 
ask them about their family, children, various different things.

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He knew a lot about the Members.
And he'd ask them stuff and stuff.

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And he'd, you know, casually comment that he's got a bill coming out,
want them to take a look at it.

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"Take a look at it. See what you think. 
Let me know if you got any problems with it."

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And he did this for a period of time, 
and it was schmoozing the Members, building the relationships, 

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consolidating those relationships, renewing those relationships. 
“I’m here.” 

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And then he'd start— 
then by the week before he was ready to bring it out—

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so, so at first, it was the casual kind of relationship. 
"Hi, how's everything going?"

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The next time—and then it gradually built to okay,
eyeball-to-eyeball, "I need your vote on this one. Are you with me?"

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And he, I remember he was doing this,
and I was watching it. 

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So I was standing in the back of the House with him, 
and he came back. 

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And I said, "How's it going, Mr. Chairman?"

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And he said, "I think it's going pretty well, 
we're in good shape."

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He said, "I think we're in good shape.
You tell, you tell Tip we're in pretty good shape."

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But he said, 
"Don't tell anybody else that."

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I said, "Okay."

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And he said, you know he said, "When you count votes, 
you always wanna have ten in your pocket that no one knows about.

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You never know what can happen the last minute.
You've got to keep those extra 10."

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And I thought, 
"That's pretty shrewd. That's sharp."