For Louisiana Republican Jim McCrery, the gavel of the powerful Ways & Means Committee was almost within grasp — chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., was retiring in January 2007 — when Democrats took control over the House, and New York Democrat Charlie Rangel got the chair. It was not too surprising in December 2007 when McCrery decided to call it quits and “more fully enjoy the last few years my boys will be at home.”

Home, however, was no longer in Louisiana’s 4th District, but was instead a house he had bought in 2004 in McLean, Va.