John Campbell

The five U.S. representatives who hail from Orange County were divided on the Monday vote for the emergency rescue package.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Irvine) acknowledged in an interview today that his outspoken support for the $700 billion bailout package could cost him his shot at the chairmanship of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

But that’s not going to make him change his position that a rescue plan in at least some form needs to pass.

Campbell said he was aware of reports that RSC members not backing the bailout had concerns about his position, but if that keeps Campbell from winning the chairmanship, he said, “I’m ok with that.”

Campbell said he felt strongly about his position. As RSC chair, he said, members would need to know that he would stand by his positions.

The Republican Study Committee is a caucus of conservative members. Campbell and at least several other members, including U.S. Reps. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), have been reportedly in consideration for caucus chair, a post currently held by U.S Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).

U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Irvine) announced Monday his support of the $700 billion Wall Street emergency rescue package.

Five U.S. Representatives from Southern California have made Roll Call’s annual list of the 50 richest members of the U.S. Congress.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthyWASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy is one of the few people who will become so animated when talking about congressional elections that he leans forward in his seat in mid-conversation and touches the arm of the person he is speaking to.

“I believe everyone is addicted to something in life,” he said in an interview with PolitickerCA.com, and the first term Republican congressman said for him “it just happens to be politics.”

McCarthy’s enthusiasm and energy for politics, coming at a bleak time for house Republicans, has made him something of a standout in his freshman class and the party in general. Already, the Bakersfield congressman has been placed in an advisory position at the National Republican Congressional Committee and has been tapped to head up the party’s Platform Committee at the national convention in September. He’s a member of the Young Guns, a group of Republicans whose mission is to prop up house challengers around the country.