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WASHINGTON - Former state Attorney General Dan Lungren completed his Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of washed-up politicians Tuesday when he was sworn into office as the Sacramento area's newest Republican congressman.
Beaming ear to ear with a smile that seemed infectious in his new - and bare - office suite, Lungren was alternately giddy with joy and humbled by the responsibilities ahead.
"It's like coming home," said Lungren, seated at his desk in an office whose only decorations so far are photos and memorabilia reflecting long-ago achievements with President Reagan and stately documents proving his admittance to practice law in California and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
"You realize this is something where you can make a major difference," Lungren said, as if this were a new discovery to him.
Lungren, who lives in Gold River, succeeds Doug Ose as the 3rd District's congressman. Ose, a Sacramento developer, chose not to run for a fourth term, in keeping with his promise to hold the seat no longer than six years.
After a trouncing by Gray Davis in a 1998 gubernatorial campaign that many Republicans thought Lungren fumbled, it seemed the 59-year-old conservative's political career had come to a sudden but sure end.
But Lungren proved that prognosis wrong last March when he beat two better-financed challengers - state Sen. Rico Oller and Mary Ose, the former congressman's sister - in a come-from-behind primary squeaker, and then went on to win the November general election with nearly 62 percent of the vote.
Lungren is not a novice on Capitol Hill.
He served the Long Beach area in the House from 1978 to 1988, leaving in 1989 when Gov. George Deukmejian picked him for the vacant state treasurer's post.
But Lungren proved to be too conservative to survive the confirmation process in Sacramento, and so he tossed his hat into the ring for state attorney general.
He was twice elected to that job, but his crushing gubernatorial defeat in 1998 sent him into unemployment. His family by then was rooted in suburban life in Roseville, and he sought out a variety of work, including a stint as a talk-show host on a Catholic radio station.
For the last several years, Lungren has worked in Washington as a lawyer-lobbyist for a large law firm. He cut those ties completely after his November victory.
Smart and aggressive - some might even say impudent - Lungren seeks to take up where he left off in 1988.
Committee assignments won't be announced until later in the week, but Lungren is angling for a spot on the House Judiciary Committee, where he served previously when he carried water for Reagan on immigration reform.
Among his first official acts will be to co-sponsor an immigration reform package that will substantially tighten border controls. Its author is Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, whose office is next door to Lungren's in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Lungren's office reflects the fact that he rejoins the Congress with more seniority than Ose had when he left, and so was able to choose space in some much-coveted House real estate.
A larger indication of Lungren's presence came Monday at a White House reception for new members where President Bush singled him out by name, saying, "Thank you for agreeing to serve your great state and our country once again."
Bush knows Lungren. When governor of Texas, Bush held two fund-raisers in California and one in Texas for Lungren when he was running for governor in 1998.
What seemed most stunning to Lungren on Tuesday, however, was something that comes with age and maturity.
In 1978 when he was sworn into office for the first time, his 5-year-old son Jeff was with him. On Tuesday in his arms was his 2-year-old granddaughter, Reagan, Jeff's oldest child.
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