Washington wows Hagan

Senator-elect gets Capitol training

WASHINGTON -- Kay Hagan doesn't know which wooden desk she'll use in the U.S. Senate chamber, but she knows generally where it will be.

"You know, towards the back," she said Thursday morning, laughing as she reflected on her first week on Capitol Hill.

Hagan was introduced to the inner workings of Congress as one of a half-dozen senators-elect. In three days of orientation, Hagan learned about hiring staff and following ethics rules, how to cast a vote and how to navigate the Capitol tunnel system.

She received a briefing inside the U.S. Capitol's secure chamber, where lawmakers can receive classified information. She attended evening receptions and a private luncheon, and spent hours networking with new colleagues.

Hagan's arrival in Washington -- late Saturday night after attending a UNC-Chapel Hill basketball game -- felt anything but routine.

"The favorite thing to me has been driving into town and seeing the Washington Monument at night, and the outline of the Capitol," Hagan said. "It's made this yearlong race for the Senate real."

The tutorials have included plenty of history. On one day, the freshmen were led into an inner vault of the U.S. Archives, where a man pulled on white gloves to show off a centuries-old document, the electoral college vote counts from the Jefferson-Burr dispute after their race in 1800.

At another time, Hagan and the other members of her freshman class were led onto the Senate floor. She opened the antique wooden drawers to find that previous senators had carved their names inside.

"I found Helms," she said. Hagan looked for the desk of her uncle, the late Lawton Chiles of Florida, for whom she interned in the early 1970s. She didn't find it.

It's unknown whether Hagan will get Chiles' old desk, but such family hand-me-downs are common. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the Republican whom Hagan defeated, used the desk of her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.

Advice from all corners

Hagan, who will be sworn in Jan. 6, has been receiving advice from senators on both sides of the aisle. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri told Hagan not to be overwhelmed by the pomp. Sen. Richard Burr, the Winston-Salem Republican who is Hagan's Tar Heel colleague, advised her to find a loyal staff and be deliberate in her early decisions.

Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat elected two years ago, told the new senators to resist the inside-the-Beltway mentality.

"It's meetings, hearings, votes. Meetings, hearings, votes," Casey said. "It can be all-consuming. [Constituents] don't follow it, because they have lives to lead."

Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and John Cornyn of Texas gave a seminar on ethics, reciting the "no-forks" rule that requires lobbyist-funded receptions to be finger-foods-only. Ethics rules have been tightened in recent years in response to lobbying scandals.

"We all know you could have a much more expensive party with hors d'oeuvres than something with a fork," Hagan said. "That's ridiculous."

Hagan, a lawyer and state senator, found the rules to be a swamp of gray areas.

"The ethics part was very sobering," she said. "Their point was, no matter what you do, call the ethics committee beforehand."

A sense of awe

The Senate is a body governed by tradition, and freshman senators are expected to follow the rules and respect seniority. For now, there's still a bit of oh-my-goshness to everything.

Hagan went to the Democratic caucus Wednesday and was awed by the presence of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ted Kennedy. She cast her first vote -- in favor of allowing Sen. Joe Lieberman to keep a key chairmanship despite his support for Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential bid.

"I want to work across party lines," Hagan said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid held a photo op Monday morning with the incoming senators, but, as reporters jotted notes and photographers fired away, only Reid spoke.

No matter; Hagan was overwhelmed.

"I've never seen so many photographers!" she recalled.

"Get used to it," said her spokeswoman, Colleen Flanagan.

There is much to be overwhelmed by on Capitol Hill.

Hagan wants to tackle the nation's economic woes and help families facing housing foreclosures.

She plans to keep Dole's office in Raleigh and may hire some of the state staff as well.

She wants to serve on the banking and military affairs committees.

She doesn't know what bill she might introduce as her first.

She had hoped to buy a house, figuring she'll be here at least six years, but now she's feeling sticker shock. Maybe she'll rent.