From Omaha.com

WASHINGTON - In his three terms representing the 2nd District, Lee Terry has developed a "nice guy" image and a reputation as a willing worker for his party.
Terry has viewed nearly every assignment from party leaders - even ones that make most members chafe - as an opportunity to learn and to move up in the ranks.
As a result, the 42-year-old Omaha lawyer has accepted time-consuming assignments, given up top billing on proposals when committee chairmen asked, and plugged away at rules and legislation that rarely make headlines.
Terry's glass is perpetually half full. He seems perplexed that other members of the politically charged, individually driven House of Representatives turn down such chances. "I enjoy it," he said of one task - presiding over sometimes less-than-exciting House debate.
The question is whether his approach will win him a third term on Nov. 2 and put him in a position to move into leadership roles in the House.
Loree Bykerk, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said Terry has not given his constituents in the 2nd District much of a legislative record. "Three terms is enough to be identified with an expertise area," she said, but she doesn't see that yet in Terry.
Terry acknowledged having had little success in moving his bills, and he expressed disappointment at having been denied a seat on the energy subcommittee three times. But he says he has finally built the seniority and respect required to be a player in Congress.
Committee chairmen are more receptive to his ideas than before, he said, and he has a better command of House rules and issues.
"My personal belief is that I've just come of age," he said.
Terry acknowledges that many of his legislative priorities could take years to accomplish. Among the proposals he's made: encouraging development of alternative energy sources, such as hydrogen fuel cells; overhauling Medicare, the national health program for retirees; and making sure the nation's laws on telecommunications keep pace with technological developments.
Terry has long held political ambitions. The son and namesake of the failed 1976 Republican candidate for the 2nd District seat, Terry has followed politics since childhood and was active in the young Republican group while at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
His goals in the House, he said, are to rise to leadership positions on the Energy and Commerce Committee, to which he was named in his second term.
Seats on the panel are coveted because of its focus on business issues and subsequent access to campaign contributions.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a donations watchdog, half the $868,000 that Terry had raised as of late June came from political action committees, more than 90 percent with ties to business. The largest donations came from employees or political action committees associated with Qwest Communications and SBC Communications, formerly Southwestern Bell.
Terry said he will try to become chairman of the panel's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, of which he is a member, and perhaps some day the full committee.
However, with his wife, Robyn, and three young sons living in Valley, Terry says he is not sure he wants to spend the 14 years he estimates it will take before he is in line for a full committee chairmanship.
The current chairman of the subcommittee, Michigan Republican Fred Upton, said Terry "is energetic, he understands the issues. He only moves up."
Terry serves as whip - tracking other members' positions on bills - on Upton's subcommittee and is one of several dozen members of the larger House Republican whip organization.
Terry has sided with his party on 96 percent of votes last year, according to Congressional Quarterly. His only major differences with Republicans come on some tort reform issues. Terry is a former trial lawyer and often sides with his old profession, which is politically associated with Democrats.
Nonetheless, Terry has not moved up as quickly on the committee as he would have liked. He has not won a seat he has long sought on the energy subcommittee.
He speculates that there is an anti-ethanol bias on the panel but says he has been promised the next opening. On ethanol, as on other agriculture-related matters, Terry views himself as a congressman for Nebraska, not just the 2nd District.
He has sponsored legislation to ensure Nebraska and several other states get more federal funds to subsidize rural phone service, and he has lent his backing to several efforts to provide relief to drought-stricken farmers in Nebraska's highly rural 3rd District.
Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican, praised him for helping the state. "He has very, very few farmer-rancher constituents in his congressional district, yet he's been great in that area," Johanns said.
Terry said one of his priorities is protecting Nebraska jobs. With a few exceptions, he has voted for bills benefiting local industries, even if his decision was not always popular with other constituents.
A year ago, Terry was one of only eight House members to vote against creating the national "do-not-call" registry to limit telemarketers, many of which have operations in Omaha. He said the proposal was not in the best interests of the district.
A number of local constituents disagreed and called the congressman's office. Terry took some of the toughest calls himself. One asked how far Terry's focus on jobs would extend. He asked if Terry would, for instance, vote to help strip clubs if it prevented strippers from losing their jobs.
"You know what? If I represented Las Vegas, I may," Terry said he responded.