A confected conservative.(Insider Report)

Former federal prosecutor Michael McCaul is running unopposed for the newly created 10th Congressional District in Texas. His chief political selling point is his reputation as a specialist on homeland security. Prior to his candidacy he was the Justice Department's Anti-Terrorism Coordinator for the Western Judicial District of Texas. And he's all but guaranteed favorable publicity, given that he's married to the daughter of Lowry Mays--owner of the mammoth, White House-connected Clear Channel media empire. Bob Dacy, an Austin-based political researcher, commented to THE NEW AMERICAN: "The list of donors to the McCaul campaign looks like a Clear Channel board meeting, or a Mays family reunion."

Young, well-coiffed and glib, McCaul (a graduate of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government) is clearly being groomed for bigger things. His campaign literature casts him as a "compassionate conservative" in the George W. Bush mold. His record suggests that he's eager to carry water for the Establisbment:

* In 1999, McCaul served as lead prosecutor against key Chinagate figure Johnny Chung, who admitted to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chinese ...