Shopping for Some Christmas Credit.

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Author: Bedard, Paul

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is a last-minute shopper. But this Christmas won't end with a mad dash to the mall for impersonal gift cards. That's because he's getting help from a shopaholic: Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. And it's all in a day's work. As part of a broad GOP effort to herald the booming economy and beat up the Grinches in the press and a Democratic Party more focused on job and benefit cuts, the duo is teaming up to hit stores and cheer on shoppers. We hear that they'll debut this week in Hastert's Chicagoland district at fashionable Westfield Fox Valley. Gutierrez will be there to brag about the economy. "I do my part to keep our economy strong by shopping early and shopping often," he tells us. He's looking for MP3 players for his kids that, of course, won't allow illegal downloads. Hastert, a former high school wrestling coach, plans to visit Champs to buy Chicago Bears goodies. "The economy looks merry this Christmas," he tells us, "and the folks at the Fox Valley Mall tell me that there's some good deals for those last-minute shoppers like myself."

Hastert's partnership with Gutierrez, who has made similar trips to Macy's and Home Depot, reveals a secret: Gutierrez, the onetime Kellogg's salesman, is now the Bush administration's top point person on the economy. "He's a salesman at heart," says an aide, "and he continues to sell today."

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By Paul Bedard