A mandate to mock

Some people mark their ballots to support Democrats or Republicans. Others want conservatives, liberals or moderates to win the next election.

The Capitol Steps watch the elections with a slightly different interest, cheering for candidates on fairly bipartisan criteria:

“Is it funny and what rhymes with that name?” said Elaina Newport, one of the co-founders of the troupe of political satirists returning to the INB Performing Arts Center on Sunday.

So the Capitol Steps are glad Democrats are taking over Congress, but not because they expect more government largesse or better legislation. Nancy Pelosi becoming speaker means another woman character can be written into musical sketches, Newport said, and women in the troupe are always looking for more roles.

But no, they don’t have anything funny yet to rhyme with Pelosi.

The Capitol Steps have been turning familiar tunes into political satire for 25 years. In the beginning, they were congressional staffers who began performing spoofs of the political leaders they worked for, Newport said. They did it in private, because no one was sure how their bosses would react.

It turned out no one really minded, and their songs got bolder. They kept getting invited to private parties, and word of their send-ups spread.

Newport, a former legislative aide for Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois, said she never planned to quit her day job. Part of her duties as a congressional staffer included arranging for congressional hearings, which involved scheduling witnesses and setting up media coverage.

“That was a little bit like show business,” she said.

In 1988, she went full time with Capitol Steps and has been there through all the subsequent changes in the White House and control of Congress.

“The party in power is always funnier,” she said. “When people say you have to do more to ‘get the Democrats,’ I say ‘You have to elect a few.’ ”

The main Steps troupe performs most Friday and Saturday nights in Washington, D.C. The traveling show is the same as the current one in the nation’s capital – roughly 90 minutes of songs with political themes set to familiar music.

It changes as rapidly as the news. Newport said there will likely be a farewell to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “Old Man Rumsfeld,” set to the tune of “Old Man River.” There might also be a shot at Virginia Sen. George Allen’s use of the word “macaca” to describe a minority staffer of his opponent, set to Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana.”

“Whenever possible, we try to use a Barry Manilow song,” Newport said.

Show tunes and rock standards are their stock in trade, but they have used an occasional rap song.

Some songs start as satire, but stay in the show because they catch on with the audiences. The Steps often do “God Bless My SUV” to the tune of “God Bless the U.S.A.” and have people singing along.

They also do one or two “spoonerisms” – a monologue in which first letters are switched on some words to change the meanings. They call them “Lirty Dies,” from transposing the letters in “Dirty Lies”; one of the spoonerisms on Sunday is likely to be about the scandal surrounding Congressman “Fark Moley.”

The troupe works the news into the show fairly quickly, sometimes faxing jokes from Washington, D.C., to the traveling performers. The Nov. 7 election already has been worked into the show, Newport said.

Compared to the 2000 election it was a piece of cake. Back then, waiting like the rest of the country to see who would win – and whom they could poke fun at – they had to go for weeks with jokes and songs about hanging chads and butterfly ballots.

“And I dread primary season,” said Newport, looking forward to 2008. “You try writing Dick Gephardt jokes.”