He's Back!....Ralph Neas is a bit of a Washington institution and a longtime power player in activist liberal circles. Now he is going to be taking over as chief executive officer of the National Coalition on Health Care.

Neas is the former president and CEO of People for the American Way, a position that afforded him substantial influence with Democrats on judicial nominations. During a battle over U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Judge Charles Pickering, The Wall Street Journal editorial page described Neas as the "liberals' puppet master" for Senate Judiciary Democrats. In a release sent out by the National Coalition on Health Care, the group even points out Massachusetts Democratic Sen.Ted Kennedy's description of Neas as the "101st Senator for civil rights." Neas has also served as executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Given his ties to Democrats, it's easy to forget that Neas was an aide to two Republicans on Capitol Hill: then-Sens. Edward Brooke, R-Mass. and David Durenberger, R-Minn. Brooke was known as a progressive Republican and a co-author of the 1968 Fair Housing Act; Durenberger later endorsed Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for president in 2004 and disassociated himself from the GOP. Neas graduated from University of Notre Dame and got his law degree from University of Chicago, where he also taught.

                                                                                                                --Gregg Sangillo