In the old days, political power resided in smoke-filled rooms. Anti-tobacco laws have pretty much cleared the air in Washington in recent years, but with a month until US midterm elections — it seems the Republicans are lighting up again.

House minority leader John Boehner, the man who would become speaker if the GOP wins control of Congress, is the only lawmaker who has an official exemption from the smoking bans on Capitol Hill.

He has spent three years as minority leader, a role roughly comparable to the leader of the opposition, and has successfully positioned himself as one of fellow-smoker Barack Obama’s fiercest critics.

Boehner may be well on his way to the speaker’s chair, but if he plans to become the face of a conservative revolution, he has a lot of work to do. Recent polls show that disatisfaction with Washington is hurting both parties and a large number of Americans know nothing about Boehner himself. Many even struggle to pronounce his name (it’s ‘bay-ner’).

A conservative Catholic from Ohio and the second of 12 children, he was elected leader after a corruption scandal forced the resignation of Tom DeLay in 2006. He was a key ally of former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who led the GOP fight against Bill Clinton with the famous ‘Contract With America.’

In an attempt to replicate the success of Gingrich’s 1994 landslide win, Boehner last month launched his own ‘Pledge to America’, described as a comprehensive conservative action plan for the next two years. The agenda includes changes to national security, a freeze on federal government hiring, a cap on government spending and a push to “repeal and replace” Obama’s health care reforms. It also stipulates that every piece of legislation must be directly linked to and authorised by the American Consitution.

While some question if Boenher is a serious lawmaker, it is clear he is spoiling for a fight with a weak president who is losing a number of his senior advisors.

The two haven’t be civil in the past. In 2008, Boehner described Obama as “chicken sh-t” for voting “present” so frequently in the Illinois state Senate. Obama has regularly mocked Boehner’s healthy tan. “He is a person of colour, although not a colour that appears in the natural world,” Obama said.

Democrats are clearly worried about losing control of the House. The influential 538 blog currently gives Republicans a 65% chance of taking over the speakership. Obama’s recent campaign tour took him to suburban backyards to speak to average voters, while Boehner was out raising US$36 million for GOP candidates in 2010.

Democratic tactics rely on using Boehner’s own record to make him the objectionable face of Washington, and the hope that Tea Party candidates will act as spoilers in some tight races.

While the New York Times once described Boehner as “Dean Martin comes to Congress”, Obama would prefer voters remembered that he has close ties to the K-Street lobbying machine, having once used a floor debate to hand out cheques from a political action group funded by the tobacco industry.

So as Democrats, with an eye to 2012, try to limit the damage on November 2, there is one smoke-filled back room on Capitol Hill plotting to make Rep. John Boehner a new conservative standard-bearer.