One-term wonder?

Politics | Joseph Cao's stay in Congress may be as short as his path there was remarkable | Emily Belz

James Allen Walker for WORLD

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Saigon-born Ahn "Joseph" Cao (pronounced "Gow") has managed to surprise the political establishment in his own 100 days in office. He became a Republican congressman in a Democratic district—and as a freshman lawmaker has already shown his independence, voting against President Obama's stimulus package though it had funds for his own district of New Orleans, and breaking ranks with Republicans on interrogation policies and a hate-crimes bill.

As a Republican trying to please Democratic constituents, the 42-year-old lawmaker from Louisiana has begun an uphill—and perhaps improbable—reelection battle just a year away. But "improbable" is a word that is sprinkled throughout the story of the first Vietnamese-born American ever elected to Congress.