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A dour, gangling man with a choppy gait, Colmer looks younger than his 70 years, has gradually swung from a moderate, internationalist position to that of a diehard conservative.

He is generally and initially suspicious of any federal project, unless it happens to benefit his Gulf Coast constituents.

He is, of course, a segregationist, but he says he has never made an `` anti-Negro '' speech.

For 20 years he has enjoyed his power on the Rules Committee.

There his vote, along with those of Chairman Howard Smith, the courtly Virginia judge, and the four Republican members, could and often did produce a 6-6 deadlock that blocked far-out, Democratic-sponsored welfare legislation ( a tactic often acceptable to the Rayburn-Johnson congressional leadership to avoid embarrassing votes ).

Equal treatment.