Byline: James Gordon Meek
WASHINGTON _ Rep. Charles Rangel is about to try a new type of political canvassing.
The Harlem Democrat has commissioned a portrait to hang in the House Ways and Means Committee. He is its first African-American chairman.
"Ain't no canvas big enough," joked the larger-than-life lawmaker.
"This is very exciting."
Rangel said he left little to chance by turning to Simmie Knox, an artist who has captured in oil a president, a mayor and two Supreme Court justices.
Future visitors to the Capitol will be able to gaze up at his likeness in the committee room and see the man who rose from the streets to chair one of Congress' most ...