Washington — When the Democrats abruptly adjourned the U.S. House of Representatives for the month of August, Rep. Tom Price of Roswell made a split-second decision that has been reverberating around the country ever since.

Although he holds no senior leadership post, Price had helped organize more than 100 fellow Republicans for five-minute speeches at the end of the last legislative day July 29. But at 11:23 a.m., the gavel came down, the lights dimmed, the C-SPAN cameras shut down and the mics went off.

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Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) (left), joined by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), urges Congress to return for an energy bill vote.

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Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican teaming up with Price to line up the GOP speeches, was momentarily downcast. Then, as Pence put it later, "Tom Price looked me in the eye, came up the aisle and said, 'We're going to do it anyway.' And we did."

Almost immediately, another Georgia Republican, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, kicked off the speechmaking by blasting the House Democrats for leaving town without voting on an energy bill that includes offshore drilling for oil.

The Republican "uprising" quickly took hold. Urged by House GOP leaders, members have returned to the Capitol by the dozens to take turns holding forth to crowds of cheering tourists, who line up daily to take the seats normally used by lawmakers.

The demand for action on energy has captured headlines in a summer of $4-a-gallon gas and highlighted something that has been in short supply lately for congressional Republicans — an issue that touches a chord with the American public.

Republicans have gleefully pointed to a handful of Democrats who say they now favor opening coastlines to deep sea oil drilling. Among Georgia Democrats, Reps. Sanford Bishop, Jim Marshall and John Barrow have said they would go along with offshore exploration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), holding the line against offshore drilling, has repeatedly dismissed the Republican protests as a "stunt" and called the GOP the tool of "Big Oil."

Price, who plans to return to the House chamber today, has been one of many urging his party to seize the energy issue.

The second-term backbencher was well prepped to lead the GOP rebellion. His north Atlanta suburban district was once held by Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who as Republican minority leader was a master of insurgency tactics. "He's been a hero of mine for years," Price said.

Gingrich, who visited the Capitol last week to cheer on his former colleagues, praised his successor. "Price has done a great job," Gingrich said.

Price, an orthopedic surgeon who is admittedly more restrained as a lawmaker than his famous and often controversial predecessor, traces his strategic instincts to serving three terms — two in the minority — in the Georgia Senate.

In the House, Price has concentrated on the unglamorous work of trying to find ways to score Republican points during House floor proceedings.

David Wasserman, U.S. House editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, compared Price to "the kid who is standing in the classroom practicing equations on the board during recess.

"When members of Congress are [heading] out of town, he's trying to get ahead."

How far the energy protest will take Republicans is a big question in a year in which the economy, an unpopular incumbent president

and the drain of two wars

are all weighing down the party.

Some on Capitol Hill are predicting that the rump session of the House will soon run out of, well, energy. But not Price, who said last week that he expects the protest to continue "as long as it takes" to force the Democrats to come back for an up or down vote on an energy bill.