Washington —- Paul Broun, Georgia's newest congressman, sits in his Capitol Hill office looking very much like the endangered species he might be.

Over his right shoulder is the life-size, sneering face of an African lion. Over his left, an even larger Alaskan Kodiak bear poised in mid-growl. Both appear to be pondering their vengeance against the man who killed, ate and stuffed them.

A number of Broun's fellow Republicans might be able to relate to the beasts. Broun added those leaders to his trophy case, too, when he overcame long odds and opposition from his own party last July and beat the Republican leadership's handpicked candidate, state Sen. Jim Whitehead, to capture the Athens- and Augusta-based seat of the late Rep. Charlie Norwood.

But unlike the furry predators Broun dispatched, GOP leaders in Georgia are backing up their threats of revenge. Before Broun was even sworn into office, they were working to oust him.

"I wasn't supposed to be here," Broun told thousands of anti-abortion protesters who marched in Washington in January. "In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ sent me here. And I believe in my heart the Holy Spirit called me to run for Congress."

But even with divine help, Broun's prospects for remaining in office are uncertain.

Some state Republican leaders have lined up behind state Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem, Ga., who began organizing in the district's 21 counties and has set up a fund-raising machine that is out-raising the incumbent Broun 5 to 1.

Broun, who once claimed he was too busy doing the people's business to raise campaign cash, had $125,000 on hand at the end of January, the most recent reporting period; Fleming had $488,000.

The race expanded this week when state Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville) announced that she, too, would challenge Broun in the July primary.

The lack of a competitive war chest, however, doesn't mean Broun is about to lose his seat in November. He faced similar obstacles in 2007 in the race against Whitehead. At least half of Broun's money for that race, more than $200,000, came out of his own pocket. He still owes himself more than $185,000 of that.

What helped Broun win, however, wasn't the money but his tireless campaigning between election day and the runoff election with Whitehead, according to former Whitehead campaign aides.

Whitehead did too little while Broun was racking up hundreds of voters who didn't support him in the primary but did in the runoff, his former aides said. And while the race was pitched as a geographic power struggle between Augusta and Broun's hometown of Athens, Broun managed to build a coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents from both areas.

John Stone, a former Norwood aide who worked for Whitehead, said there was no doubt that Broun would be challenged this year.

"That was a truly eccentric election and people weren't satisfied with it," Stone said.

Broun's showdown is July 15, the date of Georgia's state primaries, and he knows how rough it is going to get.

"What do people want? Do they want somebody that comes out of the Republican establishment that continues the status quo? Or do they want somebody who's going to represent their interests, the district's interests?"

Fleming asserts that Broun is not conservative enough and is out of step with the district at a time when conservatives need to speak out.

"This is an important time in our nation's history. And we need someone who's going to bring forth conservative idea and conservative solutions to these problems," Fleming said. "I don't feel we have someone like that in our new congressman.

Broun appears to take it in stride, at least for now.

"Early on, [Whitehead] was saying I was a liberal and a Democrat," Broun said. "Now, some of his people are saying I'm a wacko, that I'm a loner, that I have no support up here, that I'm just totally crazy."

Back home, a whisper campaign is going on, Broun said, that claims he spent three years in a mental institution.

"The only mental institution I've been involved in is the House of Representatives, " he said.

During his eight months in office, Broun has been a smooth fit with the rest of Georgia's congressional delegation, one of the most conservative in Congress.

The first bill he introduced —- and intends to offer every session for as long as he is in Washington —- would outlaw virtually all abortions.

He favors a secure-the-border-first policy to deal with illegal immigration. He also embraced a Norwood initiative to give greater power to local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration rules.

Broun favors replacing federal income taxes with a national sales tax, the so-called Fair Tax, a stance that is practically a prerequisite for Georgia Republicans.

Although he never had to vote on the Iraq war, his take on it closely resembles those of other Georgia lawmakers: He still believes that the invasion was "the right thing to do" and that President Bush's decision to send additional troops last year is helping.

Over his eight months in office, Broun introduced or signed onto 115 bills and resolutions, including those that would ban budget earmarks that lawmakers use to fund pet projects; make English the nation's official language; and eliminate Washington's ban on guns. He has prayed openly on the House floor, to ask God to send rain to drought-ravaged Georgia, and believes that the Bible and the Constitution should be read literally and used as guidebooks for elected officials.

"I think if you look at my voting record you'll see an independent voter and independent thinker, one who's going to vote according to principle," said Broun, who carries a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution with him.

"I think there are a lot of members of Congress that would love to vote the way I vote" but do not because they fear a political backlash, Broun said. "In fact, they tell me they would."

Broun has found admirers. Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, who left the Republican Party to join the Libertarians, called Broun courageous for building a record out of step with the state's "establishment Republicans" but in strict accordance with constitutional and conservative principles.

"The [Georgia)] Republican Party has not always stood firmly on conservative principles. It's more important to support the party rather than to do the right thing," said Barr, who contributed $5,000 to Broun last year.

But Broun's principles-first posture also makes him vulnerable to political attack.

On his first night on Capitol Hill, Broun, a physician, voted against allowing federal prosecution of people who use marijuana for medicinal purposes in a dozen or so states that have legalized it.

For Broun, who never prescribed marijuana because it is illegal in Georgia, it was not a vote on drug use but one for state's rights. The states had legalized and regulated the drug and to prosecute those who use it in that state was a clear violation of the principle of state's rights, he said.

His opponents, however, seized on the vote and now are molding it into a campaign issue: Broun voted to legalize marijuana. "That was a bad vote for this district," Stone said.

Broun countered: "It's a great vote for the district. and [voters] should look at that vote and understand it's an indication of my principle that I will not veer from. I hope they'll see that as standing on my constitutional principles."

Rep. Paul Broun

> Age: 61

> Party: Republican

> Home: Athens

> Election: July 2007, in a special vote to replace the late Rep. Charlie Norwood of Augusta

> Previous occupation: Physician

> Education: B.S., University of Georgia, 1967; M.D., Medical College of Georgia, 1971

> Family: Wife, Niki; daughters, Carly and Lucy; son, Collins

> Hobbies: Big-game hunting