Blackberry buddies: Eric Cantor and Rahm Emanuel

Politico's got more rave reviews for Barack Obama's cheek-to-cheek with conservative leaders in Washington.

And an especially budding slow dance is forming between House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and Prez chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel:

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House Minority Whip, has met with Obama and is in frequent contact with Rahm Emanuel, the House member turned presidential chief of staff, via cell phone and BlackBerry.

“I have met with Rahm and spoken with him several times and he said, ‘Look, you need to understand — working in a bipartisan manner is something the president-elect takes seriously,’” Cantor noted. “It has thus far been a very efficient process.”

So far, Cantor's been willing to overlook the D behind Obama's name, even though Capitol Hill dems continue doing their liberal thing:

As generous as he was of Obama, who is riding high in the polls, Cantor was not as charitable toward his less popular Democratic colleagues.

“The battle of ideas is beginning,” Cantor said, just hours before House Democrats irked their Republican counterparts by unveiling the first draft of a stimulus plan. “Capitol Hill Democrats would rather see a return to addressing problems with a very significant amount of government spending.”