Tuesday's Political Wire
Hastert in the hot seat
Democrats and religious-right groups on Monday called for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, to resign his seat immediately to ensure an impartial investigation into the Foley scandal. Now the Washington Times, a conservative-friendly paper, has joined the call. As Political Wire notes, in an editorial today, the Times says: "Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations–or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away." Doesn't look like it'll blow away, Speaker. Last night, ABC News reported that there could be additional members of Congress who engaged in inappropriate behavior toward congressional pages. Could L'Affaire Foley outdo L'Affaire Abramoff this election year?
In Tennessee, Ford Surges Ahead
Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is sprinting toward the finish line against Bob Corker for the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee. The most recent poll shows him having gained 17 percentage points in the past three months, and six points since early September.
What was once a likely Republican seat, the Tennessee race now leans Democratic. To parry the Democratic run, Corker shook up his staff for the final five weeks, as Political Wire explains . Washington's conventional wisdom for much of '06 was that Democrats had a decent chance at taking control of the House, but the Senate was a long shot. Could be time for some contrarian thinking ...
Take the money and run
Turns out 527s, such as George Soros's America Coming Together and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, aren't just fun for presidential candidates. As Political Wire notes, outside groups are spending heavily this year to win a handful of very tight congressional and Senate races. Sometimes, they're spending even more than the candidates themselves.
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