(Guest Post from Big Tent Democrat)

The Republican blogs say it baldly:

[N]ow is not the time for a leadership contest. Anyone who suggests otherwise is a fool or a foe. . . . Once the House is securely in the hands of a GOP majority on November 8th, we can reassess our leadership team.

Okaay. Isn't that what dictated Hastert coddling the sexual predator Foley? More:

If we decapitate our leadership right now going into the November elections, we lose the whole shooting match. Our base will completely deflate. There is a time and place to talk about vision and leadership [at the top], but now is not the time."

Shameless.

Aspen (Pitkin County, Colorado) Sheriff Bob Braudis, the most principled, fairest, trustworthy, best law enforcement officer I've known in my career, has launched his re-election website. The music is by Jimmy Ibbotson of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Here's Bob's mission statement, in part:

I have always seen my role as sheriff as a peacekeeper rather than just a law enforcer. Even though it has become fashionable these days to scare people to gain personal power, I prefer to inspire others to be law abiding, kind, generous, and productive members of our wonderful community.

Bob says, "Democracy is not a spectator sport. If you share my commitment to peace and safety in Pitkin County, please vote for me on November 7."

Bob has a challenger this time, a pro-drug war type with a typical cop mentality. Send a contribution to Bob, and keep Aspen safe and free.

by TChris

Charlie Cook argues that the November elections will hinge on what voters are talking about in the days before they cast their ballots. Republicans enjoyed a modest approval bump in late August when the president made threatening speeches about terrorism. After the NIE judgments became public and Bob Woodward began his book tour, the focus of public discourse shifted from terrorism to Iraq. New military casualties in Iraq and continuing criticism by retired generals (not to mention the country's instability, which is unlikely to improve before November) will probably keep Iraq on voters' minds, and most people aren't buying the president's attempt to link the war in Iraq to the botched war against terror.

The longer the Foley scandal stays in the news (it shows no signs of disappearing, and it probably won't unless Dennis Hastert walks the plank), the more voters will be reminded that Republicans would rather cover up wrongdoing than take responsibility for it. Polls were encouraging to Democrats even before the Foley scandal. Now Foley's seat is in play, and the scandal may touch other races, including Tom Reynolds' reelection campaign.

The president is still whining that Democrats are soft on terror, but voters are likely to be more interested in understanding why he's standing behind Dennis Hastert. Is it time for the White House to start another war to get voters to renew their support of an all-Republican, all-the-time government?

Mark Foley's name will remain on the ballot in his Florida District. Republicans have agreed on a replacement candidate, state representative Joe Negron, but his name won't be on the ballot. In order to vote for Negron, voters will have to vote for "Mark Foley."

One prominent Florida Republican said he doubts that any GOP candidate can capture the seat with Foley's name on the ballot. "The only way you win is they (voters) have got to vote for Mark Foley. That doesn't appear to me to be very attractive," said Tom Slade, former state Republican Party chairman.

Received from NORML today:

While there are literally dozens of pro-marijuana law reform projects and initiatives under way this fall, no one effort to reform cannabis laws is as important as electing policy makers, especially federal policy makers, who agree with our long-stated position to substantively reform marijuana laws: replacing Marijuana Prohibition with alternatives, such as decriminalization and legalization.

With 35 days left before this important Election Day, NORML has once again partnered with Project Vote Smart and Working Assets to help educate and motivate citizens who possess strong interests in cannabis to take an active role in shaping the creation of their government.

• Reefer Report Card For Congress*
  View a listing and report card of every recent Congressional member's vote concerning cannabis-related legislation.

• You can't vote for change if you're not registered to vote*
  It is not too late to be an active participant in this fall's important elections! You can register to vote online! NORML and Working Assets have made it easy for you.

Say hello to Cursor's Bring It On, a great compilation of links for following the 2006 midterm elections.

Think Progess has the video of White House Press Secretary Tony Snow on CNN this morning:

This morning on CNN, Soledad O'Brien asked Tony Snow why "any communication between a 16-year-old and a congressman" didn't "raise red flags -- major, massive red flags" with Speaker Dennis Hastert and others who have known about the communications for months.

Snow responded, "I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill. And there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails."

Over at GMA, according to the Note, here's what George Stephanopolous had to say: If Republicans knew about the x-rated e-mails, Game Over.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

In my obsession continuing look at Democratic political strategy and countering the Republican Paranoid Style, I present evidence of why Mark Halperin and Beltway Dems are wrong. Halperin says:

Mr. Bush and Mr. Rove fired up the base on national security, taxes and social issues and found a way to win a majority of the electorate, even as they lost the allegiance of a majority of the country over all. The national security debate, the visibility of the Clintons and the momentum the Republicans gain from Mr. Bush's rising poll numbers -- all of these echo previous election cycles.

Critics of the Bush administration assert that the politics of the base has run its course, and that the Iraq war, the partisan zealousness and the conservative social policies of the administration have made voters yearn for a more centrist, bipartisan government. But Mr. Bush's opponents may be imprudently lulled by the current storyline and broad national polls, both of which miss the power and consequence of a Republican base that may have one more victory to give.

Jon Tester proves that Halperin is absolutely wrong. I'll explain on the flip.

Congressman Tom Tancredo's challenger Bill Winter has a diary over at Daily Kos today. He says he can win. He needs your support. Please, help him out. Here's a portion of his message today, aimed at Latino voters:

When white settlers came to what is now Colorado and Arizona and New Mexico and California, they found people already living there. Many of those people were dark skinned and Spanish speaking. Today even the names of many of these places are still in Spanish--Colorado, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles.

But now, in 2006 in America, people like Tom Tancredo say that Spanish is a danger to America, and those people, the ones who were here first, are somehow a threat to our culture and to our way of life. I believe in an America that is much stronger than this. I wish Tancredo believed in America the way I do!

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

Hypocrisy and distasteful whining from Lieberman Again:

Lieberman's campaign spokeswoman, Tammy Sun - "Joe Lieberman is running for Senate because he's trying to change the kind of partisan name-calling apparent in Wes Clark's recent statement supporting Ned Lamont ," she said. "This is just more of the same negative attacks from the Lamont campaign."

Joe Lieberman, when being a partisan Democrat suited his purposes:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) accused [Wesley] Clark of making a "journey of political convenience, not conviction" after Clark described in the debate how he had become a Democrat after supporting Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard M. Nixon and just two years ago praising President Bush at a Republican dinner when Democrats were fighting Bush's tax cuts. . . . "I was fighting that reckless economic strategy [of the administration] while Wes Clark was working to forward the Republican agenda by raising money for the Republican Party," Lieberman said.

Joe is truly unprincipled and shameless. A man of no honor.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

Joe's Pajama Party:

SIMON: -- on this. That if you do win -- and you're doing well at the moment -- if you do win as an Independent, you will still then become a Democrat, stay as a Democrat and caucus with the Democrats.

LIEBERMAN: Yeah. The critical thing is to caucus with the Democrats because if you don't caucus with a party, you don't have the opportunity to hold your seniority in the committee assignments that you've got and that's important to the folks back home

So he caucuses with Dems not because he believes in Democratic values, but for "seniority." No wonder the Bush and the GOP thinks he'll switch:

George W. Bush moved a step closer to Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman's re-election bid in Connecticut as an independent candidate when Tom Kuhn, the president's college roommate and close friend, co-sponsored a Lieberman fund-raising luncheon Thursday in downtown Washington. . . . Republicans backing him against antiwar candidate Ned Lamont, the Democratic nominee, hope for a change of heart by Lieberman.

More than hope looks like.

by TChris

Republicans are having a devilish time staying out of trouble this year. The latest to bite the dust: Rep. Mark Foley.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official. Foley, 52, had been considered a shoo-in for re-election until the e-mails surfaced in recent days.

Here are some of the creepy emails (pdf) Foley wrote to a 16 year old boy. (Emails or IM's not yet released are said to be even more questionable.)

Update: Foley, of course, was all about protecting kids from sexual exploitation. A real "family values" kind of guy.