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July 20, 2006
Does Corruption Have Legs?
We regret the infrequent posting of late, and are hopeful the situation will improve.
An often discussed question among election watchers this year is whether the corruption issue will have much efficacy in the upcoming fall 2006 midterm. Democrats have seized upon the fall of the GOP's Typhoid Mary -- a.k.a. Jack Abramoff -- and attempted to paint Republicans with a broad brush of cronyism and insider dealing.
Democrats have had their own bit of trouble with Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, but the tilt has been decidedly in one direction. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R - California) is in prison; Tom DeLay (R - Texas) is attempting to step down from Congress with mounting legal bills and a possible federal indictment on the way; Bob Ney (R - Ohio) is also under serious investigation and in big political trouble. Several members of the Bush administration have had legal troubles as well.
What no one yet knows is what effect corruption will or won't actually have on the upcoming election. Many seasoned observers have remarked that voters aren't particularly surprised by or up in arms over recent revelations of improper and/or illegal behavior from politicians, and that they don't really think Democrats are much cleaner than Republicans in this regard.
In today's Washington Post, Jim VandeHei looks at corruption's potential to affect the November election. He points to former Abramoff associate Ralph Reed's loss this week in Georgia's GOP Lt. Governor primary as a cautionary tale for those candidates with ethical baggage. He and those he interviews, however, remain skeptical of corruption's broad electoral impact in 2006.
November 7th will tell the tale.
Posted by houtopia at July 20, 2006 08:51 PM