Kucinich is right - Cheney must go

It's a sad fact that politics frequently results in the appointment of people unfit for the duties of their office. Libby, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Safavian, Foggo, and Mike Brown, are among the Bush appointees who have already left under a cloud of disapproval and/or scandal. But the most dangerous of the lot is only a heartbeat away (if that) from the Presidency. Congressman Dennis Kucinich is right: It's time to remove Cheney from power.

Mere growing disapproval of Cheney is not sufficient cause for removing him from office, but Kucinich details plenty of supporting documents for all three articles of impeachment in his House Resolution 333. It's a shame that only candidates mocked by the media, or retired politicians, seem to have the courage to speak the truth.

Immediately after the election, I cautioned restraint, suggesting that a positive agenda must come before recriminations against our outlaw executive branch. Today I still agree with Woody Mena that positive legislation needs to be front and center of the Democratic Congress' agenda, and must be advanced at least as aggressively as investigations into Republican wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, we cannot continue to ignore the elephant in the room. It remains clear that the Vice President is stubbornly committed to a reckless and violent foreign policy. His approach has permeated the disastrous decision making which has been the hallmark of Bush's foreign policy. Bush asks for us to give their "new strategy" a chance, but there can be no real new strategy until he clears house. Gates has been a huge improvement over Rumsfeld, but the attack dog is still pulling the levers.

The Bush apologists will insist that "even the Democrats" were convinced that WMDs were there. But if there was anyone in the White House who had reason to doubt it, it was Cheney. His repeated trips to CIA headquarters were an obvious attempt to collect exactly the intelligence which suggested the worst, while ignoring all intelligence to the contrary. Perhaps Bush was misled, but Cheney continues to push the case for an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection, long after all serious scholars have dismissed the possibility.

Then there is the probable criminal conduct surrounding the blown cover of Valerie Plame. The day Libby was indicted, it was an outrage that Cheney did not resign. The second in command should be above suspicion. An honorable man could have spoken of the need to avoid the appearance of impropriety. A guilty man needs to stay put to cover his tracks. Patrick Fitzgerald may not have found the smoking gun to prove Cheney's criminality in a court of law, but he didn't mince words when he stated "there is a cloud over the vice president."

If this vice president is not lying, then he is seriously self-deluded. Either way, he ought to go.

Fire Rumsfeld, Jail Cheney, Impeach Bush!

Nay, do it not ye Dems of the new majorities.

However little doubt you may have that those criminal miscreants deserve such fates, the agenda of the 110th Congress must not and will not be consumed with recriminations, but rather with doing the necessary business of this nation which has been so woefully neglected over the last six years.

At this time, expedience must trump justice. The not-so-perilous Nancy Pelosi realizes it well, and in spite of the hue and cry from the right over her misperceived extremism, all indications are she gets it, and will successfully negotiate the balance between overplaying the Democrats' hand and governing too timidly.

Investigations will occur, and rightly so! But the emphasis will be (or should be) on uncovering corruption that has remained hidden, not on targeted witch hunts of particular individuals.

Front and center instead will be popular measures like raising the minimum wage, retracting the ban on negotiating prices with big pharmaceuticals, breaking the link between lobbyists and legislation, and finally enacting all the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. "Drain the GOP swamp", Ms Pelosi, America won't find it so controversial.

As for the title actions of this post? Well this observer suspects Rumsfeld may see the writing on the wall and take care of the first himself by resigning without giving Bush a choice in the matter. Calls for his resignation or dismissal are already much broader than ever, coming from scarcely ideologically driven sources. Bringing our Vice President to justice for his lies and reckless policies may never happen. He will be shamed by history, however, when all is said and done, as will his boss who delegated his responsibilities in foreign policy to a naive band of fools whose hubris led to a destabilization of the Middle East which we will have to live with for years to come. I'm afraid the Dems don't have the magic glue for fixing that pot, much less the authority to do much if they did.

Still I will savor this moment, knowing that the repudiation of the power corrupt Republican leadership was shared by liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike. This is still, on balance, a conservative nation, but we learned last night that shutting out voices of reason from the other side can only last so long. I don't think Democrats will make the same mistake, at least not now. And perhaps conservatives will learn in the next two years that the principled cravings of progressive Democrats are not as out of touch with mainstream American values as they have been led to believe.

Feingold does not shy away from truth

Russ Feingold consistently follows his conscience rather than bending to political expediency. His modest call for censure of President Bush would pass overwhelmingly but for the fact that most senators behave in the opposite manner and must weigh the political calculus of supporting Feingold's call before doing what's right. Maybe this poll will help them along. It's truly laughable that Frist (of the Schiavo stunt) would decry the move as a political stunt.

Even if you don't see the secret surveillance program which bypassed the required FISA warrants as anywhere close to the most outrageous act of our outlaw government (and I would agree), it is a clear case where the law was broken, yet Bush unapologetically defends his lawlessness. This administration must be censured and Feingold correctly asserts that enough is enough.

Yesterday, mcjoan at DailyKos, made this discerning post, in which she called out these earlier words of John McCain:

Mr. Chief Justice, I intend to vote to convict the President of the United States on both articles of impeachment. To say I do so with regret will sound trite to some, but I mean it sincerely. I deeply regret that this day has come to pass.

I bear no animosity for the President. I take no partisan satisfaction from this matter. I don't lightly dismiss the public's clear opposition to conviction. And I am genuinely concerned that the institution of the Presidency not be harmed, either by the President's conduct, or by Congress' reaction to his conduct.

Indeed, I take no satisfaction at all from this vote, with one exception--and an important exception it is--that by voting to convict I have been spared reproach by my conscience for shirking my duty.

The Senate faces an awful choice, to be sure. But, to my mind, it is a clear choice. I am persuaded that the President has violated his oath of office by committing perjury and by obstructing justice, and that by so doing he has forfeited his office.

Of course, McCain was speaking in 1999 about a different President, but those words could work brilliantly from a moderate Democrat's standpoint today.

On a less serious note, I laughed when I first heard of the government's request to seek data from Google on common internet search strings. Right away I did Google searches for "Bush should be impeached" and "Cheney should be jailed", hoping to drive those numbers up. I suppose the reduced request probably turn up such numbers, but overstepping the bounds of what data this administration would mine would certainly not surprise me.

For those of you who have been checking in here periodically over the last several weeks, I do apologize for my silence. The good news is that a lot of others have been picking up the slack. I'll likely never be a daily blogger, but I still would like to avoid multiple week gaps. Life does dictate otherwise from time to time.

Previous Choosing Hope articles which reference Russ Feingold:
Comity Prevails
Thanks to Senators opposing Gonzales
Anticipating the Firestorm
Give 'em Hell Harry
and
my comment on Feingold at "What is Liberalism?"

Dean Repeats my Seattle Shout

The headline screamed at me on my birthday morning:

       VP Cheney authorized aide to leak in CIA case

A temporary joyful madness of schadenfreude overtook me. This was it, finally the break in that story that would force Cheney out of office. And there I was screaming that Cheney must resign on a downtown Seattle street corner.

Later I read a story which says Libby has no plans to cover himself by implicating superiors, discover that this is NOT front page news everywhere or the big buzz on the morning talk shows (other than Air America), and settle back into my hopeful state that it nonetheless presages undeniable revelations that could bring Cheney down.

The next day brought us the article by Paul Pillar, former CIA official who was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, an insider who reiterated the charge that the decision to go to war came first and the intelligence to justify it was found to make the case. I write about that here.

Then of course yesterday the comical since it wasn't deadly story of Cheney's spraying his millionaire friend with shotgun pellets while hunting. (Jane H and ReddHead really made hay with this one over at firedoglake.)(pnwt115)

This morning I find that my Seattle shout is being repeated by DNC Chair Howard Dean who says Cheney must resign if the leak authorization is true.

I smell an interesting couple of weeks coming up politically. Of course there will probably be some bombshell coming out from the Administration to try to distract us from their own bad news. We shall see.

If you are looking for smart partisan news more frequently than I tend to report it, may I suggest the Irregular Times which I revisited this weekend after a long time away. They also feature a nice look, and columns which behave the right way when the windows are resized - gee I wish mine did that.

Just a Silly Daydream

Family obligations kept me from listening to the State of the Union address last week. So I've made up my own.

Bush supporters complain of Bush detractors that there is nothing he could say that would make them happy. And you know what, they're close to right. The actions of this administration have been so consistent in many ways, that mere words alone could hardly assuage the anguish we feel at this administration's constant assault on so many of the values we hold dear.

I began contemplating what sort of speech Bush could have given that would have earned him my respect. If he made an utter about-face and gave a speech that one might expect from Ted Kennedy, proclaiming a new liberal day in America, I just wouldn't believe him. No, he would have to show me something different, but somehow square it with his abysmal record. Here, perhaps, is the speech which would have finally earned him my respect:

My fellow Americans,

The state of our Union remains strong on many fronts, with high employment, manageable inflation, the strongest defense in the world, and most importantly a diverse citizenry, comprised of millions of exceptional individuals whose abilities, inventiveness, compassion, and industriousness embody the hope for generations to come for American prosperity and idealism. Beneath these strengths, however, I must report that there lie some mighty troubles, which must be faced squarely and addressed aggressively before they eat away at the fabric of all that is great in our republic. I come to you tonight humbly acknowledging that I must share in the blame for these underlying afflictions which threaten the future that we all want for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

When I came before you as a candidate for this office six years ago, declaring myself as a compassionate conservative who sought to be a uniter, not a divider, I meant it. I have personally known liberals, conservatives, and moderates, all of whom share the desire to do what is best for themselves, for their loved ones, and for their fellow citizens. Working together I believed we could find a way to move this country forward.

However, I seriously misjudged the extent to which my particular tactics for stimulating the economy would draw the ire of those who, also earnestly, believe those tactics to be severely misguided and injurious to less advantaged Americans. When my dear friends, who are the captains of industry, explain to me how cutting taxes, especially on inherited wealth and investment, is key to rejuvenating the economy, I believed them and I still do. But when billionairres such as Bill Gates, Sr join the chorus of liberal and Democratic voices who point out that such tax cuts have the immediate result of increasing the gap between the wealthiest Americans and those of less means, I can understand the angry resentment which has divided rather than united America.

These same captains of industry, fine people who love their children and relish clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, assured me that their industries could do a much smarter job of regulating themselves. They explained how so many of the environmental laws were burdensome, damaged the economy, and put us at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. Of course, I believed them, and I still do. Industry is smarter about regulating itself than a bureaucratically laden government ever can be. But I misjudged the grave distrust that many Americans have for allowing industry to police themselves. Very reasonable clear-headed thinkers really believe there is a danger that the lure of profits might coerce industry-appointed regulators to endanger our environment. I had intended to unite us, but instead I have divided America.

When terrorists struck their fateful blow on September 11 of 2001, we were united in our grief for those who were lost or whose lives were awfully changed forever. We were united in horror that anyone could so delight in such wanton destruction. However, I seriously underestimated the passion with which a large minority of Americans revere certain freedoms and their privacy. Our secret wiretapping program, for instance, was a common sense precaution against the terrorists gaining the upper hand. But after it was revealed, we discovered that it, as with other elements of the PATRIOT Act, was seen as a terrible invasion upon the liberties of ordinary Americans who had no connection with terrorists. My administration lost the trust of millions of Americans doing what we thought was necessary in our defense, and some really reasonable people are telling me that those measures are illegal. I had intended to unite us, but instead I have divided America.

When a brutal dictator in an oil-rich nation in the Middle East is believed to be accruing weapons of mass destruction, and my good friends who conceived of the Project for the New American Century assured me that his overthrow can only be accomplished by American initiative and is critical to our planet's future, I believed them. I anticipated that the American people would be united in their resolve to crush his dictatorship and attempt to bring Democracy to this fragile but important corner of our planet. After it was discovered that the weapons did not exist, and that the cost of the war in lives of our own men and women, in the lives of innocent civilians in the area, in the trust of the global community, and in dollars were all exponentially larger than we anticipated, the anger which would be felt toward our government for making that decision was beyond what any of us thought possible. Cindy Sheehan personified for many the heartfelt revulsion that many Americans had toward the deployment of our troops for what we believed to be a noble cause, but what for many was a foolish boondoggle. I had intended to unite us, but instead I have divided America.

When nature ripped savagely into the heart of our Gulf coast, Americans responded heroically to assist their neighbors rendered homeless. I responded with great faith in my good friends who I trusted to get the job done. I discovered that competence must trump loyalty though, when lives are at stake, and our government lost the trust of more of our citizens, as our treasury took another hit at a time when it could ill afford that.

When the combined effects of all these policies, nobly undertaken: Cutting taxes; Funding a protracted war; Passing health care reform; responding to disaster, but too late and without proper planning, combined to convert a huge surplus into a huge deficit, I find that even conservatives who have long supported my policies are questioning the wisdom of pushing forward without directly confronting this deficit. Their solutions of ending programs dear to liberals is in direct conflict with liberal solutions of ending the tax cuts for the wealthy and reducing non-essential military expenditures. I had intended to unite us, but instead I have divided America.

My good friend, and partner in this enterprise, Dick Cheney, has failed to agree with me that a dramatic change in leadership is required at this time, and so effective immediately, sadly, I am dismissing him from his post as Vice-President. Told of my plans, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld has already tendered his resignation. And effective tomorrow, because my desire to unite rather than divide America is truly sincere, I will resign my office of President of the United States, and as provided by the Constitution, Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, will take the oath of office. Please give to him your support and prayers as we all work together to preserve the dream that is America.

God bless America!

All right, all right, it doesn't really square with Bush's past - his refusal to admit error, what we know that he really DID have to know about, and gosh in places he sure sounds a lot more like Walker Willingham than George Bush - but hey, it's just a silly daydream.

Misplaced Loyalty

Whether it's Chalabi or Mike Brown, Karl Rove or Tom DeLay, one of our President's calling cards is his loyalty to his chosen people far past the point where it might be reasonably expected. It's really a rather unusual political trait, and might be admirable in a sense, in a game where friends are often dropped like hot potatoes when the association might tar one's political future.

In an interview with Brit Hume of Fox News, Bush insists that his relationships with Cheney, Rove, and DeLay are as strong as ever. Our President:

[Cheney]'s got a nasty speculation about whether he's running the government or not running the government, whether I like him or don't like him.

The truth of the matter is, our relationship hasn't changed hardly at all. He's a very close advisor. I view him as a good friend. I had lunch with him today. We discussed a wide variety of topics.

And the good thing about Dick Cheney is when he discusses a topic with me and he gives me his advice, I never read about it in the newspaper the next day. And that's why our relationship is so close and his advice is so valued.

[On Rove]we're still as close as we've ever been. We've been through a lot. When I look back at the presidency and my time in politics, uh, no question Karl had a lot to do with me getting here. And I value his friendship. We're very close.

[On DeLay]Well, I like him. When he's over there, we get our votes through the House. [chuckles] We had a remarkable success of legislative victories. A remarkable string of legislative victories. We've cut the taxes and delivered strong economic growth and vitality. We've had an energy bill that began to put American on its way to independence.

But I really loved his attempt to spin the culture of corruption as a bipartisan problem:

I'm — you know, the Abramoff — I'm frankly, not all that familiar with a lot that's going on up there on Capitol Hill. But it seems like to me that he was an equal money dispenser, that he was giving money to people in both political parties. Yes, I mean, it's really important for all of us in public life to have the highest of ethics. So we can only trust the American people.

Thanks, George, for your trust. So will you trust me, this time?

Here's the LA Times article.

I personally have no doubt that but for the fact that so many Republicans are politically indebted to him, Tom DeLay would have been long since out of Congress, and very likely in jail by now.

What's not to get about his shenanigans? No doubt he follows the letter of the law more often than not, but the spirit of fair play or human decency is utterly absent in this man who had the gall to get all sanctimonious during the Terry Schaivo affair, while abetting sex slavery and sweatshop conditions in the Mariannas, coercing votes on the house floor with veiled threats, or killing popular bills in committee which otherwise would pass.

I've never voted for this man who wields so much power in this country, and am confident that an overwhelming margin would toss him out in a nationwide referendum, if we could have such a thing. But W likes him. Choice.

Insisting on a Higher Standard

White phosphorus should not be used as a weapon - period.

Regular readers know that I have a high tolerance for a diversity of opinion, while espousing my usually liberal but rarely strident views. I have a very low tolerance, however, for sanctioning the mistreatment of others, regardless of who they might be.

When Bush nominated the architect of a policy which sanctioned inhumane interrogation techniques to be the chief law enforcement official of the land, I cried foul. When Cheney seeks exceptions to a universal no torture policy, that's not just unwise, it is immoral.

War is an awful, awful business, and it is with good reason that one of just war theory's precepts is that it be used as a last resort. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq looked more like one based on a last opportunity, not a last resort, and hence I unambiguously opposed it, and marched against it, before we went in. Once in a war, civilian casualties are all but unavoidable. I don't deny that compared to many previous wars, a great deal of effort was placed on minimizing civilian casualties in this one. As the war lengthened, it was inevitable that more lapses in this effort would occur, and it seems likely that one of the most scientifically credible studies which was under-reported in the mainstream American media estimated 100,000 Iraqi deaths, mostly civilian, one year ago. It matters not that the opportunity to go to war may have been lost, with the U.N. inspections process still underway and making progress, it was not a last resort. Period.

So when an Italian source reported about one week ago that the incendiary white phosphorus had been used against a civilian population in Falluja, I was concerned. I did not jump on the story which was being roundly debunked in much of the right leaning press and blogosphere, as I am disinclined to lend credence to a single source without corroboration. Yesterday's admission by the Pentagon that the chemical, colloquially known as 'Willie Pete', had been used as a weapon in Falluja, represented a change in their story from their claim of a week ago:

The US initially denied reports it had used white phosphorus as a weapon in Falluja in November 2004, saying it had been used only for illumination and laying smokescreens. However, the Pentagon has now confirmed the substance was used as an "incendiary weapon" during the assault.

(read the whole thing)
Though they continue to deny that it was used against civilians, and argue that its deployment was not illegal, is it any wonder that such claims have lost credibility with much of the world now that their story has changed?

I will not apologize for my insistence that my nation be held to a higher standard when it comes to the treatment of our enemies, suspected enemies, or those who may be caught in the crossfire.

When Senator Bond was debating Senator Durbin last week in defending his vote against McCain's amendment prohibiting torture and inhumane treatment, he fell back on the argument that the rules would prohibit treatment which is typical for our own recruits at boot camp. Well maybe we should look at our treatment of our own forces, but we should not give carte blanche to unknown agents to interrogate unknown prisoners at unknown locations outside the constraints of international law. Insisting on a higher standard is what America should be all about.

Alit... Shhhhhh!: War, Torture, Corruption, Deceit

The Democrats got an early Christmas gift from Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who correctly postponed hearings on the Samuel Alito SCOTUS nomination until January, rebuffing the anxious White House, saying "We have to do it right. We can't do it fast."

I agree with others who believe the GOP is in no position right now to be using the "nuclear option", so politically the Dems are in a great position to filibuster. But the process is important, and it seems to be clear that Alito is a thoughtful and decent man, as well as an intelligent constitutional scholar. The extent to which he would move the judicial philosophy of the court to the right, however, is a genuine concern to liberals and some moderates, and Senator Leahy, the ranking democrat on the Judiciary Committee will not rule out rejecting Alito on ideological grounds.

Two paragraphs, after saying "Shhhhhh!", I'm still writing about Alito. But the break until January gives Democrats more time to focus the nation on the Iraq war, use of torture, corruption, cronyism, and deceit, and that's what they should do in lieu of making more public comments about the Supreme Court nominee. Cheney's support is down to 19% in the latest poll, so I expect Bush's support to fall further. As much as I prefer the higher road, where people of disparate philosophies work together to hammer out sensible policies, the demonstrated unwillingness of the Bush White House or Republican Congressional leadership to engage with their adversaries, combined with their increasingly apparent criminality makes it clear to me that the best course is to pile on and do everything possible to discredit them and render them ineffective.

So I say it's time to be quiet about Alito, and make as much noise as possible about the outrages perpetrated on Americans and the world by Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, DeLay, Scanlon, Abramoff, etc. Reasonable Republicans like Specter can help us against the religious extremists, McCain against the torture promoters, Grassley against the too cozy relationship between Corporate heads and government regulators. Fully discrediting the current leadership will give an opportunity for reasonable voices to rise within the Republican party. We'll need those voices to be there if and when the Democrats take the reins of control back. For now, I will openly long for that day, and add my voice to the rising crescendo of dissent.

Libby Replaced by Two Who Are Unfit

While most of the press dutifully follows the important Supreme Court nomination, someone is paying attention to our administration's willful disregard for common sense and decency, by replacing indicted insider Libby with two other insiders linked to spreading misinformation and authoring pro-torture policies. It's a pretty sure bet that if the truth were all exposed, it would be a lot more than just Scooter Libby confined to a prison cell. I'm all for due process, but there are some who have been executed for less egregious offenses than Cheney, Rove, and Rumsfeld, to name a few are probably guilty of. Those who have inside knowledge of any crimes have a patriotic duty to expose them to the American public. There seem to be a whole lot of people who have gotten it backwards, and are endangering our national security in the name of protecting it.

Thanks to Basie! for keeping his eye on the ball.

They Just Don't Get It

Our Vice President can't let go of the idea that torture stay on the table as a weapon against terrorism. Facing an explicit ban on torture, passed by the Senate by a 90-9 vote, Cheney and CIA director Porter Goss met with Senator McCain in a last ditch effort to exclude from the torture ban clandestine counterterrorism operations overseas by agencies other than the Pentagon "if the president determines that such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack."

Proponents of such exceptions like to dream up hypothetical situations in which torture might be the leverage needed to extract information that could directly avert an act of terrorism. The problem is that information thus obtained is unlikely to be any more correct than what could be obtained otherwise. Furthermore these exceptions never are confined to such hypothetical cases, but are left to the discretion of those who have the power. Having such power inevitably leads to abuse and creates a culture of acceptance for the unacceptable.

Have we learned nothing from Abu Ghraib?

Washington Post editorial

[UPDATE: Far better than the Washington Post editorial, I just found this excellent posting by the Doctor over at thoughtcrimes.org.]

Schadenfreude, Fitzmas, & Plamegate Frenzy

It would have been so much cleaner if America (or that critical 10%) had woken up one year earlier and decisively changed regimes at the ballot box.

While much of the left awaits in excited anticipation of what indictments may be handed down, I share Jack Whelan's trepidation about what that will actually mean for our nation's future.

I'm worried. It just seems that the country is particularly vulnerable right now, that things are being held together with paper clips and duct tape. If these guys go down, they are not going down without a fight. Things could get pretty messy.

Americans convinced themselves in electing this administration they were putting the grownups back into power, but they're discovering now that instead they put in a callow frat-boy who might be the only one left standing when all the dust settles. I don't know about you, but that makes me pretty nervous. He's got three more years. It's one thing to pop the country's balloon about what they really have in this man, but once the balloon is popped, there he is. ...

When abstractly considered, being rid of Cheney and Rove would seem to be a good thing. But their boy in the oval office is in over his head in the best of circumstances. How confident do you feel about his stability and his capability to deal with the kind of firestorm it looks like his administration is about to face?

When I gave my speech to my County's Democratic Convention 18 months ago, friends had advised me to cut the line about "blowing the cover of CIA operatives for political payback" as news that was 'too old'. But it seemed central to me as a cornerstone of this administration's shameless mendacity. Suddenly that old news is revived, and everyone is on pins and needles. Well it's 12 months too late.

Don't get me wrong - I'll take the scandal and hope it finally destroys their credibility as Watergate did for the much tamer Nixon - but I have no illusions that the scars left behind won't be painful.

Cronyism Continues Unabated

Avoiding the appearance of impropriety is something one might expect of politicians and public officials, especially when attempting to recover from a public relations disaster. The current administration shows no such inclination. If anything they seem to glory in goading their opponents into making accusations of wrongdoing which may not be provable, by behaving like the child next to the open cookie jar.

• "Nothing improper happened in our secret energy task force, but we're not telling who was there."
• "Scalia might cast the deciding vote in protecting that secret, but you just have to trust us that he can do so impartially in spite of his friendship and recent duck hunting trip with Cheney."
• "We'll straighten out those little overcharges (honest errors, of course!) by Halliburton in their Iraq contract work. How dare you suggest their getting the no bid contract had anything to do with Cheney's connection!"

And the list goes on.

I sometimes wonder if they repeatedly push the envelope as some sort of loyalty test. Maintain plausible deniability, but intentionally create the appearance of impropriety whether or not impropriety existed, to keep your opponents fishing, and to flush out the less than fully faithful among your insiders. The only other explanation I can think of is analogous to the serial criminal whose behavior becomes progressively bolder and more outrageous with each crime.

The Katrina cleanup and reconstruction effort has the silver lining of providing jobs at least, and Federal officials are the first to agree with many Democrats that such jobs should go to locals from the affected gulf region. But administration critics quickly predicted the first line recipients of Federal aid would be none other than those corporations to whom they owe their election. FEMA wasted no time in proving them right by outsourcing the body recovery effort to a subsidiary of a company owned by Bush family friend Robert Waltrip. And to further test our suspicions, it is a company which has been involved in previous scandals, dating back to Bush's tenure as Texas Governor.

The news of this outsourcing hasn't been widely reported by the major networks, but has been corroborated by Reuters, a Louisiana TV station, the San Luis Obispo News, the News Insider, and the Contra Costa Times. Deepening the left's suspicions of potential new criminal behavior by the private contractor, is the order that no pictures be allowed, and reporters are not to be within 300 feet of the work.

Of course, none of this is proof that any new wrongdoing or misinformation is planned. It is possible that in spite of the connections, Kenyon International was the closest available contractor to deal with a body recovery effort of this magnitude - I don't know. Preventing the gruesome display of dead bodies on the nightly news before next of kin has been properly notified has arguable merit. It is claimed that the contract is being given with a 10% discount.

But how many times are we expected to believe that "the dog ate his homework", before we demand accountability from Bush and his pals. Cronyism is rampant throughout this administration, and I can no longer take them seriously about anything. The only path I see left for this government regaining credibility is for the whole lot of them to resign or be tossed out. I know that won't happen. They'll turn out all of their best speechwriters to regain the trust of those that can be turned. The tipping point may have finally been passed, however.

Thanks to Hungry Blues, and Body and Soul, for alerting me to this story.

See also:
www.newshounds.us/.../bush_cohorts_profiteering_at_all_levels.php
www.observer.com/opinions_conason.asp

Another View of Roberts

Having written "I'd rather have a Supreme Court Justice of sound temperament with whom I disagree, than one who might be more likely to make a ruling or two that I'd be happier with, but who has shown clear unsound judgment in matters of law" in commenting on John Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court, doesn't mean I won't also look at other views on the matter. Paul Loeb's article points out:

Challenging [Roberts] draws a line and invites our fellow citizens to stand up in other ways to this immensely destructive presidency.

How has a seemingly nice man like Roberts supported a politics of contempt for the voice of anyone but the wealthy and powerful? In a time when the Bush administration acts as if granted the divine right of kings, it’s troubling that Roberts defended Cheney’s right to refuse to name the corporate participants in his secret energy policy meeting. He advised Jeb Bush on the 2000 election, and denied being a member of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society, then turned up on the Society’s Washington steering committee. He’s argued that the Voting Rights Act can only be violated by intentional discrimination, saying laws that incidentally discriminate are ok. Most damning, Roberts just ruled that if this administration wishes to exempt someone from the Geneva Convention and international law, they have the absolute right to do so. The belief that a president can do whatever he chooses links this nomination, the Downing Street Memo and Plamegate in a common matrix of unaccountable power.

Roberts is also disturbingly loyal to dubious corporate interests, or at least to principles that allow these interests to run roughshod over ordinary citizens and communities. He argued that private individuals could not sue the federal government for violations of environmental regulations like the removal of mountaintops by West Virginia mining companies. He supported the rights of developers to ignore the Endangered Species Act. He denied the rights of workers injured over time as part of their jobs, supported criminal contempt fines to force the end of a strike, and helped a major car manufacturer avoid a recall of dangerous seatbelts.

I still hold to the premise that a Democratic filibuster of Roberts would be bad politics. In spite of the foregoing, we could do a lot worse, and Roberts willingness to assist a gay rights group with pro bono work shows at least that he is not the inflexible ideologue that Clarence Thomas is. Democrats, indeed all Senators, on the Judiciary Committee, and if (when) passed to the full Senate should ask the tough questions. After reasonable discussion however, I simply don't see, given what we know so far, a reasonable argument against voting for cloture (filibustering), at least among the signatories to the compromise. That doesn't mean that any Senator uncomfortable with this choice should not feel free to vote no when the final vote comes up. I also stand by my belief that advocacy groups should save their money for future fights. There will be plenty of those.

Blessed are the Alternative Newsmakers

Suddenly unafraid of more frequent press conferences, Bush is providing much more fodder for his critics. As reported at CNN, the irony of the juxtaposition of Bush's defense of prisoner treatment at Guantanamo (prisoners often held years without charges) against his concern about due process in Russia for a multi-millionaire convicted of fraud and tax evasion is mind boggling. Whether or not Mikhail Khodorkovsky received a fair trial, the very fact that Bush would call out this wealthy individual's case while defending policies which deny due process to hundreds of detainees speaks volumes about where his sympathies lie.

When Bill Moyers addressed an audience in Seattle, he called the media on their unwillingness to report anything unless some newsmaker spoke about it. Whatever happened to investigative journalism? Well thank goodness groups such as Amnesty International still have status as newsmakers, else our leaders wouldn't get ANY of the tough questions that our democracy deserves that they have to answer. In the absence of an independent, inquisitive press, it is incumbent on the rest of us to become the newsmakers.

President Bush, why do you hate America?

[Update: OK, that last was a throwaway line inspired by the headline of the CNN article. Bush and Cheney are so quick to accuse those who make the charges of abuse as America haters when clearly they have no such information. The point is that it is at least as reasonable to accuse them of the same in the face of evidence that their policies trample on what are thought of by many of us as American values.

They would also like to leave the impression that Amnesty International is basking in 'trash America' talk, but a visit to their home page, shows that they readily move on to other international cases around the world, not at all tied to any ideological bias. If you hunt, however, the charges related to Guantanamo are hardly thrown out casually, as this comprehensive report proves.

No doubt what got Cheney riled was being one of the persons called out as deserving of investigation, and if warranted by such, arrest when traveling to another state.

05/26/05 "Cox News" - Bob Dart - WASHINGTON - Amnesty International USA urged foreign governments Wednesday to use international law to investigate Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other alleged American "architects of torture" at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other prisons where detainees suspected of ties to terrorist groups have been interrogated.
"If those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them," said William Shulz, executive director of the U.S. branch of the international human rights agency.

But Bush would rather complain about possible lack of due process for a Russian multi-millionaire.]

Engage or Provoke?

People who mostly agree about what is wrong and what should be done to fix it, often disagree about the approach to use in effecting change. My personal preference for engagement over provocation doesn't mean I believe there's no time for provocation, or that those who prefer a provocative course cannot be quite effective. Indeed, often they are more effective, certainly in garnering more attention, but over the long haul BOTH approaches are essential when the forces of dominion have no scruples about how they enforce their will.

I have just added two links to my sidebar, one from each approach. The Conversation Cafe which is slowly spreading from my home state of Washington where it was started, is strictly about engagement, and carefully honors a diversity of opinion. In fact it is incorrect to categorize it as an agent of any particular change other than a return to civility.

The graphic on the front page of the Project for the Old American Century (at time of writing), in contrast is very provocative, and I'd probably not be comfortable wearing it on a t-shirt. Nonetheless, it makes a point, is an attention-getter, and comes far closer to the mark than most Americans want to believe. I tend to be cautious in what I'm willing to accuse our leaders of, when it is clear to me that even when exercising such caution it is painfully obvious they need to be ousted from power. We somehow missed our opportunity (or perhaps it was stolen

from us) last November, so with Bush as a lame duck there is a legitimate question as to whether simply replacing him next time around with a less offensive administration can heal the deep wounds which have been inflicted on us and the world. More on that later.

My preference for engagement comes in large measure because I am keenly aware that plenty of decent people, whether they voted for Bush or Kerry or someone else, are very worth reaching out to, and are alienated by such provocation. Do I believe that Bush and Cheney and Rove and Rumsfeld and DeLay and Frist are liars motivated variously by vanity, greed, power lust, convenience, and meanness? Well frankly, I do believe that. But I certainly don't believe it of all Republicans or all conservatives. And I stop short of calling the aforementioned politicians 'evil', because I agree with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.

How can we expect those good-hearted individuals of a conservative bent not to dismiss all those who disagree as irrelevant and even mean if they are so dismissed by most of those of a liberal bent? Without bridges, no change will happen; for a small minority screaming foul against a monied powerful minority will be squashed, unless it makes important alliances.

But let's return to the conundrum of the majority of the American voters having (ostensibly) returned to power the very administration whose hubris and militarism has alienated much of the civilized world, with no apparent opportunity to finally vote them out. I'm serious when I state that I think we would be better off right now if Bush could and would run again in 2008. With the current makeup of Congress, impeachment seems far-fetched, but that's the tonic recommended by former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan, Paul Craig Roberts, in his recent article America's Reputation in Tatters, which begins:

George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America's reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America's reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the U.S. America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.

He continues in scathing fashion, and I can only marvel at the irony that someone associated with the last Presidency which took me to the local federal building in protest against ill-conceived military intervention in Central America, is more provocative than I am in lambasting the current administration.

The Whole Shebang

There are a lot of great sites which gather information on Congressional races around the country, but the best ones split the information on many pages, often separated by state. Here I roll them all into one list.

The National Committee for an Effective Congress [Democratic] (for instance Washington State) is one great source for information on House races. The DCCC has opened up their tracking site for tonight's races.

The non-partisan Politics 1 (for example New York State) was my primary source for this list, and gives more information about each Candidate with links to websites where available, and lists more 3rd party candidates as well. I've provided a link to each state's page by clicking on the state name.

CNN is probably the best place to look at these returns as they come in, and those links are provided by clicking on coverage.

Third parties are included only where one of the major parties did not field a candidate. (I guessed at the most viable candidate.) The incumbent's party is listed in the 2nd column, and the incumbent party's candidate is the left of the two names at the end. Party affiliation is given in parentheses after the candidates name only if it is not D or R. A # before the incumbent party's candidate indicates that the actual incumbent is not running, either because of retirement, or because they are running for the Senate. Louisiana's asterisks are due to their unusual system of allowing multiple candidates of the same party to run followed by run-off elections, and I'm not sure I picked the favorite. Texas's asterisks are cases where two incumbents are running against each other due to redistricting.

Values in the W-02 column, courtesy Gender Gap, show the percentage of votes that the incumbent party received in 2002. Status is an indication for any races considered competitive, the current likelihood of victory. T is Toss-Up, 1 is close lean, 2 favored, 3 strongly favored. Those without an indication presumably would go easily to the incumbent party. These values rely heavily on the statuses indicated at ActBlue, with a few adjustments based on more (Democratically) optimistic prognostications at MyDD.

Here you go:

Dist     Inc  W-02   Status Candidate    Challenger

    Alabama results: Alabama - California

AL-01     R    61           Bonner       Belk

AL-02     R    69           Everett      James

AL-03     R    50      R2   Rogers       Fuller

AL-04     R    87      R3   Aderholt     Cole

AL-05     D    73           Cramer       Wallace

AL-06     R    90           Bachus

AL-07     D    93      D3   Davis        Cameron

    Alaska 

AK-01     R    75           Young        Higgins

    Arizona 

AZ-01     R    49      T    Renzi        Babbitt

AZ-02     R    59      R3   Franks       Camacho

AZ-03     R    67           Shadegg      Yannone (L)

AZ-04     D    67           Pastor       Karg

AZ-05     R    60      R3   Hayworth     Rogers

AZ-06     R    65           Flake        Stritar (L)

AZ-07     D    58           Grijalva     Sweeney

AZ-08     R    63           Kolbe        Bacal

    Arkansas

AR-01     D    65           Berry        Humphrey

AR-02     D    99      D3   Snyder       Parks

AR-03     R    99      R3   Boozman      Judy

AR-04     D    60           Ross

    California 

CA-01     D    64           Thompson     Wiesner

CA-02     R    66           Herger       Johnson

CA-03     R    62      R3   # Lungren    Castillo

CA-04     R    65           Doolittle    Winters

CA-05     D    72           Matsui       Dugas

CA-06     D    67           Woolsey      Erikson

CA-07     D    71           Miller       Hargrave

CA-08     D    80           Pelosi       DePalma

CA-09     D    82           Lee          Bermudez

CA-10     D    76           Tauscher     Ketelson

CA-11     R    60      R3   Pombo        McNerney

CA-12     D    68      D3   Lantos       Garza

CA-13     D    71           Stark        Bruno

CA-14     D    68           Eshoo        Haugen

CA-15     D    66      D3   Honda        Chukwu

CA-16     D    67      D3   Lofgren      McNea

CA-17     D    68           Farr         Risley

CA-18     D    52           Cardoza      Pringle

CA-19     R    67           Radanovich   Bufford

CA-20     D    64      D2   # Costa      Ashburn

CA-21     R    70           Nunes        Davis

CA-22     R    73           Thomas

CA-23     D    59           Capps        Regan

CA-24     R    65      R3   Gallegly     Wagner

CA-25     R    65           McKeon       Willoughby

CA-26     R    64      R3   Dreier       Matthews

CA-27     D    62           Sherman      Levy

CA-28     D    71           Berman       Hernandez

CA-29     D    63           Schiff       Scolinos

CA-30     D    70           Waxman       Elizalde

CA-31     D    81           Becerra      Vega

CA-32     D    69           Solis        Faegre (L)

CA-33     D    83           Watson       Weber (L)

CA-34     D    74           Allard       Miller

CA-35     D    78           Waters       Moen

CA-36     D    61           Harman       Whitehead

CA-37     D    73          Millender-McD. Van

CA-38     D    71           Napolitano

CA-39     D    55           Sanchez      Escobar

CA-40     R    67           Royce        Williams

CA-41     R    67           Lewis        Mottahedeh (L)

CA-42     R    68           Miller       Myers

CA-43     D    67           Baca         Laning

CA-44     R    63           Calvert      Vandenberg

CA-45     R    65           Bono         Meyer

CA-46     R    62      R3   Rohrabacher  Brandt

CA-47     D    61           Sanchez      Coronado

CA-48     R    68           Cox          Graham

CA-49     R    74      R3   Issa         Byron

CA-50     R    64      R3   Cunningham   Busby

CA-51     D    58           Filner       Giorgino

CA-52     R    70      R3   Hunter       Keliher

CA-53     D    63      D3   Davis        Hunzeker

    Colorado results: Colorado - Georgia

CO-01     D    67           DeGette      Chicas

CO-02     D    60           Udall        Hackman

CO-03     R    66      T    # Walcher    Salazar

CO-04     R    55      R3   Musgrave     Matsunaka

CO-05     R    71           Hefley       Hardee

CO-06     R    68      R3   Tancredo     Conti

CO-07     R    47      R1   Beauprez     Thomas

    Connecticut 

CT-01     D    67      D3   Larson       Halstead

CT-02     R    54      R1   Simmons      Sullivan

CT-03     D    66      D3   DeLauro      Elser

CT-04     R    64      R1   Shays        Farrell

CT-05     R    54           Johnson      Gerratana

    Delaware 

DE-01     R    72           Castle       Donnelly

    Florida 

FL-01     R    75           Miller       Coutu

FL-02     D    67      D2   Boyd         Kilmer

FL-03     D    59           Brown        Brown (I)

FL-04     R   100           Crenshaw     Grayson (I)

FL-05     R    48      R3   Brown-Waite  Whittel

FL-06     R    65      R3   Stearns      Bruderly

FL-07     R    60           Mica

FL-08     R    65      R3   Keller       Murray

FL-09     R    72           Bilirakis    Pasayan (I)

FL-10     R   100           Young        Derry

FL-11     D   100           Davis        Johnson (L)

FL-12     R   100      R3   Putnam       Hagenmaier

FL-13     R    55      R2   Harris       Schneider

FL-14     R   100           # Mack       Neeld

FL-15     R    63           Weldon       Pristoop

FL-16     R    79      R3   Foley        Fisher

FL-17     D   100           Meek         Musa (SW)

FL-18     R    69      R3   Ros-Lehtinen Sheldon

FL-19     D    72           Wexler

FL-20     D   100           # Schultz    Hostetter

FL-21     R   100           Diaz-Balart  Gonzalez (L)

FL-22     R    60           Shaw         Rorapaugh

FL-23     D    78           Hastings

FL-24     R    62           Feeney

FL-25     R    65           Diaz-Balart

    Georgia 

GA-01     R    72           Kingston

GA-02     D   100           Bishop       Eversman

GA-03     D    51           Marshall     Clay

GA-04     D    77      D3   # McKinney   Davis

GA-05     D   100           Lewis

GA-06     R    80           # Price      Pelphrey (wi)

GA-07     R    79           Linder

GA-08     R    78      R3  # Westmoreland Delamar

GA-09     R    73      R3   Norwood      Ellis

GA-10     R   100           Deal

GA-11     R    52      R2   Gingrey      Crawford

GA-12     R    55      T    Burns        Barrow

GA-13     D    60           Scott

    Hawaii results: Hawaii - Louisiana

HI-01     D    69           Abercrombie  Tanonaka

HI-02     D    SE*          Case         Gabbard

    Idaho 

ID-01     R    59           Otter        Preston

ID-02     R    68           Simpson      Whitworth

    Illinois 

IL-01     D    81           Rush         Wardingley

IL-02     D    82      D3   Jackson      Sailor (L)

IL-03     D   100           # D Lipinski Chlada

IL-04     D    80           Gutierrez    Cisneros

IL-05     D    67           Emanuel      Best

IL-06     R    65      R3   Hyde         Cegelis

IL-07     D    83           Davis        Davis-Fairman

IL-08     R    57      R1   Crane        Bean

IL-09     D    70           Schakowsky   Eckhardt

IL-10     R    69      R3   Kirk         Goodman

IL-11     R    65      R3   Weller       Renner

IL-12     D    69           Costello     Zweigart

IL-13     R    70           Biggert      Andersen

IL-14     R    74      R3   Hastert      Zamora

IL-15     R    65      R3   Johnson      Gill

IL-16     R    71           Manzullo     Kutsch

IL-17     D    62           Evans        Zinga

IL-18     R   100           LaHood       Waterworth

IL-19     R    55      R3   Shimkus      Bagwell

    Indiana 

IN-01     D    67           Visclosky    Leyva

IN-02     R    50      R2   Chocola      Donnelly

IN-03     R    63           Souder       Parra

IN-04     R    71      R3   Buyer        Sanders

IN-05     R    72           Burton       Carr

IN-06     R    64      R3   Pence        Fox

IN-07     D    53      D3   Carson       Horning

IN-08     R    51      R1   Hostettler   Jennings

IN-09     D    51      D1   Hill         Sodrel

    Iowa 

IA-01     R    57      R2   Nussle       Gluba

IA-02     R    52      R3   Leach        Franker

IA-03     D    53      D2   Boswell      Thompson

IA-04     R    55      R3   Latham       Johnson

IA-05     R    62      R3   King         Schulte

    Kansas 

KS-01     R    91           Moran        Warner (L)

KS-02     R    60      R3   Ryun         Boyda

KS-03     D    50      D1   Moore        Kobach

KS-04     R    61           Tiahrt       Kinard

    Kentucky 

KY-01     R    65           Whitfield    Cartwright

KY-02     R    70           Lewis        Smith

KY-03     R    52      R1   Northup      Miller

KY-04     D    51      T    # Clooney    Davis

KY-05     R    78           Rogers

KY-06     D    SE*     D2   Chandler     Buford

    Louisiana 

LA-01     R    81           # Jindal*    Armstrong*

LA-02     D    64           Jefferson    Schwertz

LA-03     R    87      T    # Romero*    Baldone*

LA-04     R    72           McCrery

LA-05     R    50      R2   Alexander*   Blakes

LA-06     R    84           Baker        Craig*

LA-07     D    87      T    # Mount*     Thibodaux*

    Maine results: Maine - Missouri

ME-01     D    64      D3   Allen        Summers

ME-02     D    52      D2   Michaud      Hamel

    Maryland 

MD-01     R    77           Gilchrest    Alexakis

MD-02     D    55      D3  Ruppersberger Brooks

MD-03     D    66           Cardin       Duckworth

MD-04     D    79           Wynn         McKinnis

MD-05     D    70           Hoyer        Jewitt

MD-06     R    66           Bartlett     Bosley

MD-07     D    74           Cummings     Salazar

MD-08     D    52           Hollen       Floyd

    Massachusetts 

MA-01     D    68           Olver        Adam

MA-02     D   100           Neal

MA-03     D   100           McGovern     Crews

MA-04     D   100           Frank        Morse

MA-05     D    60           Meehan       Tierney

MA-06     D    68           Tierney      O'Malley

MA-07     D   100           Markey       Chase

MA-08     D   100           Capuano

MA-09     D   100           Lynch

MA-10     D    69           Delahunt     Jones

    Michigan 

MI-01     D    68           Stupak       Hooper

MI-02     R    70           Hoekstra     Kotos

MI-03     R    70           Ehlers       Hickey

MI-04     R    68      R3   Camp         Huckleberry

MI-05     D    92           Kildee       Kirkwood

MI-06     R    69           Upton        Elliott

MI-07     R    60      R3   # Schwarz    Renier

MI-08     R    68      R3   Rogers       Alexander

MI-09     R    58           Knollenberg  Reifman

MI-10     R    63           Miller       Casey

MI-11     R    57           McCotter     Truran

MI-12     D    68           Levin        Shaffer

MI-13     D    92           Kilpatrick   Cassell

MI-14     D    83           Conyers      Pedraza

MI-15     D    72           Dingell      Reamer

    Minnesota 

MN-01     R    62           Gutknecht    Pomeroy

MN-02     R    53      R2   Kline        Daly

MN-03     R    72      R2   Ramstad      Watts

MN-04     D    62           McCollum     Bataglia

MN-05     D    67           Sabo         Mathias

MN-06     R    57      R1   Kennedy      Wetterling

MN-07     D    65           Peterson     Sturrock

MN-08     D    69           Oberstar     Groettum

    Mississippi 

MS-01     R    71           Wicker       Washer (Ref)

MS-02     D    54      D3   Thompson     LeSueur

MS-03     R    64           Pickering    Magee (Ref)

MS-04     D    75      D3   Taylor       Lott

    Missouri 

MO-01     D    70           Clay         Farr

MO-02     R    67           Akin         Weber

MO-03     D    59      D2   # Carnahan   Federer

MO-04     D    67           Skelton      Noland

MO-05     D    66      D2   # Cleaver    Patterson

MO-06     R    63      R2   Graves       Broomfield

MO-07     R    75      R3   Blunt        Newberry

MO-08     R    72           Emerson      Henderson

MO-09     R    68      R3   Hulshof      Jacobsen

    Montana results: Montana - New York

MT-01     R    65      R3   Rehberg      Velazquez

    Nebraska 

NE-01     R    85      R2  # Fortenberry Connealy

NE-02     R    63      R3   Terry        Thompson

NE-03     R    93           Osborne      Anderson

    Nevada 

NV-01     D    54      D3   Berkley      Mickelson

NV-02     R    74           Gibbons      Cochran

NV-03     R    56      R1   Porter       Gallagher

    New Hampshire 

NH-01     R    58      R2   Bradley      Nadeau

NH-02     R    57      R2   Bass         Hodes

    New Jersey 

NJ-01     D    93           Andrews      Hutchison

NJ-02     R    69           LoBiondo     Robb

NJ-03     R    65      R3   Saxton       Conaway

NJ-04     R    66      R3   Smith        Vasquez

NJ-05     R    60      R3   Garrett      Wolfe

NJ-06     D    67           Pallone      Fernandez

NJ-07     R    58      R2   Ferguson     Brozak

NJ-08     D    67           Pascrell     Ajjan

NJ-09     D    70           Rothman      Trawinski

NJ-10     D    84           Payne        Washington (G)

NJ-11     R    72          Frelinghuysen Buell

NJ-12     D    60      D3   Holt         Spadea

NJ-13     D    78           Menendez     Piatkowski

    New Mexico 

NM-01     R    55      R1   Wilson       Romero

NM-02     R    56      R2   Pearce       King

NM-03     D   100           Udall        Tucker

    New York results: Montana - New York

NY-01     D    50      D1   Bishop       Manger

NY-02     D    58           Israel       Hoffmann

NY-03     R    72           King         Mathies

NY-04     D    56      D2   McCarthy     Garner

NY-05     D    93           Ackerman     Graves

NY-06     D    96           Meeks

NY-07     D    73           Crowley      Cinquemain

NY-08     D    74           Nadler       Hort

NY-09     D    65           Weiner       Cronin

NY-10     D    96           Towns        Clarke

NY-11     D    86           Owens        Lieberman (C/SC)

NY-12     D    95           Velazquez    Rodriguez

NY-13     R    70      R3   Fossella     Barbaro

NY-14     D    75           Maloney      Srdanovic

NY-15     D    87           Rangel       Jefferson

NY-16     D    92           Serrano      Mohamed

NY-17     D    62           Engel        Brennan

NY-18     D    92           Lowey        Hoffman

NY-19     R    70      R3   Kelly        Jalamin

NY-20     R    73      R3   Sweeney      Kelly

NY-21     D    75           McNulty      Redlich

NY-22     D    64           Hinchey      Brenner

NY-23     R   100           McHugh       Johnson

NY-24     R    71           Boehlert     Miller

NY-25     R    72           Walsh        Hawkins (P&J)

NY-26     R    74      R3   Reynolds     Davis

NY-27     R    69      T    # Naples     Higgins

NY-28     D    62           Slaughter    Laba

NY-29     R    73      R3   # Kuhl       Barend

    North Carolina results: North Carolina - Pennsylvania

NC-01     D    SE*          Butterfield  Dority

NC-02     D    65           Etheridge    Creech

NC-03     R    84           Jones        Eaton

NC-04     D    61           Price        Batchelor

NC-05     R    70      R2   # Foxx       Harrell

NC-06     R    90           Coble        Jordan

NC-07     D    71           McIntyre     Plonk

NC-08     R    54      R2   Hayes        Troutman

NC-09     R    72      R3   Myrick       Flynn

NC-10     R    59      R3   # McHenry    Fischer

NC-11     R    56      R2   Taylor       Keever

NC-12     D    65           Watt         Fisher

NC-13     D    55      D2   Miller       Johnson

    North Dakota 

ND-01     D    52           Pomeroy      Sand

    Ohio results: North Carolina - Pennsylvania

OH-01     R    65      R3   Chabot       Harris

OH-02     R    74           Portman      Sanders

OH-03     R    59      R3   Turner       Mitakides

OH-04     R    67      R3   Oxley        Konop

OH-05     R    67      R3   Gilmor       Weirauch

OH-06     D    59           Strickland   Murphy (?)

OH-07     R    68      R3   Hobson       Anastasio

OH-08     R    71           Boehner      Hardenbrook

OH-09     D    74      D3   Kaptur       Kaczala

OH-10     D    74           Kucinich     Herman

OH-11     D    76           Jones

OH-12     R    65           Tiberi       Brown

OH-13     D    69           Brown        Lucas

OH-14     R    72      R3   LaTourette   Cafaro

OH-15     R    67           Pryce        Brown

OH-16     R    67      R3   Regula       Seemann

OH-17     D    51      D3   Ryan         Cusimano

OH-18     R   100           Ney          Thomas

    Oklahoma 

OK-01     R    56           Sullivan     Dodd

OK-02     D    76      D2   # Boren      Smalley

OK-03     R    76           Lucas        Wilson (Ind)

OK-04     R    54           Cole         Bradshaw (Ind)

OK-05     R    62           Istook       Smith

    Oregon results: North Carolina - Pennsylvania

OR-01     D    62      D2   Wu           Ameri

OR-02     R    72      R3   Walden       McColgan

OR-03     D    67      D3   Blumenauer   Mars

OR-04     D    64           DeFazio      Feldkamp

OR-05     D    55      D2   Hooley       Zupancic

    Pennsylvania results: North Carolina - Pennsylvania

PA-01     D    86           Brady        Williams

PA-02     D    88           Fattah       Bolno

PA-03     R    78           English      Porter

PA-04     R    65           Hart         Drobac

PA-05     R    87           Peterson     Martin (L)

PA-06     R    51      R1   Gerlach      Murphy

PA-07     R    63           Weldon       Scoles

PA-08     R    63      T   # Fitzpatrick Schrader

PA-09     R    70           Shuster      Politis

PA-10     R    93           Sherwood     Hannevig (C)

PA-11     D    56           Kanjorski    Brenneman (C)

PA-12     D    74           Murtha

PA-13     D    51      D1   # Schwartz   Brown

PA-14     D   100         Doyle

PA-15     R    57      R1   # Dent       Driscoll

PA-16     R    88      R3   Pitts        Herr

PA-17     D    51      D1   Holden       Paterno

PA-18     R    60      R3   Murphy       Boles

PA-19     R    91           Platts       Sheeder (G)

    Rhode Island results: Rhode Island - Utah

RI-01     D    60           Kennedy      Rogers

RI-02     D    76           Langevin     Barton

    South Carolina 

SC-01     R    90           Brown        Dunn (G)

SC-02     R    84           Wilson       Ellisor

SC-03     R    67           Barrett

SC-04     R    69           Inglis       Brown

SC-05     D    86           Spratt       Spencer

SC-06     D    67           Clyburn      McLeod (C)

    South Dakota 

SD-01     D    SE*     D1   Herseth      Diedrich

    Tennessee results: Rhode Island - Utah

TN-01     R   100           Jenkins      Leonard

TN-02     R    79           Duncan       Greene

TN-03     R    65           Wamp         Wolfe

TN-04     D    52      D2   Davis        Bowling

TN-05     D    64           Cooper       Knapp

TN-06     D    66           Gordon       Demas

TN-07     R    71           Blackburn

TN-08     D    70           Tanner       Hart

TN-09     D    84           Ford         Fort

    Texas results: Rhode Island - Utah

TX-01     D    56      T    Sandlin      Gohmert

TX-02     D    61      T    Lampson      Poe

TX-03     R    74           Johnson      Vessels (L)

TX-04     R    58      R3   # Hall       Nickerson

TX-05     R    58           Hensarling   Bernstein

TX-06     R    71      R3   Barton       Meyer

TX-07     R    89           Culberson    Martinez

TX-08     R    93           Brady        Wright

TX-09     D    59      D3   # Green      Molina

TX-10     D    84      R3   # Sadun (wi) McCaul

TX-11     D    52      R4   # Raasch     Conaway

TX-12     R    92      R3   Granger      Alvarado

TX-13     R    69           Thornberry   Smith (L)

TX-14     R    68           Paul

TX-15     D   100           Hinojosa     Thamm

TX-16     D   100           Reyes        Brigham

TX-17     D    51      D1   Edwards      Wohlgemuth

TX-18     D    77           Lee          Sullivan (L)

TX-19     R    92      T    Neugebauer*  Stenholm*

TX-20     D   100           Gonzalez     Scott

TX-21     R    73           Smith        Smith

TX-22     R    63      R3   DeLay        Morrison

TX-23     R    51           Bonilla      Sullivan

TX-24     D    65      R4   # Page       Marchant

TX-25     D    55      D3   Doggett      Klein

TX-26     R    75           Burgess      Reyes

TX-27     D    61           Ortiz        Vaden

TX-28     D    71      D3   # Cuellar    Hopson

TX-29     D    95           Green        Messina (L)

TX-30     D    74           Johnson      Davis (L)

TX-31     R    69           Carter       Porter

TX-32     R    68      T    Sessions*    Frost*

    Utah results: Rhode Island - Utah

UT-01     R    61           Bishop       Thompson

UT-02     D    50      D1   Matheson     Swallow

UT-03     R    67           Cannon       Babka

    Vermont results: Vermont - Wyoming

VT-01    Ind   65          Sanders (Ind) Drown (D)

    Virginia results: Vermont - Wyoming

VA-01     R    96           Davis        Lee (Ind)

VA-02     R    83      R2   # Drake      Ashe

VA-03     D    96      D3   Scott        Sears

VA-04     R    98      R3   Forbes       Menefee

VA-05     R    63      R3   Goode        Weed

VA-06     R    97           Goodlatte

VA-07     R    69           Cantor       Blanton (G)

VA-08     D    60      D2   Moran        Cheney

VA-09     D    66      D2   Boucher      Triplett

VA-10     R    72      R3   Wolf         Socas

VA-11     R    83      R3   Davis        Longmyer

    Washington results: Vermont - Wyoming

WA-01     D    55      D3   Inslee       Eastwood

WA-02     D    51      D2   Larson       Sinclair

WA-03     D    63      D3   Baird        Crowson

WA-04     R    66      R3   Hastings     Matheson

WA-05     R    62      R1   # McMorris   Barbieri

WA-06     D    64      D3   Dicks        Cloud

WA-07     D    75           McDermott    Cassady

WA-08     R    60      T    # Reichert   Ross

WA-09     D    58      D3   Smith        Lord

    West Virginia results: Vermont - Wyoming

WV-01     D   100           Mollohan     Parks

WV-02     R    60      R3   Capito       Wells

WV-03     D    70           Rahall       Snuffer

    Wisconsin results: Vermont - Wyoming

WI-01     R    67           Ryan         Thomas

WI-02     D    66      D3   Baldwin      Magnum

WI-03     D    63           Kind         Schultz

WI-04     D    76      D3   # Moore      Boyle

WI-05     R    86      R3  Sensenbrenner Kennedy

WI-06     R   100           Petri        Hall

WI-07     D    64      D3   Obey         Miles (G)

WI-08     R    73           Green        LeClair

    Wyoming results: Vermont - Wyoming

WY-01     R    61      R3   Cubin        Ladd

* SE = Current Congressperson chosen in Special Election since 2002