Corruption, Hypocrisy, Retirement: Something'll Get 'Em

Maine: Susan Collins & Rick Santorum, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, via AmericaBlog via Kay in Maine. Also, via Turn Maine Blue, Susan Collins & Sam Alito also sitting in the aforementioned tree. Susan Collins is like a baseball player who might hit 30 home runs in a season, but only when her team is way up or way down, so it doesn't matter - when it counts in the clutch, Susan Collins sticks with the Bush Administration.

North Carolina: Town Called Dobson looks at Elizabeth Dole's "residency."

New Mexico: NM-FBIHOP puts Pajamas Pete Domenici's underwhelming fundraising in perspective.

Nebraska: Chuck Hagel is ramping up his fundraising. It will be telling to see how much Jon Bruning can keep up.

Alabama: Sack Sessions highlights Jeff Sessions' hypocrisy on supporting the farming and agricultural sector. Y'know who actually supports Alabama's farmers? Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks!

Stu Rothenberg looks at potential Senate GOP retirements:

Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel, Virginia’s John Warner, Mississippi’s Thad Cochran and Idaho’s Larry Craig all have been coy — and that’s an understatement — about their re-election plans, and at least three of those seats could be at risk if the incumbents retire at the end of their current terms.

That’s right, four states that have each voted for a Democratic presidential nominee just once since the 1960 Richard Nixon-John F. Kennedy election — Idaho, Nebraska and Virginia in 1964, and Mississippi in 1976 — could see competitive Senate contests if things fall apart for the GOP and into place for Democrats.

The Democrats’ opportunities stem from the presence in at least three of the states of formidable potential Democratic candidates who already have proved their appeal and seem to have the ability to run credible campaigns.

"Formidable Democrats." "Proven appeal." Quite an assessment from Mr. Rothenberg.

Is it just me or is it beginning to look like everybody in the Bush Administration deserves to go to jail? From the Washington Post:

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.

The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.

The existence of one such briefing, at the headquarters of the General Services Administration in January, came to light last month, and the Office of Special Counsel began an investigation into whether the officials at the briefing felt coerced into steering federal activities to favor those Republican candidates cited as vulnerable.

Such coercion is prohibited under a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics. In addition to forbidding workplace pressures meant to influence an election outcome, the law bars the use of federal resources -- including office buildings, phones and computers -- for partisan purposes.

Of course, the White House sees nothing wrong with this. It really is a legal and ethical Twilight Zone over there. Oh, and remember those White House staffers with partisan RNC e-mail addresses? Think Progress has more details.