Sunday (Very) Quick Hits

Even in a relative puff piece calling him a "victim of circumstance," NRSC Chair John Ensign looks like he failed junior high civics class:

"The fate of the Senate couldn't be more important in 2008," he said, noting Democrats would control all three branches of government if a Dem wins the White House.

Ummm, unless Dick Cheney recently made further alterations, the Judicial Branch is still one of the three branches of government; and, I don't think anybody is claiming that Democrats control the Supreme Court by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe Ensign needs to pull a Billy Madison and go back to grade school.

Kentucky: State Attorney General Greg Stumbo's 2008 Senate campaign's exploratory website is up and running. (HT: The Bridge) Stumbo wastes no time in taking it to Mitch McConnell:

Let us begin by saying thank you for taking the time to visit our website, because it shows that you have a genuine interest in whether or not Mitch McConnell should continue to serve in the United States Senate. ...

What we have discovered is astonishing, albeit predictable... most Kentuckians do not believe Mitch McConnell represents their views and concerns in Washington. Democrats and Republicans alike consider him to be “out of touch” and feel as though our families and troops deserve better.

Mitch McConnell is out of touch with Kentuckians, plain and simple. McConnell will spend a pile of dough trying to convince voters otherwise, but the fact is that McConnell is out of touch with Kentuckians.

Oregon: Gordon Smith continues to stumble over his own words and dig his hole deeper regarding SalmonGate. I can't wait to see Smith crumble in a Senate debate next year.

Nebraska: TPM chronicles Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning's shady dealings with Nelnet, a student lending company that got into some hot water, only to have Bruning work out a pretty nice settlement and then actually forgive the settlement (only to later reinstate the settlement):

...the original settlement came only weeks after Bruning’s campaign got a $16,000 boost from Nelnet execs. In fact, the settlement was announced without Bruning’s office ever launching an investigation...

That doesn't look good. I believe the term is: "appearance of impropriety."

From the "Republicans that I seem to really like" file: former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson.

Here is the latest on the Bush administration turning the Cabinet and, well, the entire Executive Branch into an outreach arm of the Republican National Committee.