RAGGED THOTS: Fall Foley-age, Week 1

Monday, October 09, 2006

Fall Foley-age, Week 1

A round-up of the political world after the first full week-plus of Foley-mania:

1) A good Washington Post weekend overview on the still-unanswered questions in the matter.

2) A current staffer corroborates ex-Tom Reynolds' aide Kirk Fordham's contention that he alerted Dennis Hastert's chief of staff in 2003 about Mark Foley's inappropriate focus on male pages. The staffer claims Hastert's COS, Scott Palmer, confronted Foley about it. Given that Palmer also happens to be Hastert's roommate in Washington, it is hard to believe that he wouldn't have informed his boss of a confrontation with a Member of Congress on such a sensitive matter.

3) The NY Times on expanding number of House seats in play.

4) In a measure of fair and balanced reporting rarely seen by the Gray Lady, the Times checks in on conservative evangelicals who don't seem ready to abandon the GOP yet -- and does a snapshot on the impact of the Foley scandal on gay Republicans.

5) Newsweek's tough poll numbers and ominous bottom line:

Fully 53 percent of Americans want the Democrats to win control of Congress next month, including 10 percent of Republicans, compared to just 35 percent who want the GOP to retain power. If the election were held today, 51 percent of likely voters would vote for the Democrat in their district versus 39 percent who would vote for the Republican. And while the race is closer among male voters (46 percent for the Democrats vs. 42 percent for the Republicans), the Democrats lead among women voters 56 to 34 percent.