Political News of the Week

There are 6 news stories that developed this week which may affect the outcome of the upcoming election. I consider 5 of them trivial and one serious. I present the trivial along with the serious because even the slightest hiccup at this stage of this election, in which there are so many contested races balanced on a razor's edge, can lead to an overwhelming victory for one party or the other. Or perhaps an overwhelming victory vs. a small victory for the Democrats.

1. John Kerry's botched joke and failure to apologize for three news cycles while the Republicans made more of it than it ever should have been.
2. Ted Haggard, an Evangelical Preacher, former pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado, the head of the 30 million strong National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), and an adviser to President Bush, is outed by a 'male prostitute' by the name of Mike Jones. Jones claims that: Haggard saw him about once a month for three years for homosexual sex; Haggard requested and got the name of a methamphetamine drug supplier from him; and that Haggard used the drugs with him.
3. The New York Times, 11/03/06, released a story that the Bush Administration "set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to 'leverage the Internet' to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. ... But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb."
4. The Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and the Marine Corps Times, all privately owned newspapers widely read by the military, will announce in editorials on Monday that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should either resign or be replaced. As I understand it, this is in response to what President Bush said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview that both Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney "are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them." He further said that that they will be with him until his term expires in January 2009.
5. It is reported that the Iraqi Government has suspended all military leave for the time pending the proposed announcement of Saddam Hussein's verdict and sentence scheduled for this Sunday. There is an expectation of possible riots in Iraq.
6. Just when the administration is trying to make a case for a reduction of violence in Iraq, it was reported that 7 US Servicemen were killed in Iraq today, making a total for the three days this month of November of 11 US Servicemen killed in Iraq.

Remember to VOTE. This Tuesday 11/7/06!

Today in the polls:
From Electoral Vote.com:

Projected New Senate: 49 Democrats    49 Republicans    2 Tied
Projected New House: 241 Democrats  193 Republicans   1 Tied

Note that this site lists a seat as being either Democratic, Republican even if the difference between candidates is only 1percentage point. Many of the Democrat seats and some of the Republican seats are very close (within the Margin of Error).

-- 

Michael
My Blog: http://myweb-blog.blogspot.com

Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall set you free.
The Bible
John 8:32