[Mb-civic] An article for you from Michael Butler.

Wed Apr 5 10:55:56 PDT 2006

- AN ARTICLE FOR YOU, FROM ECONOMIST.COM -

Dear civic,

Michael Butler (michael at intrafi.com) wants you to see this article on Economist.com.

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REPUBLICAN WOES MOUNT
Apr 5th 2006  

Tom DeLay, a powerful Republican figure, has announced that he is
retiring from politics just as troubles are piling up for America's
ruling party. Though Mr DeLay said he was going because of a personal
campaign against him, accusations of sleaze more generally--amid other
woes--mean the Republicans face difficult months ahead of congressional
elections in November

"HE HAS served our nation with integrity and honour," said John
Boehner, the leader of the Republican majority in the House of
Representatives, of his predecessor this week. Others may not be so
generous towards the man nicknamed "the Hammer". On Tuesday, April 4th,
Tom DeLay said he would retire from politics, as investigations into
possible corruption crept uncomfortably close.

Mr DeLay was, until recently, one of the most powerful men in
Washington. As the leader of the Republican majority in the House of
Representatives, he was expert at getting conservative legislation
through Congress, though his tactics were tough and, some said,
stretched the rules. But his star has since fallen. In January he gave
up his attempts to regain his job as majority leader. This week he
explained his decision to quit politics. He did so with rare candour.
Instead of patter about spending more time with his family, he admitted
to a television journalist that the polls for his re-election race in
Texas, in November, gave him little hope of success.

The reason for his fall, in his view, is a bitter and personal attack
against him as a symbol of Republican power, or even as a Christian. In
fact his name is now tied to so many corruption cases that it is hard
to keep them straight. Though he may not have been involved personally,
he seems to have been near to a suspiciously large number of proven
sleaze-mongers. Two of his former staffers, including his former deputy
chief of staff, Tony Rudy, have pleaded guilty on corruption charges in
federal courts. Both admitted to doing dirty work (after leaving Mr
DeLay's employ) for Jack Abramoff, a former lobbying kingpin now
convicted on corruption charges himself. Last week, Mr Abramoff was
sentenced to nearly six years in prison for just one case. 

Mr DeLay was also uncomfortably close to him. He probably now regrets
calling Mr Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends". Just how
close might yet be revealed. Both Mr Abramoff and Mr Rudy have promised
to co-operate with prosecutors in bribery investigations, which
DeLay-haters think might lead to the Hammer himself.

That would compound Mr DeLay's other problems. He may anyway face a
trial of his own, for money-laundering. An indictment in a Texas court
alleges that Mr DeLay laundered money to evade state restrictions on
the use of corporate funds to win the state legislature. He continues
to maintain that the allegations are trumped up by left-wing opponents
who cannot beat him politically. Two employees of Texans for a
Republican Majority, a political action committee that Mr DeLay ran,
are facing felony charges.

WIDER REPUBLICAN WOES

Mr DeLay would like to paint his troubles as an isolated
smear-campaign. But congressional Republicans appear to be in trouble
generally. Others took money from Mr Abramoff. And though a smaller
number of Democrats did so too, the bad odour hangs around Republicans
more. Voters seem to agree with Democratic claims that Republicans have
established a "culture of corruption" in Washington. One or more
members of Congress could yet be indicted by federal prosecutors.

Nor is George Bush helping. The president's job-approval ratings are in
the pits because of Iraq, the botched response to Hurricane Katrina
last year, a row over the sale of American port operations to a
Dubai-owned company, and other assorted woes. A recent poll by TIME
suggested just 37% of voters are content with Mr Bush's performance.
Congressional Republicans languish with him. When voters are asked
whether they prefer an unnamed Republican or an unnamed Democrat to
represent them, recent polls give the Democrats a lead of anywhere
between 9 and 16 percentage points.

But that does not necessarily mean a clobbering of the Republicans in
November. House districts are so gerrymandered (in part, in Texas, by
Mr DeLay himself) that very few districts are actually competitive. The
Democrats need to gain an unlikely 15 seats to take back control of the
House. Mr DeLay's seat is one that they might hope to win, though the
Hammer suggests his own departure gives the Republicans a better
chance. He said he was bowing out because "I refuse to allow liberal
Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat." According to Chris
Matthews, the journalist to whom he first announced his intention to
step down, he said "Any Republican can win this seat except me."

In the Senate, incumbents are also hard to unseat, having great name
recognition and fundraising power. Democrats might, again, target
individuals such as Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, one of the Senate's
most outspoken social conservatives, to notch up isolated victories.
But given the electoral lie of the land, such scanty reversals may be
all they can expect. 

See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6767159&fsrc=nwl

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