Colorado Congressman Bob Beauprez is in a heated battle with former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter in the Colorado Governor's race. As I have been writing over at 5280.com, the campaign of Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez is in trouble now that the FBI agreed to join the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in investigating how the Beauprez campaign got confidential criminal records regarding a defendant prosecuted during Ritter’s tenure as District Attorney that were later used in an ad attacking Ritter.

Beauprez continued to refuse to disclose how he got the information. He referred to his source as an “informant” and tried to hide behind a kind of journalist’s privilege, which of course, is ridiculous.

Yesterday I wondered "which law enforcement officer or state or federal employee is going to be out of a job. The possibilities are numerous."

Not any more. the CBI said today they got their culprit and it was someone in federal law enforcement.

Let the sparks fly. Beauprez' tag line has been "I'm Accountable." I hope Colorado voters take him at his word. His tv ads attacks on Ritter have been straight out of the Willie Horton mold. It's time to pay the piper.

Writing about today's Connecticut Senate debate, Matt Stoller, in his fantastic piece writes:

After the debate, both Schlesinger and Lamont were mobbed by reporters and supporters outside, but Joe was nowhere to be found. Some friends here think that Joe is scared to face reporters, but I don't think that's what's going on. I think Joe actually and honestly doesn't like people and doesn't want to deal with them if he doesn't have to. That's why he doesn't like or care about doing good visibility events - his ego isn't fed by large crowds since he doesn't think much of people he doesn't know.

And Joe doesn't know the people of Connecticut. The central reality of the political creature that is Joe Lieberman is that he is of the Washington DC Establishment and of Washington, DC. Connecticut is not where Joe Lieberman's from at all anymore. This reality explains everything he does, says and yearns for.

Sally Quinn inadvertently performs a great public service by demonstrating, in no uncertain terms, how clueless the Beltway Media is:

Don Rumsfeld is the shrewdest person in Washington.

Oh there's more of course but let's consider that one line and think about how clueless and out of touch one would have to be to write that. I would say it gets better but of course, after that start, that is impossible, but this is almost its equal:

It is hard for the American people to turn completely against the president. It seems tantamount to patricide. We're much more comfortable being able to blame someone else for the president's mistakes. Laura Bush will never be the scapegoat. For now, it's [Snowball] Rumsfeld.

Lakoff vindicated one might say - strict father and all that. Except for the fact that the President's rating are in the 30s. Oh and the only for GOP Presidents Sally Quinn rule. See, she led the charge against Clinton trashing "her town."

The state of Florda executed Arthur Rutherford today. It was the 19th execution performed while Jeb Bush has been Governor. Florida has executed 62 people since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

Rutherford was on the gurney in January when he got a last minute stay from the Supreme Court. For his last meal,

He requested the same meal he had in January: Fried green tomatoes, catfish, fresh water, fried eggplant, sweet tea, and hush puppies (deep-fried cornbread).

He was surrounded by 20 members of his immediate family this morning. He was a handyman and a Vietnam Veteran.

More about his case is here.

A new Wall St. Journal/ NBC Poll finds support for Republicans in Congress has dropped to 16%, its lowest level in the 12 years they've been in power.

Public support for Republicans' control of the U.S. Congress has eroded to its lowest point since the party took over 12 years ago. And with just 19 days until the midterm elections, both President George W. Bush and his party are in worse shape with voters than Democrats were in the October before they lost their House and Senate majorities in 1994.

A big factor is scandals, both corruption and sex.

By 52% to 37%, voters say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress after the Nov. 7 election. That wide 15-point Democratic advantage is another record in the history of the Journal/NBC poll.

What does it mean? I'd say watch for Republicans to pull all the dirty tricks they can in the next two weeks.

Professor Cass Sunstein tries to forward this Obama bipartisan silliness, and rewrites history in the process. He now pretends that FDR and Abraham Lincoln were NOT politicians. Just silly:

At crucial moments, [FDR] offered large and contentious claims, attacking the beliefs of (for example) those who were committed to laissez-faire and to isolationism. On the other hand, FDR was also committed to a principle of mutual respect. And consider these words from Lincoln's Second Inaugural: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right...."

This is so ahistorical as to be incredible that a brilliant man like Sunstein could have even written those words. FDR was always at loggerheads with the Republicans, demonizing and being demonized. As for Lincoln, sure in 1865 after having won the election and the Civil War (or shortly to), he was all magnaminity. During the election? And of course, his Cooper Union address, which I have written about at length, is the very epitome of negative branding. Sunstein simply is writing nonsense.

"Terrorist" Released:

At the crux of Mr. Maliki’s problem lies Mr. Sadr . . . American commanders have been pressing Iraqi officials to launch an all-out assault against the Mahdi Army’s strongholds, but Mr. Maliki, who relies on Mr. Sadr for political backing, has resisted.

These tensions played out today when the Maliki government demanded that the American military command release a senior aide to Mr. Sadr who had been captured on Tuesday on suspicion of attacking American forces and of directing kidnappings, killings and torture of Sunni Arabs and Shiites.

The American military command provided no explanation for the release of the aide, Sheik Mazin al-Saedi, except to say it was in response to a request by the Iraqi government.

"I think I'd just commit suicide." -- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quote by Radio Iowa, on what he would do if Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate.

Bipartisanship McCain/Lieberman style, Republicans tell Dems what to do.

H/T Political Wire.

Remember the case of the 14 year old girl who was raped and murdered by U.S. troops?

8 of them will face courts-martial proceedings on rape and murder charges.

Eight soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division will be court-martialed on murder charges stemming from their service in Iraq, including two who face a death sentence for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl and killing her and her family, the military ordered Wednesday.

The Fort Campbell soldiers facing the death penalty are Sgt. Paul E. Cortez and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman. Both are accused of raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi in her family's home in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, then killing her along with her parents and younger sister.

Another soldier, Steven Green, is being tried in federal court in the U.S., since he was discharged before charges were filed. You can read the affidavit for Green's arrest here. Page 6 lays out the events and players.

As Jeralyn writes, our current Congress is the worst in a long time. A bad combination with the worst President and worst Media. This, it is quite strange that Kevin Drum would pooh pooh the importance of a Democratic Congress:

So what happens if Democrats win control of Congress in November? Conservative Bruce Bartlett says, nothing much. At the Washington Post, liberal Harold Meyerson mostly agrees. He says the Democratic agenda will be pretty much what you'd expect:

It includes raising the minimum wage, repealing the Medicare legislation that forbids the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices, replenishing student loan programs, funding stem cell research and implementing those recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission that have thus far languished.

That ain't chopped liver. Moreover, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of this:

Democrats will have considerably more oversight power, even if Republicans did gut the oversight staff when they took over a decade ago. And not a moment too soon.

This is by far the most important result of a Democratic Congress and for Kevin to note it in passing as "nothing much" is, well, not sharp.

Matt Taibi writes on The Worst Congress Ever in Rolling Stone. The tag line says it all:

How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps.

Here's RS's list of the 10 worst Congressmen.

NORML's Paul Armentano has an op-ed in today's Examiner pointing out that the U.S. is spending $1 billion dollars a year to incarcerate people for marijuana offenses. The figure comes from the latest report released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The new report is noteworthy because it undermines the common claim from law enforcement officers and bureaucrats, specifically White House drug czar John Walters, that few, if any, Americans are incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses. In reality, nearly 1 out of 8 U.S. drug prisoners are locked up for pot.

Another $8 billion is spent on arresting them.