Key Developments Impacting Elections?

I perused the news for the last week or so and found a number of issues that could impact the elections.

Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as the head of the National Association of Evangelicals. Ted reportedly purchased gay sex and used methamphetamine under the pseudonym of “Art”. An e-mail to Ted’s home congregants indicated “some of the accusations against him are true”. Rev. Haggard is a 50 year married father of 5, who had direct connections to the White House on issues like same sex marriage, which Ted vehemently opposes. How will their 30 million members respond? Will they sit at home shaking their heads about leaders claiming the moral high ground but behind the scenes doing a little ditch digging? This question conveniently leads us to our next development.

The House Ethics panel’s only case will conclude after elections. It involves none of the numerous elected officials charged with crimes but the study of who knew what and when in the case of Rep. Mark Foley’s pursuit of young male pages. Absent from investigation since the last election were Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham, William Jefferson, Curt Weldon, and Dennis Hastert. I would add Bill Thomas to the list for his donations from for profit healthcare companies followed by hearings on their behalf. Almost 1/3 of Americans believe their own congressperson is corrupt.

Pennsylvania Rep. Don Sherwood combines payola with sexual impropriety. The incumbent reportedly settled a civil lawsuit with his outside love interest for $500,000. The agreement purportedly required silence until after Election Day. Sherwood admitted having the affair but denies abusing her in the incident that resulted in a 911 call. Sherwood is a 65 year old married father of three and considered a conservative family values Republican candidate.

If politicians are going to buy off their illicit love interests, they need money. Exxon Corporation reported near record quarterly earnings of $10.5 billion. While gas price drops for the quarter paralleled the President’s approval ratings the last two years, Exxon still had a stellar financial performance. While Bush remains hands off on the price of energy, he likes price controls in healthcare as Medicare fixes prices for cardiac pacemakers and portability devices.

Speaking of Medicare, how many Part D patients are currently floating in the donut hole, where they continue to pay both the full cost of drugs and the prescription drug insurance premium? How many “dual eligibles” are livid over his comments just a week or so ago about seniors not having to choose between food, drugs and rent? From my view President Bush has done nothing, zero, zippo on the issue since identifying it as a problem in his February speech in Dublin, Ohio.

A tsunami is forming, the question remains as to its size. Will it wash enough Republicans out of office? The bad news is the Democrats it will deposit on the steps of the Capital are mostly Republican Lite. In their effort to get elected, they’ve mostly become the mirror image of those they wish to unseat. Ask Tom Daschle about imitation. He looks awfully Republican with his high dollar lobbying job with Alston & Bird and his seat on an investment house board. So what if it’s not The Carlyle Group?

Isn’t that what the competition is all about, who can send the book of federal business to their friends? Neither appears to want to serve the people…