YOU KNEW IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME - before Rush Limbaugh started blaming his problems on the Democrats. His latest statement is here.

Poor Rush -- he breaks the law, repeatedly, and yet the police and the courts (I mean the Democrats) are out to get him. El Rushbo, you did the crime, now shut up and let the police and the DA do their work, if you are lucky, maybe you can turn state's evidence against the doctors and your other non-medical suppliers.

Oh wait, I forgot, he isn't a criminal -- he has a disease and tried really hard to get himself off of the drugs before he sought professional treatment, which coincidentally happened at the same time that the police began investigating him.

I think we all now what the old Rush would have said about this situation, but I guess consistency is too much to ask.  ¶ 2:22 PM

  FLORIDA SENATE UPDATE - This Miami Herald story details Mel Martinez's pre-announcement life. (With all due respect to Secretary Martinez - the question I would like to have him answer is what did he accomplish at HUD - quick, can you name anything?)

The lede, however, is that Katherine Harris is leaning toward running, which serves both the Democratic Party's, and her, needs. But it puts the White House in the position of having to run, in the state they most need to win, on the same ticket as the person most likely to get the Democratic base fired up.   ¶ 10:38 AM

  JOHN BREAUX TO RETIRE - Adding to the Democrats Senate woes, John Breaux just announced that he will retire and not seek reelection in 2004.  ¶ 3:03 PM

  WELCOME BACK B-1 BOB? - Bob Dornan (aka B-1 Bob) is thinking about making a comeback, by challenging Dana Rohrabacher. (The LA Times story is here.)

Dornan is "colorful" and would drive the current GOP leadership nuts. But this race looks to be more personal than anything else -- Dornan blames Rohrabacher and other CA GOPers for his loss to Loretta Sanchez. Then again this may just be a chance for Bob to get some spotlight, which he loves.  ¶ 10:58 AM

  BY THE WAY - Do not think that my lamenting congressional civility and redistricting are unrelated -- they go hand in hand. With redistricting creating so many safe seats, there is no reason to court moderate voters, or voters of the other party, you only need to court your loyal, hard core winger base.   ¶ 5:45 PM

  MORE REDISTRICTING - Jeffery Toobin does an excellent piece on congressional redistricting and its recent history.

I will again cast my support toward an Iowa type situation, wherein, redistricting is left to an independent commission, and incumbent protection does not play a role. My hope is that maybe the recent outrages in Texas and Colorado will help to create a national movement to get the politics out of redistricting.  ¶ 5:39 PM

  YOU READ IT HERE FIRST - Following their slow uptake on the Florida Senate race, the NY Times again lags behind in today's analysis of the Electoral Vote situation for 2004. You of course read about it here first.

One quibble with the NY Times analysis. We both have 15 states as battleground states, but they include Maine and Oregon, but leave off Arkansas and Colorado. I would strongly argue that Oregon is not a battleground state in any competitive election, and Maine is becoming more liberal. And although Colorado is pretty strongly Republican, it is less socially conservative and more libertarian, and I think that the Democrats may be able to make a run at some libertarian votes considering that Junior's administration has been very libertarian unfriendly (discretionary spending up 20% and the Patriot Act expanding the power of the federal government).   ¶ 11:09 AM

  MORE ON COLORADO REDISTRICTING - The Washington Post had a summary and analysis here. And you can read the actual decision here. This is a big victory in the war to clean up the redistricting process, or at least keeping it from continuing to spiral downward. Instead of allowing redistricting to become a constant political battle, possibly following every legislative election, the Colorado Supreme Court has limited the battle to once a decade, as it had been traditionally. I am rather pessimistic that the Texas courts will follow this lead, but the alternative is increasing partisanship that reaches down to the state level and will exacerbate the problems of the US political system.  ¶ 10:57 AM

  BIG REDISTRICTING DECISION - The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled the redistricting should only be done every ten years, invalidating the redistricting that was done last year by the Colorado legislature in favor of the GOP. (You can read the AP story here.)

This is a big win, not only for Democrats, but for the redistricting process. It of course has no direct effect on the Texas redistricting case now winding through the courts, but it certainly will have some indirect effect (in dicta as we lawyers like to say.) More on this later, I am sure.

  ¶ 11:53 AM

  CHANGE THE TONE - This is a good article on how relations in Congress have gotten even worse over the past three years, despite Junior's promise to "change the tone" in Washington. I am beginning to wonder if the relationship between the parties won't continue to spiral downward, with hardcore wingers on both sides dominating the parties direction.

The poisonous atmosphere that currently exists has many fathers (and mothers) on both sides of the aisle. But with moderates in both parties on the outside looking in, and a President, who despite losing the popular vote and a questionable Electoral College victory acting with high pomposity and not bipartisanship, it is unlikely that a correction is in the immediate future.  ¶ 11:30 AM