[Nate tha\\\' Great]

Okay, since nobody else has chimed in on this, let me try my attempt at analysis. Keep in mind that I am an amateur at best at this stuff.

There is very little chance that a "clean" version of the DoD bill (e.g. with no non-germane langauge attached) goes out before the congress goes to recess at the end of the week. Even if Warner/Levin decide they want to call Hastert's bluff, it will probably require until after the elections to do so.

I don't know how likely it is that a "dirty" version of the DoD authorization gets out before the elections. These measures that Hastert are insisting upon are genuinely controversial, far more so than the internet gambling language is, and they are far more visible, especially the immigration langauge w/r/t how hot the issue is in midterm election border states. But my guess is that there is less than a 25% chance that this all gets resolved this week, especially since Hastert just threw this curveball today (Sunday).

Whether this will increase or decrease Frist's resolve to attach the internet gambling language is not clear. Certainly, Frist has been upstaged, and this takes the internet gambling issue out of the spotlight. He could decide that this is the perfect opportunity for him to slip the gambling language in under the radar, or he could decide that too many cooks spoil the broth and look for another bill (or none at all) to attach the gambling language to. Finally, internet gambling language could become involved in horse-trading, which could work either for us or against us.

If this does get delayed until the lame duck session, that is probably a good result for us, but only because the momentum was running against us in the waning days of last week. A delay gives us the chance to reset, as well as the chance for political (e.g. the midterms) or geopolitical events to intervene. Put differently, if the visiting team has just gotten a couple of big hits and is threatening to score, and your relief pitcher isn't ready to go just yet, you really wouldn't mind a rain delay.