Update - Week of September 25th

[TruePoker CEO]

Nice Location name/avatar... a phrase that will haunt future Frist campaigns.

[BruinEric]

Let me add that it's not just party leadership squabbles with Frist. The avid Republican constituency has been very frustrated with Frist for a variety of reasons.

Some are disgusted with the guy for not carrying the water well enough for the Bush administration. Others are very frustrated with his inability to drive judicial appointments. Some just want an outspoken leader to head the mantle rather than a deal-maker.

Either way, there is not a ton of love for Frist amongst red meat Conservatives, which helps give other Senators and House reps cover to push back on his wishes.

[spatne]

[ QUOTE ]
One thing's for sure -- if we make it through the year without internet gambling language being enacted, we will owe a big thank you to Senators Warner and Specter.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm old enough to have proudly voted against Arlen Specter twice, but I will say this about him:

The man is a tough SOB when he wants to be. The health problems that he's had would've ended many people's lives, let alone their careers. In a throwdown with Frist, I'll take Snarlin' Arlen over any other Republican I can think of. That's if and only if he decides to dig in his heels and play the bulldog. Unfortunately, that's far from certain.

[TruePoker CEO]

Good cartoon, but unfortunately true.

(The Dems eventually need to come up with "something" of their own on Iraq because ultimately "something" beats "nothing" in an election. The most I can say is that it is really nice for a change to see the Republicans acting like Democrats.)

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
We already owe it at this point. Senators Warner and Spector, in opposition to their Majority Leader, upheld the principle that the Senate operates by rules, which include fair consideration and voting on bills.

[/ QUOTE ]

We also might owe a sarcatsic thank you to Rep. Hastert, because I don't know if this issue blows up as it has if he hadn't tried to get his riders attached so late in the game. I'm really having trouble understanding Hastert's motivations, FWIW, although of course it's possible that he simply overestimated his political capital. It's really like there are two conflicting views over the nature of the congress which are at loggerheads right now, sort of the patrician view and the plebian view.

[JuntMonkey]

More exciting: post-Election 2000, pre-Election 2004, or this?

[TruePoker CEO]

"We will have pretty much heard the last of Frist when his Senate term soon expires..... Stick a fork in him; he's done."

Don't be so comfortably Nrogish in your certainty. Not even this matter is yet resolved, let alone the 2006 Republican nomination.

[TruePoker CEO]

It depends whose ox is being Gored

[spatne]

Where do you live, True? (state/district?)

Some Dems are hammering the Iraq issue hard, some are not.

If you're interested in this stuff, Matt Stoller over at MyDD.com have been running an "Accountability Adwatch," picking apart Democrats' ads as they come out and analyzing them for effectiveness. Click on MyDD Adwatch on the right hand side of the page.

Fair warning: MyDD is a partisan site run by progressive Dems, so if the color blue makes any of you Rs and big Ls froth at the mouth, you may want to take a pass. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Silent1]

"Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week he opposed Frist's efforts to attach an Internet gambling ban to the defense bill. But on Tuesday, Reid said he may not vote against the defense bill if it includes legislation that would prohibit the use of credit cards, checks and other bank instruments to pay for online wagers.

"If they close (negotiations on the defense bill) with only that (Internet gambling ban) in it, it would be a tough thing to vote against," Reid said.

One congressional source, who supports the Internet gambling ban, said there "is no real opposition in either chamber."

An Internet gambling lobbyist said the legislation is likely to linger until Congress returns after the elections.

"I'd say there is a 40 percent chance it comes back up during the lame-duck session (in November), a 40 percent chance the defense bill passes this week without an Internet gambling ban or any other attachments, and a 20 percent chance the defense bill passes this week with the Internet gambling ban," said the lobbyist, who requested anonymity."

http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...ntentID=161365

P.S. That lobbyist needs some help with (conditional?) probabilities. He has missing probability mass, unless he really believes there is a 60% chance this may all go away.

Who (in either chamber) is going to stick his neck out and say he supports internet gambling, given November elections? I sure hope they are using all the other tricks at their disposal.