Pols Act Like Pols (Cont'd)
Scandals may blunt Dem attacks on GOP (Bennett Roth, Houston Chronicle)
For months, congressional Democrats have accused Republicans of fostering a "culture of corruption" that led to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as well as the bribery conviction of Rep. Randy Cunningham of California.
But the Democrats' plans to use corruption as a campaign issue have been undercut by the highlighting in the last few days of questionable conduct in the party's own ranks, according to political experts.
Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, said the spotlight on alleged Democratic transgressions makes it hard for party leaders to take the moral high ground.
"It's over for the Democrats on corruption," he said.
This week, a Kentucky businessman pleaded guilty to charges that he paid Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., and his family more than $400,000 in bribes.
Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.V., recently relinquished under pressure his seat on the House ethics committee after the development of allegations that he steered federal spending on special projects to friends and former staffers.
On Friday, a different type of errant behavior by a Democratic lawmaker — partially admitted rather than merely alleged — was on display in the case of Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., son of Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
[snip]
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in April found that only 14 percent of Americans were paying close attention to DeLay's decision to step down compared to 43 percent closely following Iraq.
"At this point it (corruption) is not a front-and-center issue the way that gas prices or Iraq or even immigration is," said Carroll Doherty, a pollster at the center.
To the extent that voters find "corruption" a salient issue in 2006 (and I'm bearish on the prospect), Republicans will probably get more of the anger because they are the governing party. But it's not clear to me that voters are going to think of Republicans as the party of corruption and Democrats as the party of honesty and goodness, no matter how much angry lefty bloggers wish for it to be true. Rather, it still strikes me that most voters aren't terribly surprised that pols act like pols, something I've noted before.
The 2006 elections will almost certainly hinge on other issues, which isn't exactly going to leave incumbent Republicans breathing easy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/07/06 18:35 | American Politics | Technorati
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