Is there something in the water in Illinois?

Governor Rod Blagojevich: Really stupid and cocky crook.



What is the deal in Illinois? Putting Barack aside for the moment, here are some of the public officials the voters have elected to various offices in the past:





1. Governor Blagojevich: The target of a corruption probe for the past three years, the FBI arrests him for attempting to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.





2. Governor Ryan: In jail over federal corruption charges that included selling licenses and services to the highest bidder in the state.





3. Senator Carol Mosley-Braun: Met with a dictator in Nigeria, and was under investigation by the FEC and charged with several violations (but could do nothing because the FEC's enforcement is a joke).





4. The Daleys: Enough said.





5. Dan Rostenkowski: Indicted in the House post office scandal in 1994.





Here are some others--all governors--courtesy of William Spain, at the Wall Street Journal:





"Otto Kerner, a Democrat who was convicted in 1973 on 17 counts of bribery, conspiracy, perjury and other charges before being sentenced to three years in the pen. The federal prosecutor in that case, James Thompson, later ascended to the governor's chair and wound up getting his law firm to defend Ryan for free.
Dan Walker was convicted in 1987 -- years after leaving office -- of bank fraud. Serving from 1973 to 1977, with a reputation as a reformer, he was the last Democratic governor of the state before Mr. Blagojevich took office in 2003.
Lennington Small, a Republican, served from 1921 to 1929. He was indicted while in office for embezzlement related to actions taken when he was state treasurer. He was later acquitted; several of the jurors in the case ended up with state jobs." The link to the article is here.





This state is nuts. It's like the voters can't help themselves...they have to have corrupt elected officials, otherwise they wouldn't know how to keep themselves entertained.



What a sad, sad, state of affairs.

Senate Stevens is a cooked goose

Today, the DOJ announced that a grand jury has indicted Senate Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the Senate, on charges of lying about gifts and services he received from VECO Corporation in excess of $250,000.



Stevens was already facing an uphill battle as the popular Democratic Mayor of Anchorage, Mark Beigh, is running against him. He's also being challenged in the Republican primary.

In researching my next book, Losing: When Incumbencies Fail, lots of factors explain why incumbents fail to get re-elected: age, perceptions of incompetence, partisan tides, maverick behavior that undermines support within your party, first re-election test, and scandal. Scandal, however, particularly the kind that involves personal ethics and judgement, is generally the kiss of death for an incumbent. It is really, really hard to convince constituents to trust you when you are being charged with corruption and bribe-taking. And it is a very powerful narrative for a challenger to employ.

This spells serious problems for Republicans. Alaska is fairly safe Republican territory and a seat they need to retain in order to have any hope of stemming Democratic gains in the Senate this fall. The prospect of losing this seat is a bad omen for them indeed.

It also continues to tarnish the party's brand name. The last thing Republicans wanted was the Culture of Corruption argument to haunt them in a second election cycle. How can it not when the Dean of their party in the Senate can no longer serve as ranking member because of the Senate's rules preventing those under indictment from doing so?

If your a Democrat, you should be smiling with glee. If you're a Republican, things look pretty grim (a la 1974 grim).