WILL THE DEMOCRATS TAKE DOWN BOB NEY-- OR WILL RAHM EMANUEL RESCUE HIM?

I saw a poll recently asking which congressman would be the next to be indicted (this was post DeLay and post Cunningham). The overwhelming response was venal Ohio Republican Bob Ney. But today Associated Press' David Hammer wrote a fairly positive piece on his future. Hammer used GOP talking points, Republican wishful thinking, and sheer bullshit to denigrate the Democrats efforts to take on Ney in Ohio's 18th CD.

Although there are 2 strong candidates locked in an action-packed primary battle-- grassroots progressive Zack Space and socially conservative Chillicothe mayor Joe Sulzer-- Hammer's main point is that the DCCC's version of Tom DeLay wasn't able to recruit whatever nightmare candidates he was trying to impose on the district.

Hammer's story is a collection of pre-ordered quotes to prove his lame points plus some typical Inside-the-Beltway claptrap. Lots of stuff about Rahm Emanuel trying to recruit vanilla candidates with no point of view and light in the brains department (like State Representative John Boccieri). One thing that did catch my attention was this: "Emanuel's committee declined to comment on recruiting issues, but is struggling to decide between Joe Sulzer and Zack Space, two of the four Democrats who did enter the race." Here's proof that Emanuel is as stupid as he is Stalinist. He apparently hasn't learned from the disastrous response to his (and Chuck Schumer's) interference in the Ohio Senate race which drove Paul Hackett to pull out (and simultaneously drove up Mike DeWine's approval voter preference rating). Space and Sulzer both look like competent candidates and the Democrats of the district should be able to choose between them. That's called a primary. In a democracy. Mr. Emanuel.