NOT ALL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES SHUN BUSH-- SOME ARE REALLY DESPERATE, LIKE SHERWOOD, POMBO, MACACAWITZ AND BUCHANAN

Most Republican incumbents are running campaigns that can be summed up in one sentence: "I am an independent and not a rubber stamp." Hoping and praying that voters won't examine pure rubber stamp voting records and knowing full well that the Democrats are generally too lame to get them out effectively, the main tactics for these GOP incumbents is to avoid debates at all costs (look at this cute clip of Bilirakis' mentally deficient son avoiding a debate and hoping low information voters in FL-14 think it's his father who they're voting for), especially public ones, and to avoid any association with Bush, Cheney or Hastert. Endangered Republican incumbents-- and that list is approaching 65 now-- have let it be known that they would appreciate it if neither Bush nor Cheney visits their district and, if possible, stay out of their state altogether.

One outstanding exception is an outstandingly stupid Republican we've talked about before: Don "The Choker" Sherwood. He's admitted to a 5 year extramarital affair with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter-- although he claims that when he choked and beat her it was just a "massage"-- and he is on the list of Republicrooks likely to be indicted in the Abramoff rat-fest going on at the FBI right now. Already down by double digits against Blue America candidate Chris Carney, Sherwood invited Bush to campaign with him-- and fell further in the polls as PA-10 voters were reminded of Sherwood's utter rubber stamp posture over the last 6 years.

"Among likely voters in the northeast and central Pennsylvania district," reports the A.P., "Democrat Chris Carney had 50 percent to Sherwood's 38 percent, a 12-point lead, according to the Keystone Poll. The poll has a 5 percentage point margin of error. Sherwood, a four-term incumbent, looked to have a safe seat in the conservative district until the affair became public. On Thursday, President Bush visited the district to campaign for him."


Although most GOP candidates are shunning Bush, according to today's New York Times "there is a certain class of Republicans who are somewhere between eager and willing to have him at their sides. There are those facing ethical questions or struggling to recover from gaffes. There are those desperate for the cash Mr. Bush can bring in just by showing up for lunch. There are those who need the president to turn out a demoralized base. And there are those who, like Vern Buchanan, the Republican candidate for the House here, are a little bit of all three."

Buchanan is a crooked used car dealer with a well-deserved reputation for hiding tainted money off-shore in Bahamian banks. He's one of the sleaziest of a very sleazy batch and he and Bush get along famously. He's also on the verge of losing this Republican Sarasota district being vacated by Krazy Katherine Harris for her pointless, mad bid for a U.S. Senate seat. Buchanan has wasted over $4,000,000 of his own money on the race. Bush was there on Tuesday and raised $375,000 for Buchanan's faltering campaign.

But even a crook like Conrad Burns from Montana, almost sure to need Bush to pardon him in the near future, has asked Bush to stay out of Montana where he is currently being outpolled by Blue America favorite, John Tester. "One Republican strategist close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly about campaign strategy, said some Republicans-- among them Senate candidates in tight races in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee-- simply do not want their final campaign images to include Mr. Bush, and have spurned White House offers for help. Instead, White House strategists [Rove] are sending Mr. Bush to Republican-leaning districts like Sarasota, where he can help energize the base and increase voter turnout. The president will also appear in swing districts where the Republican candidate has calculated that the last-minute infusion of cash he can bring in is worth more than any bad publicity surrounding the visit."

The Times makes a point of explaining that pretty much the only Republicans willing to take the risk of being photographed with the unpopular, disliked and even toxic "war president" are the ones in severe trouble and touched by controversy and corruption like Buchanan, Sherwood, Felix Macacawitz, Dirty Dick Pombo and Doolittle. And the desperate. If you ain't got nothing, you ain't got nothing to lose... and that would cover Michigan Republican nut case Mike Bouchard and Mike Sodrel (IN), who shouldn't be wasting his time campaigning with Bush when he could be looking for a new job.