The ad, by Republican Paul Nelson, attacks Democrat incumbent Congressman Ron Kind.

It manages to mention Vietnamese prostitutes, Aleutian Indian transgenders, spending money on sex (research), masturbation habits of men, and teenage girls watching pornographic movies with probes attached to their genitalia - All in 60 seconds.

Watch it. Die of laughter.

The "I am Paul Nelson and I approve of this message line" has greater meaning in this ad, doesn't it?

Incidentally, Nelson is the guy who caused a media kerfluffle by proposing that all Muslim males be searched at airports.

Fully 53 percent of Americans want the Democrats to win control of Congress next month, including 10 percent of Republicans, compared to just 35 percent who want the GOP to retain power. If the election were held today, 51 percent of likely voters would vote for the Democrat in their district versus 39 percent who would vote for the Republican.

[snip]

Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has fallen to a new all-time low for the Newsweek poll: 33 percent, down from an already anemic 36 percent in August. Only 25 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, while 67 percent say they are not.

[snip]

Democrats now outdistance Republicans on every single issue that could decide voters’ choices come Nov. 7. In addition to winning—for the first time in the NEWSWEEK poll—on the question of which party is more trusted to fight the war on terror (44 to 37 percent) and moral values (42 percent to 36 percent), the Democrats now inspire more trust than the GOP on handling Iraq (47 to 34); the economy (53 to 31); health care (57 to 24); federal spending and the deficit (53 to 29); gas and oil prices (56 to 23); and immigration (43 to 34).

An American University expert says if the election were held tomorrow, the G-O-P would be in an extraordinary amount of trouble.

A record low primary turnout and voter disgust for politics could mean an even tougher battle over the next month for Republicans trying to maintain control over the House and Senate.

An A-U study says only 15 percent of eligible voters cast primary ballots this year -- breaking the record low from the last two midterms.

A university researcher says frustrations with President Bush, the Iraq war and a congressional scandal involving lurid messages could mobilize Democrats and independents next month. And he says the political turmoil "may make some Republicans sufficiently unhappy to stay home."

Sometimes, when you're a legislator caught up in the scramble to be tougher on crime than the guy in the next seat, you can get pretty far out on a limb.

If you give him the benefit of the doubt, that may be what happened in 1995, when Congressman Mark Green was State Rep. Mark Green and wanting to make his bones on the juvenile crime issue.

Green actually proposed the death penalty for 15-year-olds.

Surely he doesn't still think that, does he?

Perhaps some enterprising reporter will ask him.

But probably not.

University of Wisconsin System regents voted Friday to oppose a proposed ban on gay marriage on the Nov. 7 ballot, saying it will hurt their ability to recruit and retain gay and lesbian employees.

Regents, who govern the UW System of 13 four-year universities and 13 two-year colleges, said the amendment would threaten the state's ability to provide domestic partner benefits.

The board has long lobbied the Legislature to lift a ban on health and other benefits for partners of gay employees.

UW-Madison is the only school in the Big 10 conference that does not offer the benefits -- a policy that recently prompted a star nanotechnology researcher to leave.

Give Gov. Jim Doyle some credit - indeed, give him high marks - for quickly naming Madison attorney Greg Paradise to the state Elections Board.

Paradise was designated to serve on the board by Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, after a Republican member of the board stepped down.

The member of the board who quit, Patrick Hodan, had recused himself from matters involving the campaign of Republican Mark Green, who is challenging Doyle. Hodan's departure created an opening for Republicans to select a new member who it has been presumed might put principles and public duties aside and simply use the position to protect Green, who has been sanctioned for collecting close to $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

In some circles, including Doyle's own campaign, there has been an assumption that Paradise would do the dirty work. We have argued that Paradise deserves the benefit of the doubt. And Doyle has given just that to the Republican designee.

The governor could have stalled action on the designation, which he needed to approve before Paradise could begin to serve. Such a delay would, almost certainly, have benefited the Doyle campaign.

Instead, the governor did his duty and immediately named Paradise to the position.

Doyle chose not to act as a partisan. And, in so doing, he distinguished himself as an official who recognizes the basics of governing.

RedPrairie Reports Record Quarter

RedPrairie Corp. announced record third-quarter bookings revenue of $14.7 million, up 49 percent from its previous quarterly record of $9.9 million and up 100 percent over the same period a year ago.

The Waukesha logistics solutions company's increased bookings were broad across its product lines and diverse in geography, including 59 contracts, four of which were in the seven-figure range.

John Jazwiec, RedPrairie's chief executive officer, said, "RedPrairie's record results and momentum demonstrate the strength of our innovative E2e strategy. Companies are investing in and realizing substantial value from our unique ability to synchronize inventory, workforce and transportation processes from the point of sale back through distribution and manufacturing."

Despite the record revenues, Jazwiec has been threatening in recent weeks to move his company out of Wisconsin, as he has criticized the state's corporate culture.

We don't need to have to posture anymore in front of the media ... the motion to cause Green to give up more money and the motion to rescind the orders were more posturing. The reality is that the board made a decision that has to now go through the court system, and the Democrats have all sorts of egg on their faces for improperly influencing board members.

Anyone who watches the evening news with any regularity knows that it's not a bastion of substance. However, a new study conducted by researchers at Indiana University reports that The Daily Show has just as much substance to it as the broadcast news. 'The researchers looked at coverage of the 2004 Democratic and Republican national conventions and the first presidential debate of the fall campaign, all of which were covered by the mainstream broadcast news outlets and The Daily Show... There was just as much substance to The Daily Show's coverage as there was on the network news. And The Daily Show was much funnier, with less of the hype -- references to photo ops, political endorsements, and polls -- that typically overshadows substantive coverage on network news, according to the study.'

It's gotten horribly old but now there's yet another Republican blaming anyone but themselves for problems that have happened under their watch.

In Milwaukee County, the fiscal health of the county has worsened as County Executive Scott Walker has squandered four years of power yet still blames his predecessor, Tom Ament, for all of the fiscal woes. George W. Bush and company blame Bill Clinton for the 9-11 terrorist attack. Sheriff David Clarke has upon numerous times fallen back on blaming "some people in this department" for anything that happens under his not-so-watchful eye. Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois), Speaker of the House of Representatives, apparently knew about the scandalous and perverse instant messages that Congressman Mark Foley (R-Florida) was sending to a teenage Page for months before the story got out, yet Hastert refuses to step aside.

Now Congressman Mark Green, who wants to be Governor, is getting in on the action.

He's talking tough on securing our borders but where has he been and what has he accomplished in all of this time in congress? Nothing.

He's attacked Governor Jim Doyle with innuendo and accusations about ethics and campaign cash improprieties yet he refuses to give up on using nearly a half million dollars in illegal campaign cash he was ordered to not use.

He even turned on the red light for big oil companies and drug companies by giving them tax breaks while raking in campaign donations from the same individuals.

What ever happened to good old fashioned accountability? Oh sure, we've heard the GOP beat the drum of "personal responsibility" when it comes to things like welfare "reform" and other excuses to cut benefits for the poor, but when it comes to taking responsibility for their own actions, the only sound we're hearing is silence.

Usually lawmaking is left in the hands of legislators but that won't be the case if Attorney General JB Van Hollen gets his way. Van Hollen has said he won't pursue an agenda but let's look at some of the substance.

In an pre-primary campaign mailer, Van Hollen sported the endorsement of the NRA. Would they not expect something in return? If Van Hollen didn't anticipate fighting for the NRA legislative agenda, why would he have sported to endorsement on a mailer?

He said "I favor passage of the personal protection act" which is another way of saying he favors the law that cops unanimously oppose -- legislation that would legalize carrying a concealed weapon.

And if Van Hollen won't pursue an agenda, why did he come out in support of the death penalty? Isn't that advocating an agenda? Is somehow legitimizing the state to take a persons life not an agenda item?

This is another classic case of a Republican saying one thing, and doing and advocating another.

Today the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bush administration has abandoned its year old policy of seizing shipments of lower-price prescription drugs from Canada. The newspaper reports that by mid-July, Customs officials had seized more than 37,000 prescription drug packages from Canada. Governor Doyle made the following statement:

"It is unconscionable that our own federal government had seized more than 37,000 prescriptions intended for Americans who can't afford their medicines. It was a senseless policy, a huge special interest favor to the big drug companies, and I am pleased it has been stopped.

"This reversal, though timed right before an election, in nonetheless good news for consumers in Wisconsin and across the country who are desperate for more affordable prescription drugs. It is clear that the Bush Administration is feeling the pressure from states like Wisconsin and from millions of Americans who want access to safe, lower price prescriptions available from Canada.

"Even though the Bush Administration has - for now - stopped the drug seizures, the President and his allies in Congress continue to oppose prescription drug reimportation. Instead of harassing consumers and doing the bidding of the big drug lobby, Congress and the President should work with leading states like Wisconsin to develop a broader system to allow citizens to get safe, affordable medicines from Canada."

Governor Doyle has been recognized as a national leader in the fight for access to lower price prescription drugs from Canada. The state has established a website where citizens can access safe, affordable medications from Canadian pharmacies that have been inspected by the state. Governor Doyle has also repeatedly urged Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would dramatically expand access to these medications.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Wisconsin Elections Board will be requesting an additional $1 million per year in the next budget to operate their statewide voter database, which is not yet fully operational.

I have been a long critic of the handling of the database. Our neighbor, Minnesota, got theirs done as required by federal law for about $5 million. Our elections board is nine months behind schedule, and the project is still unfinished. Oh, the cost? About $27 million and counting.

The Republicans are in outcry about the "partisan" elections board and their decision that Mark Green is breaking the law with his illegal transfer. It clearly is illegal.

But it is not the decision that's the problem. It is the makeup of the board alltogether.

Politicians appoint the members for the most part of the Elections Board. Now take a seat. And their appointments are often - really sit down - political. I've said it.

Well, surprise surprise.

It's not the decision they made (which again is correct) that is the problem. The problem is that we have political hacks appointing political people.

They are not bad people at all. But they are part-time volunteers essentially, without the capacity to truly exercise the job that is necessary.

The entire database issue should have raised the hairs of every GOPper in the Capitol. Yet you barely heard a pin drop about the issue outside of good government reform groups and a handful of legislators.

If you REALLY want reform (and I'm not sure many Republicans really do), you have to pass a bill like SB-1, the Ethics Reform bill. We need an INDEPDENDENT body to make decisions about our elections. But it was the same GOP whiners who killed the bill only months ago.

So my GOP friends, you are actually right about the Elections Board being problematic. But you arrive at that decision $27 million too late and for all the wrong reasons. Go figure.

On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director.

For months, Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy, including specific presidential orders called "findings" that would give the CIA stronger authority to conduct covert action against bin Laden. Perhaps a dramatic appearance -- Black called it an "out of cycle" session, beyond Tenet's regular weekly meeting with Rice -- would get her attention.

Tenet had been losing sleep over the recent intelligence he'd seen. There was no conclusive, smoking-gun intelligence, but there was such a huge volume of data that an intelligence officer's instinct strongly suggested that something was coming. He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action.

He did not know when, where or how, but Tenet felt there was too much noise in the intelligence systems. Two weeks earlier, he had told Richard A. Clarke, the National Security Council's counterterrorism director: "It's my sixth sense, but I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one."

But Tenet had been having difficulty getting traction on an immediate bin Laden action plan, in part because Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had questioned all the National Security Agency intercepts and other intelligence. Could all this be a grand deception? Rumsfeld had asked. Perhaps it was a plan to measure U.S. reactions and defenses.

Tenet had the NSA review all the intercepts, and the agency concluded they were of genuine al-Qaeda communications. On June 30, a top-secret senior executive intelligence brief contained an article headlined "Bin Laden Threats Are Real."

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned Friday after it was publicized that he wrote sexually charged e-mails and instant messages to teenagers in the House of Representatives page program.

Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), and Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) reportedly informed House Speaker Dennis Hastert about the matter months ago. He and other GOP leaders in the House are now trying to deflect criticism now that [they] didn't do enough to pursue it.

Rather than launch an investigation Friday, the House referred the matter to the Ethics Committee to see if an investigation is warranted. TPM passes on this statement today from Congressman Dale Kildee (D-MI), the Democratic Member of the House Page Board:

"As the Democratic Member of the House Page Board, any statement by Mr. Reynolds or anyone else that the House Page Board ever investigated Mr. Foley is completely untrue.

"I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House Page and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter.

"The first and only meeting of the House Page Board on this matter occurred on Friday, September 29 at approximately 6 p.m., after the allegations about Mr. Foley had become public."

As to the politics and how this impacts the election for Foley's seat, Florida law allows Republicans to name a replacement to serve in his place if he wins. As Rick Hasen points out, the fact that Foley's name remains on the ballot is going to work against that effort.

Colin L. Powell, in his last face-to-face meeting with President Bush before stepping down as secretary of state in January 2005, tried to impress upon him one last time the dangers he saw the United States facing in Iraq, according to a new Powell biography.

The insurgency was growing and the country was spiraling into sectarian bloodshed, Mr. Powell warned. Elections in Iraq would not solve the problems, and the president’s ability to act decisively was being crippled by divisions within his own administration, according to the account in “Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell” (Knopf, 2006) by Karen DeYoung, an associate editor at The Washington Post. Mr. Bush appeared disengaged, the book says, and brushed off Mr. Powell’s complaints about dysfunction in his government.