Congressional politics is defying all electoral norms these days. Usually, parties fear retirements more than anything and do as much as they can to get their representatives and senators to run again. Last week, however, Republicans breathed a small sigh of relief when Rep. Renzi announced he would not seek re-election in AZ-1. Stuck in ethical investigations, Renzi was playing right in the hands of the Democratic argument that Republicans are ethically challenged, and he could have doomed GOP chances in his district. Republicans learned the lesson of 2006, when they lost many of their House seats in heavy Republican territory because the incumbent was embroiled in scandals. (The worst were girlfriend-beating and mistress-strangling allegations made against Sweeney in NY-20 and Sherwood in PA-10). An open seat, Republicans reason, might actually be easier to defend.

The same thing is happening now: the resilience of Senator Craig, Senator Stevens of Alaska and Rep. Doolittle (CA-4) in the face of scandal are making their seats pick-up opportunies for Democrats. If any of these Republicans were to retire, Democratic chances would diminish.

Read full analysis - as well as an analysis of the South Dakota Senate race, where Republicans are also looking for a resignation to have any hope of having the seat - here, at Campaign Diaries.

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Crossposted at AzNetroots

This past week has been wrought with examples of the failure of Republican foreign policy. From Mitt Romney saying we should "double Guantanamo" toPresident Bush meeting with far-right religious leader James Dobson to discuss Iran, the Republican party continues to demonstrate that they don't know how to keep America safe.

Ellen Simon believes there's a better way to protect Americans.

We should directly engage Iran and its leaders in constructive talks. We need to bring our allies back to our side, where they can then help leverage pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately the current administration in Washington and their failed foreign policies continue to inflame hatred in the Middle East and their refusal to use diplomacy is leading us down a path with no solutions. We need a new administration and new leadership to re-engage with our allies to find a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.

Rick Renzi voted against a bill that would have set real benchmarks and begun a phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq. In fact, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, Renzi has said that he thinks the U.S. should stay in Iraq indefinitely.

Renzi's problems go far beyonddirty politics andongoing scandal - his foreign policy positions demonstrate that he's fundamentally divorced from reality.

Ellen Simon will bring sanity back to Congress, and will vote to stop fighting another country's civil war and bring our troops home.

Crossposted at AZnetroots

The ongoing investigation into the firing of a group of U.S. Attorneys deemed not loyal enough to President Bush is surely being watched closely by two people - Republican Congressman Rick Renzi and his opponent,Democrat Ellen Simon.

Yesterday,NPR reported on the scandals plaguing Renzi and found that support, even among local Republicans, is hard to find.

Renzi is a key player in the U.S. Attorney firings. In 2006, Renzi, was being investigated by then-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton for aland deal that netted a Renzi donor over $3 million. Renzi later received $200,000 from the donor -an amount he failed to disclose to the House.

A month before the election,Renzi's top aide, Brian Murray, called Charlton's office to inquire about the investigation in a move that some believe could be taken asan attempt to delay the investigation until after the election.

The Wall Street Journal reported thatthe DoJ appeared to be dragging its feet in the investigation saying that investigators had been trying to get clearance from senior DoJ officials for a year before the election. In a hilarious move, Renzi told reporters that he thinks the whole thing was part ofa secret plan by the Republican controlled Department of Justice to give his seat to a Democrat. Seriously, we couldn't make that one up.

The Department of Justice scandal continues to unfold asDeputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Alberto Gonzalez's number-two man at the Department of Justice, resigned on Monday. Renzi, remember, is a key figure in the U.S. Attorney scandal. This comes just days aftera Federal judge granted immunity to former DoJ official Monica Goodling.

Goodling,herself under investigation by the DoJ's inspector general and ethics office, was White House liaison for the DoJ, and appears to be responsible for carrying out much of the political gaming going on at DoJ. Now that Goodling has been granted immunity, it'll be interesting to see what comes out in further hearings about Republican manipulation at the DoJ and the Renzi investigation.

Crossposted at AZnetroots

Republicans are well known for taking dirty politics to lower and lower depths. Lee Atwater may be long gone, but his spirit thrives in Republican campaigns. From Saxby Chambliss shamelessly questioning the patriotism of a decorated war hero, to Rick Renzi calling a Jewish civil rights lawyer an"al-Qaeda attorney," there seems to be no limit to the Republican slime machine.

But the candidates and campaigns are not the only ones responsible for these tasteless personal attacks - someone is paying for them. Take Renzi's last campaign - one of the dirtiest. In an attempt to smear his opponent, Renzi invoked not only al-Qaeda, but the "North American Man-Boy Love Association," a little known group ofchild molesters. Who's paying for this mudslinging?

Max Fose, President of Integrated Web Strategies - a Republican campaign communications group - gave Renzi several thousand dollars during his last campaign. In fact, his last donation for the 2006 election cycle was at the beginning of October - right before the infamous "NAMBLA ad" ran.

Philip Aries, a real estate developer involved in Renzi's controversial land deal currently under investigation by the FBI chipped in at least $4000 to Renzi's smear
campaign. Did that NAMBLA ad give you enough slime for your buck Phil?

And Aries wasn't the only real estate developer funneling money to Renzi's dirty politics. The Baron Group and Baron Communities gave Renzi over $11,000 during the 2006 campaign cycle. Wonder if there's anything else to
the story...

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I have great respect for anyone who tosses their hat in the ring and runs for office. From local election to the national stage, it's a hard tough and not very pleasant road complete with too many hours of travel and too many meals out of a bag.

So, when you take a woman like Ellen Simon - who ran and lost and has already announced she is running again, well, my respect and admiration grows even more.

Let's take a quick review of what happened to Ellen last time, the lessons she learned and how she's going to apply her learning. I had a very enjoyable conversation with her yesterday as she  headed to her native Cleveland from Phoenix.

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