The integrity of a Republican congressional hopeful's campaign is being questioned after news emerged this week that three of her notaries admitted to professional misconduct in regards to the handling of ballot petitions. 

Nan Hayworth's campaign manager, John Hicks, along with other campaign notaries, admitted to misconduct on the witness stand Wednesday in regards to the handling of Independence Party petitions. Hayworth, a retired Mt. Kisco physician, is one of two potential Republican opponents to Democratic Congressman John Hall (NY-19) in November. 

Two days into a court review of the petitions, Hicks admitted that allegations brought forth by Congressman's John Hall campaign were true, and that he didn't uphold the law "in the traditional sense" when gathering signatures for the Independence Party line.

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This belongs at the top of every Democratic blog in the universe. This story's breaking this afternoon in NY's 19th Congressional District via the The Middletown, NY Times Herald-Record, where the most righteous of all political journalists, Hunter S. Thompson, started his career.

I'm sure our nothing-less-than-awesomely progressive Congressman John Hall is going to have a field day with this outrageous piece. I hope this makes the top of every news outlet in the country in the next few hours. If you're reading this, please spread this one far and wide! Time's a wastin'!

HOSPITAL WON'T ACCEPT ITS OWN EMPLOYEES INSURANCE

--St. Luke's Cornwall says insurer is slow to pay, unresponsive--

By Christian Livermore
Times Herald-Record
July 07, 2008 12:32 PM
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dl l/article?AID=/20080707/BIZ/80707022

In what hospital officials say is a financial decision but union members chalk up to spite, St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital has stopped accepting its own employees' health insurance.

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In the past 3 months, Democrats have increased their House majority as they picked up a remarkable 3 seats in a series of special elections organized in Illinois's 14th district, Louisiana's 6th district, Mississippi's 1st district. What is particularly remarkable is that all three of these districts leaned heavily Republican; in 2004, George Bush had won them respectively with 55%, 59% and 62%. Each defeat increased the chaos of the Republican caucus as the NRCC started to settle in panic mode. After the loss of MS-01 on May 13th, Tom Cole, the chairman of the NRCC, issued a remarkable statement calling on Republican incumbents to brace for the worse and find individual ways to deal with the onslaught.

And Republicans have reason to fear a second November debacle. First, Republicans are now three more seats away from the majority and it is hard to find a GOP operative willing to suggest their party has any hope of reducing that margin in November. Second, the party continues to be at a significant financial disadvantage while the DCCC has a huge pile of cash that it will use in dozens of districts in the coming months, testing any Republican seat that shows any sign of being vulnerable. While the GOP was able to respond in the special elections, they will not have the money to do the same in the fall and will be forced to make some painful choices.

These rankings are posted on Campaign Diaries.

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Just when the GOP is starting to catch some small breaks in the Senate, the situation in the House is rapidly deteriorating. As many had predicted, a growing number of Republican representatives do not find the prospect of life in the minority appealing and are calling it quits. Unfortunately for Republicans, a large majority of them represent competitive districts. The latest retirement were particularly shocking because they were completely unexpected -- especially Rep. Ferguson's in NJ-07. Democrats have golden opportunities to pick-up all of these seats, especially if the environment continues to favor them. But this also means Republicans will be forced to play defense and will not be able to contest that many Democratic-held seats, no matter how vulnerable they might be.

The full ratings is available here, at Campaign Diaries.

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The full rankings are available on Campaign Diaries.

Plenty of action in House races since our first ratings came out in mid-September. This is recruitment and retirement season in the House, and Ohio has been the center of it all, with three Republicans retiring, two of them in very competitive districts (OH-15 and OH-16). Democrats have had better news on the recruitment front as well (look at AK-AL, FL-24, IL-11 and MN-06), but Republicans reply that they are very satisfied with their newest candidates in NM-01 and OH-07...

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