NYT: House at Stake, Midterm Election Gets Early Start

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/washington/06elect.html?hp&ex=1149566400&en=404a05edd0417f0a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: June 6, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 5 — Congressional campaigns have begun early and with unusual intensity this year in many districts across the country, reflecting a consensus in both parties that Republicans could lose control of the House and perhaps the Senate.

A special election in a bedrock Republican Congressional district in San Diego on Tuesday — for the seat left vacant when Representative Randy Cunningham resigned after pleading guilty to corruption charges — has sharpened the early intensity and could provide the clearest evidence so far about whether Democrats can capitalize on the unsettled political climate.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, fearful that a loss or meager victory could further rattle the party and give Democrats a huge boost, has poured at least $4.5 million into the district. And it has enlisted President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Laura Bush to make automated telephone calls to voters, putting the prestige of the White House on the line.

But even for candidates who will not face the voters for five months, the campaign is shaping up as not only the most contested midterm election in over a decade, but also the most substantive.

Here you're sitting at home, eating dinner. The phone rings.

~ring, ring~ you pick it up.

"Hello, this is Dick Cheney. I want you to dig deep in your pockets and give everything you can to the upcoming election".

"Or else I'll take you hunting"

Confession? I've saved a recorded message from Bill. He called during the last election. :)

catch phrases and are incapable of facing reality. Saddam Hussein was a regional threat for the last decade? How? Tax cuts must be made permanent to insure the nation's prosperity? How? If you don't vote for me, Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker of the House... God forbid!

If they don't rig this one, they're done for.