The Washington Post observes that with Warner out, and depending on whether Sen. George Allen (R) survives his re-election campaign, Virginia could go from having two presidential contenders to none. 

More from the Post: "Seeking to quickly capitalize on Warner's decision, Bayh spent the day reaching out to jilted Warner backers -- making the argument that his campaign is a natural landing spot for them." 

The Boston Globe notes that Warner's "exit leaves the potential Democratic field with only one leading Southerner -- former North Carolina Senator John Edwards -- and a surfeit of candidates from the Northeast, a region from which Democratic candidates have had trouble winning national campaigns in the past." 

In a new Granite State Poll, Sens. John McCain (R) and Hillary Clinton "are the early front-runners in New Hampshire" for their parties' nomination.  McCain also will do MSNBC's Hardball College Tour from Iowa State University on Wednesday. 

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday made his first stop in New Hampshire in two years.  The Union Leader says Giuliani was there as a "cheerleader" for the state GOP, "urging local activists and officials to focus during this tough election season on the themes that have historically brought them success."  Asked about running for president, Giuliani said, "'I'm thinking about it...  I'm not going to decide about it until next year."

GOP Gov. Mitt Romney's PAC has hired former top Jeb Bush strategist Sally Bradshaw.  "Bradshaw's presence helps Romney shore up his credentials with conservatives who view the Florida governor as one of their favorite Republicans...  Bradshaw's decision to work for Romney also confirms that the Florida governor" is not planning to run himself in 2008. 

Romney is trying to make some inroads with the Beltway elite, reports the Boston Globe.  In a key meeting next week, Romney and his group plan to "'review a plan to identify, recruit, and involve individuals as advocates and donors to the Romney team.'" 

From NBC's Aram Roston
Per a source familiar with the ethics investigation on Capitol Hill, former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham will testify today before the House Ethics Committee that former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl, who helped oversee the page program, brought concerns to Fordham's attention several times about Foley's "chumminess" with pages. Fordham also will testify that he tried to discuss the matter with Foley several times, but did not have success in stopping the inappropriate behavior.

This source also expects Fordham to testify that the key incident, which prompted him to appoach the Speaker's office, was a report that "Mark showed up at the page dorm drunk after work, trying to get in." And, that he was notified of the incident by Trandahl, then the House Clerk, and that the two men agreed that Fordham would go to the Speaker's office to try to get them to intercede directly with Foley.

Fordham is also likely to testify that he spoke in person with Scott Palmer, Hastert's powerful chief of staff. However, as Fordham's lawyer has publicly said, Fordham cannot pinpoint the date of that approach. And, according to the source, Fordham will say his understanding later was that Palmer had indeed talked to Foley and had "taken care" of the issue.

From NBC's Mark Murray
In a statement posted on his political action committee's Web site, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) announced that he will not be running for president in 2008. His reason: He wants to have a real life. "This past weekend, my family and I went to Connecticut to celebrate my Dad's 81st birthday," he said in the statement, "and then we took my oldest daughter Madison to start looking at colleges. I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I'd been thinking about for many weeks -- that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge -- at this point, I want to have a real life."

He added that his decision had nothing to do with thinking he'd lose ("I feel we would have had as good a shot to be successful as any potential candidate in the field"), or that his family didn't want him to run ("Lisa and our three girls have always had a healthy amount of skepticism, but would have been willing to buckle down and support the effort").

Warner concluded, "In the short-term, I am going to do everything I can do make sure Democrats win in 2006. It's an exciting year to be a Democrat. I leave shortly to go to Iowa to support folks running for state and congressional office. Hope they are still excited to see me."

Special to First Read from The Hotline
Ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner plans to make a major announcement today about his 2008 presidential bid, three Virginia Democratic sources said. According to two Virginia Democrats who have been formally briefed, Warner is expected to say that he has decided not to run for president in 2008. Warner will speak to Virginia reporters at 11:00 am ET. A Warner spokeswoman declined to comment.

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby
Twenty-six days until election day...  Mark Foley's former chief of staff is expected to tell the House Ethics Committee that he notified Speaker Dennis Hastert's top aide of Foley's inappropriate behavior toward pages, while President Bush stands with Hastert at an open-press fundraiser for Republican candidates in Chicago.  Responding to a question about Hastert (one out of 14) during his press conference yesterday, Bush rejected the suggestion that Hastert's credibility has been damaged by the scandal and said he appreciated Hastert's "strong declaration of his desire to get to the bottom of it."  He also asserted that the elections will be decided "by security and the economy." 

At this writing, the economic angle seems the more promising one for Bush.  The most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed that pessimism about the economy has lifted somewhat in the wake of falling gas prices.  Bush also announced yesterday that he has cut the deficit in half (per inflated projections) well ahead of his self-determined schedule, though analysts raise doubts about the longer-term fiscal picture.  On the security front, the Administration seems to have few good options for how to deal with North Korea and faces criticism that they've been focusing on the wrong rogue nation, while the Army chief of staff said yesterday that the current US troop level in Iraq may be maintained until 2010.

Purely by coincidence, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee also is in Chicago today for its first field session on the Administration's conduct of the Iraq war, focusing on the training of Iraqi security forces.  They've had good luck with their timing: The last time they held such a session, in Washington, it was on the heels of the publication of the first excerpts of the National Intelligence Estimate.  The Chicago setting may be designed to give a boost to House candidate Tammy Duckworth (D), an Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in combat and is now seeking to replace retiring Rep. Henry Hyde (R) in a traditionally GOP-leaning, suburban district.  Duckworth's opponent will be at Bush's event today.

As often seems to happen when Democrats intensify their "culture of corruption" charges against the GOP, they get a dash of unwelcome news about one of their own experiencing ethical difficulties.  This time, a major fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) of Illinois has been indicted on federal charges in connection with two separate fraud schemes.  An AP story also popped up yesterday that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid profited from the sale of some Las Vegas land he hadn't owned for three years, and may have improperly disclosed part of the deal.

A top House Democratic aide tells First Read that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, and Rules ranking member Louise Slaughter -- the Democrats who'd be in charge of ethics if they win the majority -- will do a round of conference calls with regional editorial boards today.  Pelosi will "talk about her new House principles that call for more bipartisan participation" as well as her "honest leadership and open government (ethics reform) plan."

The Midwest actually gets a lot of White House attention today.  Prior to his Chicago event, Bush is in St. Louis for remarks on energy.  Also in Missouri today -- though they won't appear together -- is his wife.  Laura Bush raises money there for vulnerable GOP Sen. Jim Talent and participates with Talent in a breast cancer awareness event.  And Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman makes no fewer than five stops in Missouri.  Laura Bush also campaigns for Rep. Chris Chocola in South Bend, IN today.

And Vice President Cheney is in Topeka, KS raising money for Rep. Jim Ryun (R).  Democratic operatives and political analysts don't consider Ryun to be vulnerable, so there's some question about why Cheney's going there.  One Democratic operative who's tracking Cheney's fundraising stops tells First Read, "He's been to all of the tiers of races but lately it's been some pretty decidedly lower-tiered contests."  Cheney then heads on to New Orleans for a Katrina recovery check-up and a Republican National Committee fundraiser.

Got calendar? 

The New York Times on Bush appearing with Hastert today: "Only weeks ago, Illinois Republicans worried about having Mr. Bush attend a fund-raiser for local Congressional candidates on Thursday, given his approval ratings.  Mr. Hastert's name was highlighted on the invitations, printed larger than Mr. Bush's.  Now, it is Mr. Hastert who is seen as the bigger liability.  And now it is Mr. Bush who is trying to boost Mr. Hastert." 

Channeling First Read, the Washington Post notes how the scandal has "sidelined" Hastert and House GOP campaign committee chief Tom Reynolds right when they otherwise would be focusing intently on helping to elect Republicans. 

The New York Times front-pages how GOP Rep. Deborah Pryce's earlier admission to a local magazine that Foley was one of her friends in Congress has made her tough bid for re-election even tougher.  "The Foley case is becoming an issue in an increasing number of races…  But nowhere else has it become quite as pitched as here, where [Democrat Mary Jo] Kilroy - who had already been trying to link Ms. Pryce to corruption scandals in Ohio involving Republicans - has moved in with withering attacks since Mr. Foley resigned." 

The Houston Chronicle notes that the Foley scandal might even affect the races in the red state of Texas.  "'It's not a matter of just one or two races.  Every race.  Because what it really does is suppress turnout,' said GOP consultant Royal Masset.  'I really figure that Foley is probably at this point taking about 3 percent out of our vote...  If people are just mad at Republicans, they're not going to vote.'" 

USA Today takes its turn looking at how "the investigation is exposing a politically awkward fact of life: some GOP leaders practice a more tolerant brand of politics in their office hiring than some in the party have preached on the campaign trail." 

Roll Call reports that House Majority Leader John Boehner has been called to testify before the Ethics Committee at a date TBD.  "Additionally, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) will appear before the ethics committee next week...  The Louisiana Republican will discuss his role in 2005 in informing House Republican leaders that a former page - sponsored by his office - had been made uncomfortable by an e-mail exchange with Foley."   

The paper also calls Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer "unquestionably the most powerful unelected official in the House," and "extraordinarily devoted to protecting his boss."  Palmer "has now gone into crisis-control mode along with the rest of the Speaker's staff; more than one Republican has commented that Hastert's office now resembles a 'bunker.'  Palmer has said the Fordham meeting simply 'did not happen,' and his friends and longtime colleagues say they can't imagine he is lying." 

The Washington Post focuses on Palmer, Hastert's deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke, and Hastert counsel Ted Van Der Meid, who collectively form "a palace guard" for the Speaker.  The story also notes of Fordham's testimony today that he "will detail repeated efforts by then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl to raise alarms about Foley's interest in young pages, and Fordham's own confrontations with Foley." 

A person close to Foley tells the New Republic that Karl Rove pressured Foley to run for re-election this year.  "According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by 'the White House and Rove gang,' who insisted that Foley run.  If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career." 

The Washington Times reports that Bush Administration officials who have "read the classified assessments" say the recent US "intelligence analyses of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were flawed and the lack of clarity on the issue hampered U.S. diplomatic efforts to avert the" missile test.  "Some recent secret reports stated that Pyongyang did not have nuclear arms and until recently was bluffing about plans for a test," per these officials. 

The New York Times: "Bush said Wednesday that he would not use force against North Korea because 'diplomacy hasn't run its course,' but acknowledged that many Americans wonder why he invaded Iraq but has not taken military action to head off North Korea's race for a bomb." 

Bloomberg rounds up criticism of the Bush Administration for focusing on the wrong threat -- that instead of focusing on Iraq, which has turned out to have no WMD, it should have focused on North Korea, which apparently does have WMD. 

During his news conference yesterday, Bush "opened the door to possible changes in his approach to the Iraq war... amid pressure from Republicans about the unrelenting violence and the shortcomings of the government in Baghdad," says the Los Angeles Times.  "Bush did not specify what changes he would be willing to consider," "remained committed to involvement in Iraq until the country was stable and democratic," and "continued to characterize opposing views as 'cut-and-run'...  Some political analysts said Bush's comments were tailored for the upcoming midterm elections...  Yet they said the language might also hint that changes will come after the elections." 

Yesterday's news that the Army plans to maintain troop levels in Iraq until 2010 is "a stark signal that top commanders see little prospect of reducing American force levels soon and are bracing for more violence," notes the Boston Globe.  "Pentagon officials sought to play down the projection, stressing that it does not necessarily mean that the United States will maintain current force levels for the next four years." 

USA Today mentions in its look at the escalating sectarian violence in Iraq, "The weekly average of U.S. deaths since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in May 2003 has been about 14." 

Two days ago, it was Sen. John McCain versus the Clintons over whose failed policy was to blame for allowing North Korea to test a nuclear bomb.  Yesterday, NBC's Ken Strickland notes, another Senator with presidential aspirations (and one with some catching up to do in raising his national profile) weighed into the fray: Democrat Chris Dodd took a swing at McCain by defending the Clinton Administration.  "I take strong issue with Senator McCain's characterization of President Clinton's North Korea policy as a failure," Dodd said in a written statement.  "Some 'straight talk' to correct the record is called for." 

Dodd says that after the Clinton Administration concluded the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea acquired no additional fissile material until the Bush Administration "walked away" from the deal in 2002.  "Since then, the North Koreans have been busily reprocessing spent fuel that had been frozen and under IAEA seal and has now produced enough fissile material to build as many as ten nuclear bombs," Dodd said.

He added that the country has also restarted its nuclear facilities, "giving North Korea additional nuclear material for one additional bomb per year.  For Senator McCain to declare the Clinton policy a failure flies in the face of the facts."  While Dodd vigorously defended former President Clinton, whom he served as a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, he made no mention of the comments from his Senate colleague and presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

In a blog entry on the HuffingtonPost.com, Sen. John Kerry (D) said there is nothing regrets more than voting for the Iraq war. "Yesterday's pronouncement marks Kerry's latest attempt to establish himself as a firmly antiwar senator as he prepares for another possible run for the White House." 

And in her remarks to the New York Daily News editorial board, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) explains her stance on Iraq, pledging support to the redeployment of troops and diplomatic talks with Middle Eastern countries in order to bring stability to the country. 

The AP has a long story on how Harry Reid "collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.  In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company...  The complex dealings allowed Reid to transfer ownership, legal liability and some tax consequences to [the friend's] company without public knowledge, but still collect a seven-figure payoff nearly three years later.  Reid hung up the phone when questioned about the deal during an AP interview last week."  A former FEC lawyer tells the AP that Reid seems to have violated Senate rules. 

Reid spokesman Jim Manley issued a statement: "Obviously, Republicans are in danger of losing the House and the Senate and are desperate to push out any story that takes their troubles off the front page."  Manley said that Reid "fully disclosed" his ownership of the land.  "If the Ethics Committee requests a technical correction to Senator Reid's disclosure forms we are happy to provide one."

In Illinois, a top adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has been indicted for trying to use his influence to receive kickbacks from firms seeking state business, the Chicago Tribune reports.  "The governor is not accused of any wrongdoing and the indictment does not mention him by name.  But the long-rumored charges have been hanging over Blagojevich's campaign for months." 

Also yesterday, for unclear reasons, "[s]everal top House Republicans... asked for an investigation and committee hearings to determine which documents were 'destroyed, removed or are missing' as a result of former National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger's admitted theft of papers from the National Archives" in 2004, per the Washington Times.  "The document theft raised questions about whether Mr. Berger was attempting to cover up the Clinton administration's anti-terrorism policies and actions.  The records he took were related to internal assessments of Mr. Clinton's handling of a terrorist threat in December 1999." 

The Washington Post on Bush's news conference yesterday: "The hour-long news conference gave Bush an opportunity to try to regain some control over a dangerous political environment for Republicans just four weeks before midterm elections." 

"For almost an hour Wednesday, Bush focused public attention on national security, the economy and the tax policies of the Democratic Party - all issues that GOP strategists would prefer to discuss as the clock ticks on their ability to salvage the midterm elections," says the Los Angeles Times. 

Howard Kurtz's long look at Tony Snow's mostly quite successful turn as White House spokesman briefly touches on his unprecedented role as fundraiser. 

The Financial Times on Bush's deficit announcement yesterday: "Mr Bush said the reduced deficit was proof his 'pro-growth policies worked', and that his tax cuts should be made permanent...  Some economists were sceptical that the tax cuts had generated the economic growth and pointed out that much of the recovery in tax revenues... appeared to be linked to record corporate profits.  They warned that 2006 could mark a low in budget deficits before rising next year...  Administration officials denied that they manipulated forecasts for political purposes.  Ed Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, last week said the forecasts had nothing to do 'with strategic behaviour by anybody.'" 

Per a new poll, 80% "of Americans believe it is difficult for most first-time buyers to afford a home…  Many people - 59 percent - believe the situation is worse now than five years ago." 

Roll Call's Stu Rothenberg writes, "What we are seeing, increasingly, is 1994, with the parties reversed.  The midterm elections overwhelmingly remain a referendum on President Bush and the Republican Congress.  The Foley scandal makes it more difficult for GOP candidates across the country to cut through the media coverage of the controversy and to localize their races and discredit their Democratic opponents.  But the Republicans were in a hole even before" the Foley scandal, though it "does increase the possible size of an already substantial Democratic wave."   

On The Tonight Show last night, Reuters reports, CALIFORNIA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) told Jay Leno, "To link me to George Bush is like linking me to an Oscar...  That's ridiculous."  Meanwhile, challenger Phil Angelides' campaign "pleaded with NBC affiliates to black out [Schwarzenegger's] appearance...  During Schwarzenegger's 15-minute appearance, the only reference to the combative California campaign came in Leno's questions.  Neither mentioned [Angelides] by name." 

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Schwarzenegger confirmed he will pursue some of the "good ideas" rejected by voters in last year's special election.  He also denied assertions that he has been inconsistent as governor and said he is not above accepting money from special interest groups -- only doing favors them. 

National and local leaders opposed to a ballot initiative in MICHIGAN that would roll back the state's affirmative action policies hold a press conference call today.

Sen. Barack Obama (D) campaigns with NEW JERSEY Sen. Bob Menendez (D) at three stops today.

In TEXAS, gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell (D) is on the defensive "after admitting he tried to get independent candidate Kinky Friedman to withdraw from the race.  Friedman said he thinks Bell took the action because he is 'desperate' and afraid he is losing." 

Democrats are now "preparing a media and campaign offensive against the independent, planning in part to portray him as a racist," reports the Dallas Morning News.  "The escalating rhetoric shows an increasing urgency as the governor's challengers attempt to break from the pack with fewer than four weeks left until Election Day." 

And the Los Angeles Times gives campaign "trackers," the young aides with the videocameras, their due with a front-page look at how they have been present for some of the most famous gaffes of 2006, led by the "macaca" remark that weakened VIRGINIA Sen. George Allen (R). 

From NBC's Mark Murray
The back-and-forth over North Korea continues, and former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has fired the latest volley -- in response to GOP charges blaming the Clinton Administration over North Korea's nuclear test. In a statement released by her office, Albright said that during Clinton's White House tenure, "there were no nuclear weapons tests by North Korea, no new plutonium production, and no new nuclear weapons developed in Pyongyang. Through our policy of effective constructive engagement, the world was safer. President Bush chose a different path and the results are evident for all to see."

She added, "The issue that matters at the moment is that North Korea's apparent nuclear test demands a serious international response, not partisan finger-pointing."

Even as President Bush speaks in the Rose Garden, there are developments on the two issues that are weighing down his party's midterm election chances: the Iraq war and the Mark Foley scandal.

The Army Chief of Staff, General Pete Schoomaker, told reporters this morning that the Army is planning to keep the US troop level in Iraq at its current level through the year 2010. Schoomaker said "this is not a prediction," but that based on current requirements, it's more prudent to plan future troop rotations into Iraq at the current level. There are now some 145,000 US troops on the ground there.

And up on Capitol Hill, Peggy Sampson, chief page supervisor for the majority, has entered the House Ethics Committee chambers. While it's not absolutely certain that she is there to testify, it's highly likely that she is. Sampson is alleged to have, at some point, gone to the Clerk of the House to complain about Foley's contact with pages. A fixture around the House chamber, she's known to keep strict discipline among the GOP pages.

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby.
Twenty-seven days until election day...  President Bush tends to the base, doing his part to reassure those social and fiscal conservatives who might be thinking the Republican party has come loose from its moorings on moral values and government spending.  Today, he's expected to announce that the deficit for the previous fiscal year will be smaller than projected, and that he will have cut it in half well ahead of his self-proclaimed deadline of 2009.  (He'll probably credit his tax cuts, which he's touting increasingly on the campaign trail.)  Analysts say the longer-term budget picture looks less positive.  But many conservatives view deficit-cutting not only as a fiscal obligation but as a moral one, as well.  And damage control on the Foley scandal appears to be on Bush's agenda in the form of a meeting with the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Bush also has a suddenly scheduled a Rose Garden press conference at 11:00 am. 

At the same time, Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman campaigns with struggling gubernatorial nominee Ken Blackwell in Ohio, where a slew of scandals involving state Republicans, as well as the one that has unfolded in Washington, may be undercutting enthusiasm among the social conservatives who make up Blackwell's base.  Mehlman's appearance with Blackwell is also a reminder of his push to recruit African-American candidates to run for statewide office this year -- and that the only two African-Americans who have a realistic shot at winning statewide this year are Democrats.  Laura Bush is also in Ohio, raising money for Rep. Steve Chabot before heading on to boost Tennessee Senate nominee Bob Corker. 

Most lawmakers are focused on November 2006, but a rare sharp exchange yesterday between two normally collegial Senators suggests they're thinking ahead to November 2008.  Sens. John McCain (R) and Hillary Clinton (D), both known for working with colleagues across the aisle, really went at it over North Korea.  Campaigning in the key presidential primary state of Michigan, McCain not only voiced his support for Bush's North Korea policy but called the Clinton Administration's policy "a failure" and singled out his Senate colleague by calling on her to stop allegedly blocking legislation that would bolster US missile defense.  Clinton's Senate office responded by criticizing the Bush policy McCain supports, defending her husband's approach, and arguing that "Senator Clinton supports a National Missile Defense System that has been tested and actually works."

McCain, who won Michigan during the 2000 GOP nominating contest, faces a challenge there this year from native son Mitt Romney.  And what better way to court conservatives than to attack both Clintons at once?  McCain said on TODAY this morning that his comments yesterday were in response to Democrats' attacks on the Administration and that he felt this "the wrong time to engage in finger-pointing."

NBC's Ken Strickland observes that McCain's claim that Clinton has blocked the missile defense program is at the least an exaggeration.  Over the past couple of years, her record has been mixed.  The most recent Senate vote on missile defense, in June 2006, was an amendment proposed by a Republican to direct more money to missile defense testing an operations.  Clinton supported it, as did every Senator on the floor.  On two occasions, in 2004 and 2005, Clinton did vote for Democratic amendments that would have cut between $50 to $500 million from the program and transferred it to nonproliferation programs.  Technically that would have been a "cut," but Clinton folks argue that the money would have been better used in established programs that would stop the spread of nukes.  And in 2004, Clinton voted with almost all Republicans to kill an amendment that would have allowed the system to go forward only after the program had been proven to work.  She was one of seven Democrats who crossed party lines on that vote, Strickland notes.

And the White House today grapples with two national security hotspots.  North Korea is now threatening "physical measures" if the United States and other nations impose sanctions.  And a second Senate Republican has expressed skepticism about the Administration's Iraq strategy.  Moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe said in a statement yesterday that "staying the course is neither an option or a plan."  She said she's "deeply disturbed" by the Iraqi government's inability "to secure its own nation," and that she agrees with Armed Services chair John Warner that the United States should "consider a change of course" if things don't improve over the next two or three months.  Also today, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health is releasing a study estimating that 600,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war and subsequent hostilities that began in March 2003. 

Got calendar? 

The Chicago Tribune says "further signs of discontent" among conservatives emerged yesterday when Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council questioned in an article "whether gay Republican staffers and members of Congress were working behind the scenes to undercut the political agenda of religious conservatives."  Noting that Foley and Kolbe are gay, and that former Clerk Jeff Trandahl is a board member of the Human Rights Campaign, Perkins wrote, "'The GOP will have to decide whether it wants to be the party that defends the traditional moral and family values that our nation was built upon...  Put another way, does the party want to represent values voters, or Mark Foley and friends?'" 

White House spokesman Tony Snow flatly rejected the idea yesterday that his fundraising appearance for Speaker Dennis Hastert this weekend would be awkward, given the timing, and said "the message is that we're standing by the Speaker, and also that I'm going to be telling people what the President is doing and why."  He acknowledged that the Foley scandal "certainly hasn't been a lift" in terms of the President's or the party's poll standing.

The New York Times traveled to Minnesota, where voters said "the topics that have had Washington hopping in the final weeks before the midterm elections - Congressional scandals, new books saying there was administration in-fighting over the war in Iraq - were little more than distant political chatter, best tuned out.  The conclusions drawn by Republicans and Democrats alike sounded a similar theme: People craved substance and not rhetoric."  

Embattled Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut is one example of a Republican member who's hitting back hard over the Foley scandal.  The Hartford Courant notes how Shays fired back at his Democratic opponent and Sen. Ted Kennedy, who came to the district to campaign for her last week.  "'Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody.'" 

Making a stop at the University of Miami yesterday, DNC chair Howard Dean criticized the GOP for its handling of the matter.  Per the Miami Herald, "Dean said Republican leaders had the opportunity to stand up for moral values when it came to Foley's conduct, but instead tried to save their 'political necks.'  Dean urged Democrats to challenge the GOP on the morality issue, saying Democratic stands on the environment, healthcare and other issues resonate with voters." 

Hastert yesterday said he'd fire any staffer who failed to alert him of Foley's electronic messages or other advances.  Former page Jordan Edmund met with FBI investigators for a couple of hours in Oklahoma City yesterday, and his lawyer says he has been contacted by the House Ethics Committee.  Also, "Kirk Fordham, a former Foley aide who says he alerted Hastert staffers to Foley's inappropriate behavior as early as 2004, is scheduled to appear before the House ethics committee Thursday," says USA Today. 

The Washington Post reports on "indications that Democrats spent months circulating five less insidious Foley e-mails to news organizations before they were finally published by ABC News..., which prompted the leaking of the more salacious instant messages."  More: "The most sexually explicit material... appears to be disconnected from politics.  The two former pages who revealed the correspondence to ABC News and The Washington Post, however, may never have come forward had Democratic operatives not divulged the five more benign e-mails that Foley had sent to a Louisiana boy."  "The timing of the e-mails' release appears to be more of a coincidence than an 'October surprise.'" 

Retiring GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe, who earlier this week was dragged into the controversy, took two male pages with him on a three-day camping trip in 1996, former pages and National Park Service officials tell NBC's Investigative Unit.  The pages, who were 17 at the time, went rafting and camping with Kolbe in the Grand Canyon over the July 4 holiday.  A spokeswoman for Kolbe confirms the trip but says that the pages did not travel alone with Kolbe, whose sister was on the trip, along with office staffers and several Park Service employees.  Kolbe's spokeswoman says the pages paid their own way, and that Kolbe was on the House Interior Committee at the time and was visiting the Grand Canyon for work reasons.

The news comes after Kolbe was compelled to issue a statement yesterday: "Some time after leaving the Page program, an individual I had appointed as a Page contacted my office to say he had received e-mails from Rep. Foley that made him uncomfortable.  I was not shown the content of the messages and was not told they were sexually explicit.  It was my recommendation that this complaint be passed along to Rep. Foley's office and the Clerk who supervised the Page program.  This was done promptly.  I did not have a personal conversation with Mr. Foley...  I believed then, and believe now, that this was the appropriate way to handle this incident given the information I had and the fact that the young man was no longer a Page..."

Republicans have maintained that they have acted with alacrity in the Foley matter, seeking and obtaining Foley's immediate resignation the moment they learned of the salacious messages, as NBC's Mike Viqueira notes.  To draw a contrast, they point to the previous page scandal of 1983, in which Reps. Gerry Studds (D) and Daniel Crane (R) were accused of having sex with pages after having plied them with alcohol.  Republicans say that in that case, many Democrats -- including Steny Hoyer, currently the minority whip -- actually voted against censure.  But did Hoyer really vote against censure for Studds?  No, not really.  Hoyer voted against a motion that would have forced a vote to change the punishment from "reprimand" to "censure."  But when that motion passed, Hoyer voted in favor of censure.

The Hill covers doubts that Foley is an alcoholic. 

The New York Daily News says McCain's criticism yesterday of the Clinton's Administration's handling of North Korea "is the second time in recent weeks that Republicans have blamed an embarrassing international development on former President Clinton." 

"Voters in more than one-third of Massachusetts' cities and towns will get a rare chance to register their opinion on the war in Iraq next month when they  consider a ballot question on whether the United States should immediately withdraw all troops," reports the Boston Globe. "The nonbinding question asks voters in all or parts of 139 municipalities whether their state representative should be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling on President Bush and Congress to end the war and bring the soldiers home." 

The Washington Post's Milbank points out that participants in yesterday's White House conference on school safety, which was scheduled in the wake of school shootings in three states, barely mentioned the word "guns."  "This was no misfire.  The White House... neglected to invite any gun-control advocates...  While experts dispute how much blame to place on children's access to guns, even the invited guests found it a bit odd to banish the topic entirely from a school-violence forum." 

The Los Angeles Times suggests the Bushes avoided the topic yesterday because it's "a politically volatile issue sure to inflame partisan passions in a midterm election year." 

Another topic Bush has refrained from mentioning: immigration.  "After having pressed all year to get a broad immigration bill, including legal status for illegal aliens from Congress, Mr. Bush now ignores the issue at campaign events and fundraisers, and Vice President Dick Cheney has even dropped what used to be a regular reference to immigration from his campaign stump speech," says the Washington Times.  "It's an odd mixed message, given that many Republicans are running heavily... on the issue...  White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said they think the election will be decided on other issues." 

Senate Judiciary chair Arlen Specter has acknowledged that the FBI is investigating whether a member of his staff broke the law "by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients."  USA Today points out that the "probe stems from a February report by USA TODAY about" the staffer, in which the paper reported that "Specter helped direct $48.7 million in Pentagon spending over the past five years to clients of her lobbyist husband." 

He isn't the first member to come under this kind of scrutiny, but he might be the most vulnerable one to face it this year: The Wall Street Journal looks at how the projects GOP Rep. Charles Taylor steers to his North Carolina district have raised the value of Taylor's real estate holdings there.  "Mr. Taylor says using his clout to bring federal money to his district is nothing to apologize for.  He warns that the largess might dry up if [former Redskins QB and Democrat Heath] Shuler, a political novice, is elected." 

USA Today got hold of a preliminary report to the US Election Assistance Commission, which had not been released publicly, which "has found little evidence of the type of polling-place fraud" that a raft of new state measures, including controversial voter ID laws, seek to stop.  "The bipartisan report by two consultants to the election commission casts doubt on the problem those laws are intended to address."  The report "says most fraud occurs in the absentee ballot process, such as through coercion or forgery...  Others who reviewed the report for the election commission differ on its findings...  Conservatives dispute the research and conclusions." 

A true political man-bites-dog story: The New York Times reports that Justice Department, in Mississippi, has launched the first federal lawsuit accusing blacks of suppressing white voters.  "The action represents a sharp shift, and it has raised eyebrows outside the state.  The government is charging blacks with voting fraud in a state whose violent rejection of blacks' right to vote, over generations, helped give birth to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Yet within Mississippi the case has provoked knowing nods rather than cries of outrage, even among liberal Democrats."