Capitol View®

Daily Briefing – June 23, 2006

Slight seismic activity reported on Planet Politics today.

CBS News has a piece on its Web site this morning about the enthusiasm in the GOP toward retaining power in the Senate. It lists, of course, the Kennedy vs. Klobuchar race in Minnesota as one reason since victors can win here with 50 percent or less of the vote.

In the 5th District race, Keith Ellison has a release out today promoting a speech he's giving to National Association of Minority Contractors tonight. He's going to take on the "GOP's refusal to renew the Voting Rights Act," it says.

And the one Minnesotan politico-journalissimo never to cancel a lunch date with me -- Barry Casselman -- has his periodic column in the Washington Times today assessing the mid-terms at mid-campaigns.

Casselman looks at the MSM folks, looking for signs of a vanishing Republican, he says. And the bloggers, which he seems to equate only with the Kos crowd, and its distaste for Joe Lieberman.

The safari hunters in their pith helmets and

stylish kahki jackets are still out there, sweating

profusely in the early summer sun and combing

the nation for their favorite endangered species.

They could yet find one. Anything might happen

in this strange political season, but so far they

are encountering mostly contrary clues in the

states of Washington, California, Wisconsin,

Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Maryland and New

Jersey where incumbent or favored Democrats

are unaccountably in trouble.

The netroots bloggers, back in their

air-conditioned home computer rooms, are

excited because they think they have found

another rare species