Republican Watch

Citing limited evidence, the LAT concludes that Republicans are having trouble persuading their top choices to run for the House next year. More convincing is its observation that the party has lost its edge in fund-raising—Democrats have more money in the bank than Republicans, a stark reversal from last year. George Bush is blamed for both problems, and Republican officials hope that the party's presidential candidate overshadows him in the minds of voters next year.

The Republicans are, thus far, still on the march off the cliff. As long as they keep Bush in his leadership role for the party (and it's position on the war), traction will be quite difficult for Republican candidates.

I figure that a true Republican revolt will begin sometime in the fall. Wonder how many people will die from now until then in Iraq?

On another note, there are all kinds of mixed signals coming from the White House on the war funding bill. Sometimes they sound concilitory, like they might actually budge on their position. For example, Bush yesterday had almost a pleading tone for Dems to come to the White House to negotiate (Reid declined). Today, Condi threw a gernade into the message. To their credit, the Dems seem to be standing firm and consistent on the issue. In the end, they'll give funding without a "timeline", but I don't think they'll give Bush an open checkbook whether it's limited short-term funding, or some type of benchmarks.

We shall see.