ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Congress

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:59 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: ,

The Washington Post notes that former Speaker Denny Hastert will announce on Friday that he won’t seek another term. “GOP aides say that Hastert is likely to serve out the rest of his term, but that he has been considering resigning from the House this year. If he did, Hastert would trigger a special election that could give an indication of whether Democrats are continuing their political surge or whether Republicans have stanched the bleeding in GOP-leaning districts.” 

More: “Two Republican candidates for Hastert's seat have already emerged -- state Sen. Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis, a well-funded investment adviser and dairy farmer who has run for office several times. But a special election could give the GOP trouble, said Stuart Rothenberg… President Bush took 55 percent of the vote in 2004 in Hastert's district, a majority that was small enough for some Democratic candidates to win in other districts in 2006. A special election would hinge on turnout; and for the moment, Republicans are demoralized by an unpopular president and an unpopular war, while Democrats are energized for the same reasons.”

The New York Times: “Mr. Hastert’s decision means that as of January 2009, he and former Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, two Republicans who dominated the House for years after Mr. DeLay helped elevate Mr. Hastert, will be absent from the halls of Congress.”

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

did nancy polosi get a time out?
Good riddance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hastert can go back to Indiana and eat and DeLay can go back to chasing rats, bugs and other vermin.
Nancy pelosi seems to have disappeared here lately.  Oh well, she and the dumbocrats will be back to spew more hot air in September. She better get ready for all out war with Cindy Sheehan, this is going to be fun to watch.
Jerry, you're confirming the Texan stereotype. Good for you! Now please make it official and become your own country again. That way, you'll be out of the real America---the rest of Dixie can join Texas, preferably---and you can annoint Dumbya emperor. Works for me.
Jerry, I have to say I agree with you on this one.
Sheehan vs. Pelosi.  Wouldn't have thought it was possible, but the Democratic leaders are going to be pulled even further to the left.
Yep the only thing we've heard about Nancy lately is that she has become very close friends with the President and his wife to include private talks and dinner in the Whitehouse.  As far as Hastert that's just another rat jumping off the ship before it sinks, seems to be a lot of that lately.  Has anyone else noticed that most of the ones who have left seem to have basically disappeared unless summoned from the shadows.  I'm just wondering if when President Bush leaves office, if he does, will they reappear.
I had to reread the article. Yup it was about Hastert not Pelosi.  Standard Republican procedure, if you don't have good news or a good argument change the subject. So predictable. So pathetic.

Hastert la vista, baby.
Hastert-Good riddance to so the called family values guy defender of Mark Foley. I recommend you start Nutra-system asap but so what unlike average Americans you got great hlthcare coverage.
The whole crooked bunch of them is like the Bush mafia up there.  Expect they are jumping ship because they know their king is about to be dethroned and the new queen or king will be having heads on a platter.  With all the corruption going on, probably not one of them is safe from prosecution and jail if the truth ever comes out about their dealings.  So, better to jump ship while they can tread water still - if the real can of worms gets opened they will all sink with their "King Dumbya".  Most of them are smart enough to see that the fun and games are about over for this bunch.  Nearly time for a whole new bunch of party goers to blow our tax dollars and sell us out to illegal aliens crossing from Mexico and China.  Illegals to take our jobs, bankrupt our social services, degrade our schools, while China poisons our foods, drugs and toiletries to kill us slowly and poisons our toys to make our innocent little children brain damaged so they will become adults that will be dependent instead of independent members of our society.  Americans have been running out the the movies, watching the game on TV, to Walmart buying Chinese junk, to restaurants eating Chinese food prepared by illegal aliens while the good ole boys in DC have been ever so consistently selling us out.  Our own fault - can't blame it on anybody but each and every American too lazy to keep up with what is happening, too apathetic to vote, write, call their reps, etc. and stand up for ourselves, too busy buying the junk sent here by China and justifying the loss of our American jobs and qualities by saying it is cheaper and we cannot afford higher price.  How many dollars is the health of our little children worth?  How about those pets that people loved and had to bury recently?  How about family, friends, neighbors who have lost decent paying jobs, health insurance and a future for THEIR families - college for thier kids, medical care for THEIR families - to illegal aliens taking jobs and depressing wages?  America - we have been so caught up in the buying frenzy and on the fast track not to miss a single movie, shuffling little Bobby and Susie to soccer, etc. and have just assumed somebody else was going to look out for our best interests.  Right now Bush is set for a secretive summit in Canada on 8/20 with Mexico and Canada in yet another huge sweep of the king's arm to totally sell out our sovereignty - open borders, open trade - our north american union --- Better call you reps and find out what that is about and scream.  Sadly, our reps have NO power on this one - the king can do as he pleases.  Scary?  You bet. So -- goodbye Hastert, Rove, Rumsfeld and in another agonizingly LONG 18 months -- Bush. If we don't take back our nation NOW - we will have lost it for good to the illegal alien bunch, the illegal aliens with their "not English" language, to the Chinese who are laughing all the way to the bank as parents across America fret over the possibility their little ones have been harmed, pet owners across America still mourn for their lost pets, and grandparents like me wonder if the formula my little 6 month old granddaughter takes every day is tainted with the same poison wheat gluten that killed pets? Yep, things are really GOOD now in America.  No wonder we all need a pill to sleep at night.
Jerry, Nancy's hurt because you love Hillary and not her! You Heartbreaker, you!
jjGA - I can't add to that, because you hit it on the money!  
The entire American civilization is sliding down the razor blade and all both Democrats and Republicans seem able to do is attack each other based on political sides. There are no more patriots only those who earn and those who steal. We are yet in another unwinable war, we have given our economy to the lobbiests and have made healthcare a business for profit and not for health. The weird part is nobody seems to care. Dummies, you better wake up, there is no place else to go.
jjGA: Yet the only ''crooked bunch''this will leave is that of the Democrats. And none of these is disposed to either deal with the borders, end their own corruption, or face down China. ''Go along to get along''will reign surpreme in Washington long after the departure of the GOP. Chinese good will continue to flood the market,illegals will continue to flood the nation,and everyone outside of a miniscule few will continue to stash the buck when they are not passing it.
Robert from Oregon, Dennis Hastert is from Ilinois. Please don't confuse us with those Hoosiers.


SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=317627

First Read e-mail alerts


Sign up for First Read alerts
The first place for key political news and analysis

Syndicate This Site

Add First Read to your news reader:
live.com xml
myyahoo msn
bloglines newsgator
google