A new set of polls put out by Mason-Dixon Polls for the McClatchy Newspapers and MSNBC are showing Democrats and Republicans in virtual dead heats in several U.S. Senate races. The races in Virgina, Montana and Ohio are thought to be keys to a possible Democratic upset victory. Just weeks ago, few observers gave the Democrats much chance at taking control of the U.S. Senate. Now we appear to be gaining traction (unfortuately not here in Arizona).

Jim Webb the Democratic challenger in Virginia is now thought to be in a dead heat for contol of the seat currently held by George Allen. Click here to read the story.

Represenative Sherrod Brown is now leading Republican Mike DeWhine in Ohio.  Click here to read the story.

Harold Ford is running even with Bob Corker in Tennessee. Click here for the story.

Jon Tester has taken a lead over incumbent Senator Conrad Burns in Montana. Click here for the story.

W (worst ever) said that as the Iraqi military and police are trained, the U.S. can stand down.  Now the numbers of Iraqi military and police have reached more than a quarter of a million and not a single U.S. soldier has returned.  Click here to read this story in the Washington Post.

Wal Mart plans to establish salary caps and to use part time workers who can be paid less than full time employees to further drive down labor costs. Wal Mart, already critisized for using public assistance and welfare programs to provide medical care for employees, wants to drive down labor costs at its stores. It plans to establish wage caps and to hire massive numbers of part time employees to work at staggered hours and supplant the need for full time employees.

For example, here in Tucson, a full time employee with seven years of experience is capped at $8.15 per hour. This means that the employee can not receive a salary increase. The offered salary generates annual income of $16,300 per year, a figure below the federal poverty definition. Click here to read the story in the New York Times.

Please remember that Alice Walton and the Walton family, who are hiers to the Wal Mart fortune have given the Republican Party millions of dollars, with some estimates above $100 million. One purpose of those gifts has been to obtain Republican support for eliminating the inhieritance tax

Click here to read more about the Waltons.

For almost five years, the United States and various NATO troops have fought, killed and been killed by the insurgent Taliban army in Afganistan. Violence in Afganistan, like Iraq, has not been quelled and, in fact, has escallated with more and more U.S. troops being killed or wounded on an almost daily basis.

So now comes a statement by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist. The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield. “You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government,” Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. “And if that’s accomplished, we’ll be successful.”

Some observers liken this to suggestions in the early 1970’s that the Viet Cong should be brought into the Vietnam government. Click here to read this story on the Associated Press.

Lastly, we wonder if the Iraq insurgents are “too numerous and have too much popular support” as well. Stay tuned…

Republicans who have expressed outrage at the news of the actions of Florida Rep. Mark Foley are being confronted with evidence that House Majority Speaker Hastert has been aware of Foley’s problems for several years without taking any affirmative action. It appears that Kirk Fordham informed Speaker Hasert’s office of Foley’s indiscretions in 2003 according to his statement this afternoon.  Fordham was in a position to know since he was on Foley’s staff at the time and any warning from such a person should have rung alarm bells.

The Republican’s unwillingness to act is beginning to jepordize Hastert’s career.

If Hasert failed to act in the matter of Rep. Foley, many observers are asking if there are other undisclosed cases. Republicans have consistently shied away from accounabiltiy. There has been no accounting for weapons of mass distruction, nor has there been accounabilty for the outing of Valarie Plume, just as there is no accounability for money and graft from Jack Abramhof and we don’t even discuss billions of dollars in “no-bid” contracts dispensed by the White House on a few favored corporations. So now there appears to be no accounabilty for salacious behavior and it’s cover-up.

Click here to read about Mr. Forham’s announcement this afternoon in the New York Times.

In the wake of a rapidly expanding scandal of the congressional coverup of the Foley affair, a recent poll suggests that voters are unhappy with the Republicans. Tsk, tsk. And, they say that the latest problems will very significantly affect their votes. Moreover by a 2-1 margin, voters say Democrats are better at dealing with corruption in politics.

Click here to read about the Associate Press Ipsos poll in the Houston Examiner.

More former pages are coming forward to report salacious messages received from disgraced Republican Mark Foley. One of these former pages was in the class is 1998 meaning that this has been going on for at least seven years.

House Speaker Hastert defended his role in the matter and refused to quit his post. It now appears that the cover-up has also embroiled Represenative Tom Reynolds of New York’s 26th District. Further Reynolds has just fallen seven points in the latest poll of his race. He now trails Jack Davis his opponent by about five points. The drop off has occured in just the last few days and appears to be tied to his involvment with Hastert and the Foley affair.

Click here for the story about the additional page stories. Click here for more information about Representative Reynolds.

As news continues to arrive, we update you. Now as you might guess, Fox News is not our favorite media and unlike Dick “No-Bid” Cheney we don’t normally watch. But here is a Fox News story that predicts that Dennis Hastert will not last the next ten days let alone to election day. We are partial to the headline. “Internal Poll Suggests Hastert Could Devistate GOP” (Grand Oil Party). Rather catchy don’t you think? Click here to read the Fox News Poll Story.

This afternoon the 9th Circut Court of Appeals granted a motion to block enforcement of Voter ID requirements in Arizona’s November 7th general election. No doubt this will be appealed by Republicans who hope to hold down Democratic turnout in the coming election. Click here to read the story in the Arizona Republic. Also try this link to Blog for Arizona.

The requirement for voter ID and proof of citizenship at the time of voting was part of Proposition 200. Opponents have argued that proof of citizenship is required at the time of registration and that the requirement for special IDs for voting was discrimatory and in violation of civil rights.

Janet Napolitano has about wrapped up her second campaign. If you have wondered why you can’t find a “Janet Sign” maybe it’s because she doesn’t need them. The Arizona Behavorial Research Center has conducted a poll of the Governor’s race and Janet leads Munsil by a 2 -1 margin. Not even close and pretty much insurmoutable assuming this is not meant to put us to sleep. Click here to read story in the Arizona Republic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has just reached a new all time high.  Should be celebrate?  Perhaps not, says Paul Krugman in a New York Times Opinion piece.  The bad news is the big corporations are winning the war on wages.  Salaries are low, median family income is DOWN over the past seven years.  Savings are non-existent and the average American family has almost $7,000 in high interest, revolving credit card debt.  Our national vulnerability to a recession is higher today than at any other time since the second world war.

Click here to read Paul Krugman’s opinion piece.