Coleman: I Won't Say War Was A Mistake, For The Sake Of The Dead
At a debate last night in the Minnesota Senate race, Sen. Norm Coleman (R) reiterated his position that he will not say the Iraq War was as mistake. Coleman put it in very stark terms: "I will not tell the parents of any kid who has died in Iraq that their son died because of a mistake. I simply will not do that."

GOP Poll: Mahoney Way Down
We usually don't cover internal polls, but this one probably deserves some attention. The campaign of House candidate Tom Rooney (R-FL) has put out a poll showing Rooney defeating scandal-plagued Democratic incumbent Tim Mahoney by a whopping 55%-29%. We'll probably see an independent poll of this race soon, and don't be too surprised if it also shows Mahoney losing.

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GOP Rep. Richard Pombo — who suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Dem Jerry McNerney — might run again for his old seat in 2008, Roll Call reports (paid subscription required). Pombo lost re-election in a normally solid Republican district largely due to ethics scandals, so McNerney could be vulnerable against a strong GOP challenger next time around. At 45 years old, Pombo might be too young to be satisfied should that candidate be someone other than himself.

The San Jose Mercury News, a regular critic of GOP Rep. Richard Pombo's environmental policies -- or, more accurately, his opposition to any and all of them -- endorsed Pombo's Dem opponent Jerry McNerney today in a brutally hard-hitting assault on the seven-term incumbent which tells everyone to vote for his opponent:

The case for why Democrats and Republicans should support McNerney's candidacy in the sprawling 11th Congressional District goes far beyond Pombo's desire to sell off national parks, drill for oil off the Pacific Coast and make the Endangered Species Act extinct.

Pombo is a national disgrace to the Republican Party. His unseemly connections to scandal-ridden lobbyist Jack Abramoff should be an embarrassment to all Republicans. A Washington watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, put him on its list of the 13 most corrupt Republicans and Democrats in Congress. And his questionable connections to oil companies, gambling interests and mining companies have been well documented.

It's past time that mainstream Republicans let Pombo know there isn't a place for his kind of politics in their Big Tent....

Pombo is such a bad role model that even Pete McCloskey, Pombo's challenger in the primary election, couldn't bring himself to endorse his fellow Republican this fall. Declaring "enough is enough," McCloskey said he will vote for McNerney on Nov. 7. So should all voters in the 11th Congressional District.

Recent polls of the race have found it too close to call. The full editorial is here.

GOP Rep Richard Pombo — who's locked in a tighter-than-expected contest with Dem Jerry McNerney — has just released a new radio ad claiming that McNerney "thinks the war on terror is a joke." The ad goes an extra step and accuses McNerney of saying "that North Korea should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons without fear of U.S. military intervention." In a final display of stock GOP rhetoric, the ad insinuates that if you vote for the Dem, you just might, well, die. It concludes: "Is there a difference between Richard Pombo and Jerry McNerney on the war on terror? You bet your life there is." Listen to it here.

GOP Rep Richard Pombo's race against Dem challenger Jerry McNerney may have just gotten a heck of a lot tougher, thanks to a whammo visited on Pombo by the Associated Press today. TPMmuckraker's Paul Kiel explains.

Congressional Quarterly has just downgraded the race between GOP incumbent Richard Pombo and Dem challenger Jerry McNerney from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican":

[W]hile the NRCC has, according to Federal Election Commission reports, paid for two internal polls in the district to gauge voter preferences in the 11th District, the committee has not released any results.

Democrats, on the other hand, have not hesitated to publicize two “own” polls that purport to show a tossup race. A survey conducted by the Democratic firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner showed McNerney actually leading by 48 percent to 46 percent. A poll by Lake Research, another Democratic firm, showed Pombo with a statistically insignificant lead of 41 percent to 40 percent.

CQ's full analysis here.

A few days back, Washington GOP Senate candidate Mike McGavick dumped thousands of dollars in contributions from VECO, the Alaskan company which is currently the target of an influence-peddling investigation by the FBI. But another GOP pol doesn't see any problem at all with keeping VECO's money: California Rep. Richard Pombo, who's keeping $18,000 in VECO contributions. The investigation has so far targeted VECO for attempting to influence figures in Alaska state government, and may expand to cover federal officials. But when asked whether Pombo will give the money to charity, Pombo spokesman Carl Fogliani says: "We don't know enough at this point to make any decision."

A senior adviser to California Rep. Richard Pombo (R) is so upset with a Connecticut newspaper that he suggested in an email to colleagues that the state be bulldozed and its residents sent to Guantanamo Bay, where, for all he cares, they can commit "suicide."

Pombo, chair of the House Resources Committee, backs ANWR oil drilling. But a June editorial in the Hartford Courant opposed drilling. A committee staffer emailed around asking how to respond. Seven minutes later senior Pombo adviser Daniel Kish emailed back his answer. Kish's full email after the jump.

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