Washington Post national political reporter Jim VandeHei chatting in the Post’s online Politics Hour discussion:
Richmond, Va.: With the defeat of Ralph Reed in Georgia, is the Republican “culture of corruption” beginning to take its toll?
Jim VandeHei: it took a heck of toll on Reed. You are talking about the one real stars of GOP politics over the past decade and he was beaten badly BY REPUBLICANS. It shows that individual candidates with ethical problems are in trouble, which is true in any election but more pronounced now. I would not want to be Bob Ney or William Jefferson or even Conrad Burns in Montana. Corruption makes such an easy target, people get it and hate it. My favorite corruption-related tale of the week: Ney, who republicans describe as delusional right now, has been telling party leaders that DOJ has a rule against indicting members with 90 days of an election. That would be great for him — if it were true. A DOJ source assured us no such rule exists.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.