Wednesday, October 04, 2006

From a Republican strategist   [Rich Lowry]

On the day's developments and the impact on Hastert: "I thought yesterday he was out of the woods, but today I'm not so sure." But Hastert is not going to resign outright: "In order to do that [and select a new speaker] you'd have to bring the conference together" in Washington, and that's not going to happen. It's possible, however, that Hastert would annouce that he's not running again, which seems likely in any event: "Sadly, he's probably in his last two months in leadership. I don't think he'll survive in January when he comes back. I don't think he did anything wrong or that there's a cover-up, but it reinforces the perception that he doesn't care anymore, he's checked out." On whether Republicans lose the House: "It's too early to tell. It's defintely a set-back, but there's time to recover." On the impact of the latest from Fordham: "There may be no there there," meaning no one told Hastert. "There may be a [Haster] staffer who resigns." On the timing of the whole flap: "I don't think its a coincidence," meaning he thinks Democrats were behind it.

10/04 06:13 PMShare