memeorandum: Hastert clings to power as scandal swirls (MSNBC)

11:25 PM ET, October 5, 2006

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INTERNAL POLL SUGGESTS HASTERT COULD DEVASTATE GOP — WASHINGTON — House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.

The Blotter:

Three More Former Pages Accuse Foley of Online Sexual Approaches — Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz & Maddy Sauer Report: — Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, CNN, Macsmind, Pajamas Media, The Strata-Sphere, Suburban Guerrilla, Hit and Run, Classical Values, Mia Culpa, Think Progress, Pam's House Blend, The American Street and The Political Pit Bull

Tony Karon / Time:

TIME Poll: The Foley Sex Scandal Has Hurt G.O.P. Election Prospects — Two-thirds of those aware of the scandal believe Republican leaders attempted a cover-up, according to a new survey — Two-thirds of Americans aware of the congressional-page sex scandal believe Republican leaders tried …

Discussion: Dick Polman's American Debate and DownWithTyranny!

Collin Bishop / WGRZ-TV:

DAVIS SLIPS INTO LEAD OVER REYNOLDS — A new scientific telephone survey that was commissioned by 2 On Your Side shows Democratic challenger Jack Davis with a small lead over Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds. — The poll conducted by the company SurveyUSA asked the opinion of 482 likely voters …

Discussion: Unclaimed Territory, Daily Kos, Swing State Project, Capitol confidential and The Blue State

Rasmussen Reports:

61% Believe Republican Leaders Have Been Protecting Foley — Sixty-one percent (61%) of American adults believe that Republican leaders have been "protecting [Mark] Foley for several years." A Rasmussen Reports national opinion survey conducted Tuesday and Wednesday nights shows …

Discussion: MyDD, TIME and Scared Monkeys

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:

Voters Say Scandals Will Affect Votes — Voters Polled by AP Say Scandals Will Affect Whom They Choose in Midterm Elections — Congressional Republicans, already struggling against negative public perceptions of Congress, now face voters who say new scandals will significantly influence their vote in November.

Discussion: Associated Press, DownWithTyranny!, The Carpetbagger Report, TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, BluegrassReport.org and MyDD

Jim Davenport / Associated Press:

Gingrich on page scandal: Democrats have done far worse — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that Democratic sex scandals have been far worse than the suggestive Internet messages sent to teenage congressional pages by former Rep. Mark Foley.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Shakespeare's Sister, TPMCafe blogs, The Sundries Shack, PoliBlog and DownWithTyranny!

Associated Press:

Hastert takes blame for page scandal — House speaker says will work to protect teens working for Congress — WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert apologized and took responsibility on Thursday for the unfolding page sex scandal involving fellow Republican Mark Foley.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, TAPPED, Legal Fiction, Norwegianity, The Blue State and TBogg

Judd / Think Progress:

Pajamas Media, Instapundit Facilitate Outing Of Foley Victim — An obscure right-wing blogger, Wild Bill, has outed one of Mark Foley's victims, a former Congressional page. It is a despicable act. Wild Bill however, gets almost no traffic, so the damage done to the victim's life could have been minimal.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Outside The Beltway, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, Confederate Yankee, Whiskey Bar, Norwegianity, TPMmuckraker, KnoxViews, Mia Culpa, Lean Left and Riba Rambles

Andrew Buncombe / Independent:

Republicans face election disaster as e-mail sex scandal gathers pace — Beleaguered Republicans have been dealt a fresh blow by the publication of a new poll which suggests the Democrats are leading in 11 of 15 crucial races for the House of Representatives the clearest indication yet …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Talent Show

CNN:
Former FBI head Freeh to examine page system

Discussion: The RBC, Associated Press, The Right Angle, Daily Kos, Pam's House Blend and Angry Bear

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Bush's Megaphone Unable to Reach Above the Din

Discussion: Washington Post and Hotline On Call

MSNBC:
Hastert clings to power as scandal swirls

Discussion: USA Today and TPMmuckraker

Bill Sammon / Examiner:
Cheney: GOP 'will retain control'

Discussion: TAPPED, Democrats.com and The Fix

CNN:
Page's family: Leave our 'hero' son alone

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Ethics And Policy In Election-Year Chat

Discussion: Classical Values

Hartford Courant:

Ned And Ted Counter Joe — Everything, it seems, can be linked to partisan politics these days if you're U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. — Wednesday, it was the struggling middle class, the Foley scandal, the failure of the Democratic Party to get a presidential candidate elected for eight years …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Ned Lamont for Senate, Firedoglake, TAPPED, MyDD, Norwegianity and Daily Kos

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Rasmussen Reports:
Connecticut Senate: Lieberman Lead Reaches Double Digits

Discussion: Hyscience

Washington Post:

Hastert Holds a Media Availability — SPEAKER: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), — HASTERT: Well, thank you very much for everybody showing up today. — I'm sorry — you know, when you talk about the page issue and what's happened in the Congress, I'm deeply sorry that this has happened.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and AMERICAblog

Pew Research Center:

Iraq Looms Large in Nationalized Election — Congressional Race Unchanged After Foley's Resignation — Summary of Findings — Iraq has become the central issue of the midterm elections. There is more dismay about how the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going than at any point since the war began more than three years ago.

Discussion: Donklephant

Tim Craig / Washington Post:

Democratic Organizer Quits After Calling Allen 'Macacawitz' — A field organizer for Democratic congressional candidate Al Weed resigned yesterday after it was discovered that she referred to Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) as "Macacawitz." — In an e-mail sent last night …

Discussion: The American Thinker and Blue Crab Boulevard

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Olbermann's Special Comment: It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you fear — Keith hits another one out of the park. — Olbermann: And lastly tonight, a Special Comment, about — lying. While the leadership in Congress has self-destructed over the revelations of an unmatched …

Discussion: The Mahablog and Discourse.net