Foley's Legs

"The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker."

A Republican source tells Fox News that internal party polling projects massive losses for GOP House candidates if Speaker Dennis Hastert remains in power.

Fox: Most GOP lawmakers have stood by Hastert, pending a full airing of the facts in his handling of the Mark Foley affair, in which the former Florida representative was caught exchanging salacious messages with teen pages in Congress. The new polling data, however, suggests that many voters already have made up their minds.

Rightwing Nuthouse (a libertine blog written by Rick Moran, 52, of Algonquin, Il.) theorizes that the leaking of the poll seems to be a power play from a Hastert rival to force the Speaker's hand.

Hastert has performed miserably this week, contributing in no small way to the impression that the GOP leadership should have done more with Foley. If this second level of vulnerable GOP candidates start to panic, they may put pressure on Hastert to resign. Look out then because there could be a full scale war that erupts between Hastert loyalists and upstarts like Boehner and Pence who wish for real reform of the Caucus.

Moran sees the scandal depressing core Evangelical votes on Election Day, which could result in "a wipeout."

I have a feeling it won't be as significant as most Inquirer writers thought it would be back at the beginning of this week. With the Republicans closing ranks instead of pointing fingers or accusing one another  - insinuating dissention among the ranks of Republicans - they have prevented the media (that would be you, Daniel) from framing this debate to favor the Democrats. 

I sincerely hope the Democrats keep trying to hold this story up to the public. By doing so they come across as petty (with exception to this commentor) and highlight the message that the Democrats have nothing more to offer the American public other than 'we are not them.'