I won’t get another chance to vote against ...

… disgrace former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports exclusively sources say that they expect Hastert to announce he will not seek re-election next year.

The 14th Congressional District of Illinois is still a very Republican district, but it is still a winnable seat The Illinois Republican party is at a weaken state and I doubt 2008 Republican Presidential candidate will have any coattails in Illinois. Congressional Republicans lackluster campaign war chest is going to force them to play defense rather than helping Republicans running in open seats. There main concern is going to be defending their incumbents from well-funded Democratic challengers.

On the Democratic side, the disarray in the state Democratic Party will not affect Congressional races. The top of the Democratic ticket is going to be strong with Senator Durbin running for re-election and possibility of Senator Obama leading the ticket as the Democratic nominee for President.

I’m looking forward for a strongly contested Democratic primary.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Think Progress: One of these days, I’m going to have to read Moby Dick.

In an interview today, Karl Rove said, “I’m realistic enough to understand that the subpoenas are going to keep flying my way. I’m Moby Dick and we’ve got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab — so they’re going to keep coming.”

- Oliver Willis: Yes, my friends Liberals can be as stupid as their Conservatives counterparts

- The Carpetbagger Report: As always, Human Events (conservative political magazine) and Lou Dobbs of CNN are full of it.

- Digby: Chris Matthews is creepy. Seriously, he had a female guest on this show to discuss an important topic and he starts to hit on her. I guess Chris want to prove that he also like women after all of this well-documented man crushes.

- AmericaBlog: Rather than following the typical route of blaming your misdeeds on drugs or alcohol abuse and going to rehab, Republican state Rep. Bob Allen of Florida has decided he has done nothing wrong. These people are shameless.

With Friends Like These…

... Who needs enemies.

When Will Heaton went to work for Rep. Robert W. Ney in 2001, he was 23 years old and still in awe of the members of Congress he had come to know years earlier as a congressional page. Within six months, the Ohio Republican promoted the fresh-faced neophyte to be the youngest chief of staff in Congress. [..]

Last summer, Heaton began secretly recording his conversations with the six-term congressman, according to documents filed in court last week by the government and Heaton's lawyers. Heaton taped numerous phone calls and wore a hidden wire to a 2 1/2 -hour, face-to-face meeting with Ney that provided "exceptionally important" help to the FBI's investigation of Abramoff.

Quote of the Day

The full text of John Edwards' statement on the departure of Karl Rove.

“Goodbye, good riddance.”

Indeed.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via GQ)

Ryan Lizza profiles Senator Obama and this campaign for the Presidency in GQ.

“Movement without organization,” he says, “without policy, without plans, will dissipate. Howard Dean, one could argue, back in 2004 helped to engineer a movement, a movement in opposition to the war. But there wasn’t a structure there and a set of policies and plans that would then lead to governance.”

He leans forward and becomes more animated as he speaks. “One of the dangers of movements is that they always want to be completely pure and have everything their way. But politics is about governing and making compromises. And so sometimes folks who come into politics with a movement mentality can be disappointed.”

Give it a read.

So, what size of Flip-Flops does Rudy wear?

They must be a size 14 or so.

Pretty soon Rudy Giuliani is going to catch up to John McCain and Mitt Romney in the flip-flops department.

A New Kind of Politics

Senator Obama:

“Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided, the special interests more powerful, and the American people more shut out from their government than any time in memory. But to build a new kind of politics, it will take more than the departure of a man or even an Administration that constructed the old –- it will take a movement of everyday Americans committed to changing Washington and reclaiming their government.”