Monday Night Round-Up

North Carolina: While Congressman Brad Miller continues to ponder his next electoral move, NC-Dems are also reaching out to state Attorney General Roy Cooper to consider a challenge to vulnerable Republican Elizabeth Dole. Cooper won re-election to his second AG term in 2004 by a 55-45 margin.

Nebraska: WaPo's Cillizza looks at Chuck Hagel's upcoming decision, and offers many of the same thoughts that the Guru offered last Thursday.

Alaska: Guilty pleas to bribery and conspiracy charges in Alaska, other indictments still outstanding, including two masked identities:

The indictment masks the identities of two Alaska state senators, calling them only by A and B. It's not clear if Alaska's Senate President Ben Stevens, son of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), whose office was raided by the FBI in August, is one of them.

The story is obviously still unfolding.

September is looking like showdown month on Iraq for vulnerable GOP Senators vs. the Bush Administration's mismanaged policy. Does it matter? "Senators" like Norm Coleman, John Sununu, and Susan Collins have dug pretty deep holes for themselves as far as their records on Iraq go. One must wonder if any amount of flip-flopping can save them.

Headline of the day: "GOP lawmakers fear loyalty to Bush may hurt" I believe the word is, "Duh." As of last November, their were only three states where Bush had a positive net approval or a disapproval under 50%: Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. And it's only been downhill since. "Loyalty to Bush" isn't exactly a selling point.