"I think we'll have a nominee before the convention," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean assured members of his party yesterday in a letter obtained by Inside the Beltway.

Trying to put a happy face on a most divisive Democratic presidential contest, pitting one-time party pin-up girl Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton against popular political newcomer Sen. Barack Obama, Mr. Dean stressed that Democrats are "fortunate to have two fantastic candidates that people are excited about."

He promises that "whoever wins will have the support of a healthy party that's ready to fight."

Missing in action

That was Texas Republican Rep. Ted Poe singing the blues this week: "Oh where, oh where has the American air base gone? Oh where, oh where can it be? With its 6,000 phantom troops and 32 million missing dollars, oh where, oh where can it be?"

Saying "corruption has struck again," the congressman held up a photograph of the desert location in Iraq where a U.S. military supported air base was supposed to have been built — but "you can see that there is nothing to see because it was never built."

The U.S. Air Force in 2006, he said, paid slightly less than $32 million of a $34 million construction contract to Florida-based Ellis Environmental Group to build barracks and offices for 6,000 U.S.-trained Iraqi troops in Ramadi, the Anbar province capital.

The project was soon canceled, but Mr. Poe notes that none of the $32 million has been returned to taxpayers. In the meantime, the Air Force has promised an audit, while Ellis remains mum.