A footnote: Republican contributors in Washington were surprised Tuesday to receive an invitation from Hastert for a Thursday night $2,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner for Colorado State Sen. Doug Lamborn, who is running for a Republican-held congressional seat contested by Democrats. The GOP faithful were ready to show up at Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse in Washington to show solidarity for the embattled speaker only to learn that Hastert would not be there himself.
ADULT-CHILD SEX
The House page scandal has prompted Republicans to bring up the 1999 decision by Rep. Ted Strickland, this year's Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, to abstain from a House resolution condemning an American Psychological Association (APA) study that said adult-child sex could be good for children.
Strickland is considered an ideological moderate but, as a psychologist, he joined 12 left-wing Democratic House members in not voting on the resolution. The final roll call was 355 in favor and 13 voting "present." Strickland assailed the House for voting to "condemn a scientific study." The APA later withdrew the study.
The latest poll shows Strickland leading Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell by 13 percent in the race for governor.
RUDY'S BURDEN
Prominent Republican insiders say that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential ambitions have sustained a blow because of his secondhand relationship to controversy involving Jeanine Pirro, the Republican candidate for attorney general of New York.
Pirro hired Bernard Kerik, Giuliani's friend and former police commissioner, to eavesdrop on her wayward husband. As Westchester County district attorney, in 2004, she hired the Giuliani-Kerik firm.
Giuliani leads national polls of Republican presidential possibilities and has indicated interest in making a run for the White House in 2008. Republicans feel Giuliani's connection with Kerik may be one piece of baggage too many for the mayor to carry nationally.