Rob Portman left his position as Director of the Office of Management and Budget last year because he wanted to “spend more time with his family.” He returned to Ohio and joined the very Republican law firm, Sanders, Squire & Dempsey.

Sanders, Squire & Dempsey were consultants to the American Center For Voting Rights and the more obscure but even more damaging Free Enterprise Coalition.

Jim Nussle replaced Portman at OMB. Nussle, former Iowa representative, ran a losing campaign for Iowa governor in 2006 and then did a brief stint as an advisor to Guiliani’s campaign in parnership with a DCI operative.
Nussle has had a long association with the DCI Group.

Not so coincidentally, Nussle’s guys have been linked to Republican front, American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4) rumored to be this year’s Progress For America.

First, the Democratic party in W MI is trying hard to come back from defunct status. (The district covers Lansing, and the UP, which features Bart Stupak, but still.)

And Las Vegas? No one thought Reid would be a nominee, and he won’t be up for re-election until after Bush’s USAs are gone.

One of the 2004 OH caging embarrassments for the Republicans was driven by Republican partisan zeal of an assistant US attorney, who, since, has left OH but gone to the southern district of FL become US Attorney, R.Alex Acosta.

Caging is a longtime Republican dirty politics ploy. The RNC had to sign consent decrees in other fairly recent elections when caught perpetrating the strategy, in NC for Jesse Helms‘ use of the trick return receipt postcard mass mailer, e.g.

- Getting “the gang” back together just ties McSame closer to W than ever. How did that work out for the GOP last week when McCain embraced the “appeasement” nonsense? Gillespie’s whiny letter to NBC tells us: they perceived it as a disaster, and it was – for both McCain and Bush. The GOP middle east policy over the past 8 years has been a colossal failure. Every day McCain is talking about Iran or Iraq is a day he’s playing defense and losing. Similarly, the more McCain is seen as a creature of the Bush machine, the harder it gets for him.

- Novak and others are braying that McCain is going to be able control the electoral battlefield: “McCain is not about to disarm. His campaign has no intention of fighting this battle on Democratic turf.” Please. The country is at war, and in a recession. Wrong-track numbers are in the 80% range. Republicans in red districts in red states are getting beat by Democrats. They ran on teh gay and Rev. Wright. Not working this time.

Could it all have been electoral?
did at least some of the firings originate in a desire to place partisans in as USatty in the states where the nominees were going to come from (to Oppo Research or defend likely Presidential nominee from investigations)?

1. David Iglesias- New Mexico- Bill Richardson
2. Paul Charlton- Arizona- John McCain
3. Bud Cummins- Arkansas- Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee (Tim Griffin RNC Oppo Researcher)
4. Carol Lam- S California- Duncan Hunter?
Was Fitz ever on the list (as Sampson suggested)?- Obama

This leaves:
5. Kevin Ryan- N California- Duncan Hunter?
6. Daniel Bogden- Nevada- Harry Reid in 2010?
7. Margaret Chiara- W. Michigan?
8. Todd Graves- Missouri- Vote suppression? (Schlozman replaced)
9. John McKay- W. Washington- Payback for Gregoire?

I want rosters with team owners (cheney, rummy, etc)

a “fantasy baseball” type site to keep track of these dirty tricksters

I was thinking pretty much the same thing, only with citations to criminal charges (for cross-reference purposes).

I mean, as the wise men of baseball are known to say: “Over the course of a career, people play to their baseball cards.” Meaning, if someone’s a lifetime .300 hitter, they’ll play (up or down) to that level in the longer run.

Or maybe playing cards, like those Iraq’s Most Wanted cards that were so popular?