Democrats across the country should pay careful attention to Ted Strickland's campaign for Ohio governor. He's running against Ken Blackwell, who for some reason is a darling of the radical right nationally, and of course is now semi-notorious for being labeled "a nut" by Dubya (as reported by Bob Woodward in "State of Denial").

Even though our President sometimes misses by a mile when gazing into the soul of other public figures -- Vladimir Putin immediately comes to mind -- he certainly has Blackwell pegged.

Far from running away from faith and values issues, Strickland embraces them -- and is further insulated from the usual scurrilous radical right attacks because he's an ordained Methodist minister. He does not wear his faith on his sleeve, but his deeply held beliefs do infuse his private and public life.

Here's one of the rotating messages currently appearing on his home page (www.tedstrickland.com):

"Being a Golden Rule Democrat means you do your best to treat other people the way you yourself would want to be treated. In a political context, it means working for a government rooted in sound judgement, having a thirst for justice and committed to serving its people."

How refreshing! Justice, sound judgment, family values, doing what's RIGHT, upholding ethical and moral behavior -- these should NEVER have been abdicated to conservatives or the GOP. The sooner Democrats accept this, and stop being afraid to speak of values and right versus wrong, the better!

Strickland's double-digit lead over Blackwell speaks loudly to all Democrats across this country. And no, it isn't necessary to nominate an ordained minister to achieve the same result -- because actually having values and morals obviously can't be the exclusive province of clergy. No Americans, be they Democrat, Republican or none of the above, should continue being misled by GOP tactics that mischaracterize their opposition.

Is Lieberman coming unhinged? (Don't answer that question!)

What the heck does THIS mean? "...unless he [Hastert] knows what he saw and he saw something he should have acted on, he deserves to have essentially a fact-finder to come in..."

UNLESS HE KNOWS WHAT HE SAW? If Hastert doesn't know what he saw, or was told, I suggest he should resign from Congress immediately due to complete incompetence. Instead of a fact-finder, he actually "deserves to have essentially a LEGAL GUARDIAN to come in" to serve as his conservator.

As others have pointed out elsewhere, if this GOP crowd can't even manage the House page program, why in thunder should we have confidence in anything they do AT ALL? (Again, don't answer that question -- sadly, we all know that answer too!)

The original post simply stated that focus on the Foley affair HAS diverted attention from other important issues, not that anyone timed these revelations in any way. The evidence available so far seems to confirm that nothing of the sort happened, at least in the public media.

As we've seen in Iraq, the lack of evidence (e.g., WMDs) can't logically support the EXISTENCE of something -- unless you're Christopher Hitchens, of course.

In any event, frantic efforts to point fingers at WHO uncovered the Foley scandal, or to ask pointless questions about why this happened to be unearthed NOW, shouldn't be allowed to obscure the basic issues of Foley's misconduct and the lax (or non-existent) oversight of him and the entire page program.

This picture is a GREAT find, in any case -- another unexpected gift!

Now, all we need is a photo or video of Foley sitting at a computer, or messing with his PDA. Surely something like that is out there, waiting to be found...

It's disappointing how few people were interested enough in this War Room item to post ANY comments or observations. As I write this, only FOUR letters total have appeared previously, including one of my own.

I've taken as much pleasure as anyone else from the unfolding Foley scandal and its spotlight on Republican hypocrisy, but also agree with the criticism of others that we really ought to keep Foley in perspective and shouldn't forget the real atrocities of Bush & Co.

As the old saying goes about those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, if the anti-Rove and anti-"Christian Right" community fails to understand the potency of the God, guns and gays approach, we are NOT going to prevail anytime soon.

Strickland does provide a model for other Democrats and progressives -- doesn't anyone out there care enough to discuss this issue? No doubt few will even read this message, so I guess the topic will fade away completely. Sad.