This is one of those things that strikes to the core of real people; it is something that they understand. There are some scandals that people do not understand. I don't know if people understood Iran-Contra. But this, involving losses in a fund for injured workers, goes to their pocketbooks.

In the end, the judgment is going to be rendered by the families themselves. What the people who were in the room say is ultimately how he will be remembered in this crisis.

I'm not terribly swayed by polls at this point.

The joy of being a battleground state is that you get presidential hopefuls in 2006.

The joy of being in congressional leadership and never having a competitive race is it lets you keep stuffing money in the bank.

It was a factor. Winning friends by helping them out, giving them money, is always a big deal.

Considering they didn't see it coming, it probably threw them off stride quite a bit. This was a shot out of the blue.

Democrats have no incentive to come to the table, really. Not getting anything done is a victory for them, to be able to talk about the do-nothing Senate.

It's not likely, but I can see the math.

It is true, they don't face the same threat. All industries go through cycles.