GOP Troubles May Hurt Bid To Retake Congress in 2008

"It's all a stark reminder to voters about why they don't want to turn power back to a Republican Congress that betrayed the public and used their majority for personal financial gain and to reward special interests," he said.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was more sanguine. The Democrats' theme of "a culture of corruption" is unlikely to break through to voters in a presidential election year with so much at stake, he said. And individual cases coming into focus in early 2007 will likely be resolved by the fall of 2008. "There's a long time between now and the election," he said.

But Cole conceded that ethics could be a factor in a few individual races. And with the GOP needing 17 seats to recapture the House, losing seats would increase the number of incumbent Democrats the GOP would have to defeat.

The DCCC is interviewing candidates seeking to run against Renzi, who escaped a challenge last year from a high-profile Democrat but still won only 52 percent of the vote. Former military pilot Charlie Brown, who held Doolittle to 49 percent in November, has already filed papers for a rematch and has banked $132,000 in the first quarter for his run.

But Democratic campaign efforts go beyond the subjects of FBI raids. The DCCC has already aired two radio ads raising ethics charges against Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.), who has admitted calling now-fired U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias before the November elections to inquire about an investigation of voter fraud. Wilson, a perennial Democratic target, eked out a win in November -- by 861 votes.

"Congresswoman Wilson's call to David Iglesias was entirely appropriate, and it's a shame that national Democrats have launched a baseless partisan attack smearing her good name," said Enrique Knell, a Wilson spokesman.

After obtaining footage through a Freedom of Information Act request, the DCCC has aired some of it showing Miller repeatedly pleading with city officials in Monrovia, Calif., to buy 165 acres of his property. Miller made more than $10 million on the 2002 sale, but he sheltered the profits from capital-gains taxes by asserting that the sale was forced under the threat of eminent domain. Repeated calls to Miller's office were not returned yesterday.

And with other Republicans shelling out so much money to lawyers, Democratic political operatives are sure more shoes will drop in investigations that started long before their party took control of Capitol Hill.

"It'll only reinforce why they voted for the Democrats in the first place," Van Hollen said.