Eavesdropping on Congress

" 'If we don't get it right,' Mr. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, declared, 'we're going to find that we have paid a very harsh price.'

"But the senator's warning might well have applied to the Democrats, who themselves could pay a large price -- though a political one -- if they do not strike the right tone in the debate over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program.

"As they head into the 2006 midterm elections, Democrats, eager to pick up Congressional seats, know they must look tough on national security issues. So Monday's hearings, examining the legality of the N.S.A.'s interception of international communications from inside the United States, without getting a warrant, forced Democrats to engage in a delicate balancing act."

The Los Angeles Times offers this analysis of the Bush budget:

"President Bush's austere federal budget proposal, with its bold effort to curb spending on Medicare and other popular programs, establishes an unusual and potentially risky election-year strategy for congressional Republicans.

"In calling for tough fiscal medicine 10 months before midterm elections, Bush is betting that voters will accept painful measures in the name of controlling government growth.

"That calculation aligns Bush with conservative lawmakers, especially in the House, who believe that an offensive against federal spending is crucial to generating a large turnout from the Republican base in November's election."

Of course, Congress could punt on the cuts, giving Bush the rhetorical credit without actually having to inflict any pain.

Heard about this spat between McCain and Obama ?

"Republican Sen. John McCain on Monday accused his Democratic colleague Barack Obama of 'partisan posturing' on the issue of lobbying ethics reform, the latest sign of trouble as the two parties try to come up with legislation governing relations with lobbyists.

"Based on past Obama statements, 'I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable,' McCain, R.-Ariz., wrote in a letter to Obama, D-Ill., Monday. 'Thank you for disabusing me of such notions.'

"McCain was responding to an Obama letter written last week in which the freshman Democrat thanked McCain for including him in bipartisan talks on lobbying reform but expressed some differences in approach to the issue spurred by recent lobbying scandals."