Quick Hits

Just before my trip home for Thanksgiving, wanted to pontificate a bit:

• Ted!

Veteran Republican Sen. Ted Stevens announced yesterday that he will be running for re-election in 2008 at the age of 84, ending speculation about a possible retirement.

“Serving Alaska in the United States Senate continues to be the greatest honor of my life, and that is why in 2008 I intend to once again ask the voters of Alaska to allow me to represent them,” Stevens said in a statement Wednesday.

He won't be happy until every Alaskan has their own personal bridge! And their own personal Internet tube.

• Good news on the Houston janitors. Not only was their bail reduced, but they ended up receiving a contract after four weeks of striking. Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world, as Margaret Mead said.

• Just when you thought there was at least some path to peace in Darfur - nope, more attacks have been launched. It's unclear whether they're just trying to get them in under the gun or if they're pulling back from the deal to allow UN forces in the country. It's insane how little attention this gets. This Onion headline isn't that far off: "African Children Given 30,000 Unused 'Save Darfur' T-Shirts."

• Remember that minor stir last week that Jack Abramoff was ready to give up evidence on "eight corrupt Democratic senators"? Well, according to Abramoff's own colleagues, not so much:

Curious to learn more, we called a number of Abramoff's former colleagues from his heyday at the Greenberg Traurig lobby firm to see how the story struck them.

"Jack has not met eight Democrats in Washington," one lobbyist told us.

• Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee stripped a Democratic staffer's access to classified material a few weeks ago because, they claimed, he leaked the famed NIE on Iraq that got headlines during the election season. They had no evidence for this, you understand, they just claimed it. And now, with the election over, and hoping nobody's looking, they very quietly gave the guy back his access. Classy.

• Great story about the early work of California's own Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney. Getting on the Energy and Commerce committee would be a coup. The Democratic Party has the potential to get out in front on the burgeoning alternative energy industry, and having politicians like wind energy expert McNerney will do wonders both politically and for policy.

• This is one of these crazy stories you see develop in your local paper through the weeks and months, and it just gets more and more interesting. Vernon's this little industrial town (something like 68 residents) south of LA run like a 21st-century Tammany Hall. They hadn't held an election in 25 years until this spring, when three new residents challenged them for City Council seats and promptly got evicted. Now, not only is the mayor getting busted for voter fraud (even he doesn't live there), but his son allegedly molested young boys at an LA Catholic school. There's a GREAT documentary in here somewhere.