John Doolittle Calling Warren Zevon

Send lawyers, guns, and money...
the shit has hit the fan.

FBI Raids Doolittle's Home: The FBI has raided the Northern Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), according to Congressional sources. No details are publicly available yet about the circumstances of the raid, but Doolittle and his wife, Julie, have been under federal investigation for their ties to the scandal surrounding imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

So two days ago Kevin Ring, the former Doolittle aide and Abramoff-employed lobbyist, abruptly resigns from his law firm. We also hear that Abramoff is getting a possible reduced sentence because of his cooperation in providing information in corruption cases. And today, this And today, we learn this; the house was apparently raided the same day that Ring resigned. That's some swift administration of justice.

Charlie Brown, the Democrat who almost knocked Doolittle off last year, released this statement:

This is a sad day for the people of the 4th District, for our Congress, and our country. It is my sincere hope that the ongoing investigation will bring the era of corruption and scandal ridden politics to a close, so that we can move forward on addressing the real priorities of the American people: like ending the war in Iraq, winning the war against Terrorism, securing our borders, keeping faith with our veterans, expanding economic opportunity, and achieving energy independence.

For his part, Doolittle appeared to try to deflect the scandal and make it about his wife and not him:

Doolittle said, "My wife has been cooperating with the FBI and the Justice Department for almost three years and that cooperation is going to continue in the future. I support my wife 100 percent and fully expect that the truth will prevail."

Doolittle's wife is only in trouble because she was on both the Congressman's and Jack Abramoff's payroll. Try as he might, he cannot localize this scandal to her.

We may have a special election soon, folks. And it would lean pickup, with Charlie Brown already out and raising money.