Mama said there’d be months like this. On June 6, Brian Bilbray won a special election successfully defending California’s 50^th Congressional District. The next day, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda’s ringleader in Iraq, was killed. Earlier, Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) gave new meaning to the phrase “cold hard cash” when $90,000 in bribe money was found in his freezer. And to top it all off, just last week Rick Santorum of all people announced that those illusive weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. All in all, it’s been a pretty bad month to be a Democrat.

Things began to go sour on the ominous date of 6/6/06, which seems an all too appropriate date to hold a California primary. Democrats were literally salivating over the prospect of gaining Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s seat as part of their decade-long quest to take back Congress this November. They even enlisted certifiable nut job Francine Busby to stand in for what they thought was a certain win. Indeed, given what the mainstream media would have you believe about President Bush’s poll numbers, high gas prices, Iraq, and the “Culture of Corruption,” this should have been an easy win. What ensued, however, should prove prophetic this fall.

Republicans won a race they by all accounts should have lost (badly). After all, when a Congressman is ousted and sent to federal prison, it doesn’t traditionally help the incumbent’s party. Billbray’s victory in Cunningham’s district- which should have been the epicenter of the Republicans’ “Culture of Corruption”– shows just how hollow this Democrat talking point really was and how little it mattered with California voters. The election also showed what happens when Democrats don’t try to hide who they really are. Busby broke the party’s Second Commandment (“Thou shalt not reveal thyself before Election Day”) in a chat with illegal aliens in San Diego and paid for it dearly. Just five days before the election Busby told the crowd they “don’t need papers for voting.” Apparently Democrats have now added illegal aliens to their long list of dependable yet extra-legal voting blocs (ex-cons, corpses, “foreign leaders,” and fictional characters come to mind).

Combine this with the adventures of William Jefferson (tentatively titled “Abscam II”) and you now understand why Nancy Pelosi ditched the “Culture of Corruption” campaign theme. Notwithstanding the fact that it never caught on with voters anyway, it’s generally bad campaign strategy to call the other side corrupt while one of your own was caught on tape taking bribes and found with bribe money in his freezer. It also doesn’t help when you’re floor leader in the Senate got free boxing tickets from the Nevada Gaming Commission precisely when he was scheduled to vote on regulating the sport. Or when members of your own caucus are being bought off by Jack Abramoff in what they are still calling "a Republican scandal."

The Democrats’ recent problems with the House combined with their sheepish reaction to the death of al-Zarqawi and their continuing doubletalk on Iraq even when the basis for their “BUSH LIED!” drumbeat disintegrated should be a sign of things to come. They have made it their policy to capitalize off of bad news and attack President Bush rather than run on their own ideas since at least the 2002 midterms. Perhaps this is because Democrats are afraid of running on what they actually believe (as Ms. Busby demonstrated, perhaps this is a valid fear). The Democrats used to call themselves the party of ideas. However, this party hasn’t had an idea in 40 years and they haven’t had a good idea in 70. Many Americans are still eagerly awaiting a “progressive” Contract with America to tell us where they really stand (although they’ll probably end up standing in opposition as they have since 1995). I’m sure their Terrorists’ Bill of Rights will run very well with voters.