Congressional Quarterly Upgrades Charlie Brown's Prospects

The Congressional Quarterly, in a story published by the New York Times, writes "Abramoff Allegations Make Brown a Legit Threat to Doolittle":

A vigorous underdog challenge is being waged by the Democratic nominee, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, prompting CQPolitics.com to change its rating on the 4th District race to Republican Favored from Safe Republican.

This is a significant development since this district was considered to be safely in Republican hands. That Charlie Brown is making these inroads without much help from DC tells you how endangered Doolittle is and how fed up people are with him. A focus of this article is on Doolittle's corruption:

Brown’s campaign has largely focused on trying to tie Doolittle, and his past links to Abramoff, to a “culture of corruption” that the challenger and many Democrats alleged has been created by the Republicans who control Congress.

Doolittle’s wife worked for a fundraising company hired by Abramoff, but she has consistently denied any knowledge of corrupt actions that resulted in the convictions of Abramoff, several of his professional associates and, to date, one member of Congress: Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney. Doolittle himself admits to having had nothing more than a friendship with Abramoff.

Doolittle received contributions from Abramoff and American Indian tribes the lobbyist represented in the past, but Doolittle maintains no unethical actions were taken in exchange for those donations.

Brown, though, is trying to portray otherwise, focusing in part on Abramoff’s efforts as a lobbyist to gain waivers from federal labor laws for factories based in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the north Pacific.

While Charlie Brown has received support from General Wesley Clark, who did a fundraiser for him on Monday, and former Senator Max Cleland, DC Democrats have not yet helped him:

Brown said he is hoping the national Democratic Party will step in and provide some late-campaign financial assistance, which could help increase this race’s competitiveness.

In the meantime, how about you step in? Contribute to Charlie Brown today and show DC Democrats that this seat can be won!