Political Diary

In an act of self-preservation, the Pennsylvania State Senate last night voted unanimously to repeal its latest pay package.

Jack Carter, son of the former Democratic president, is exploring a run for Nevada's senate seat in 2006. If early poll numbers are an indication, don't expect to hear the word "dynasty" and Mr. Carter's name in the same sentence. But weak as he polls, Democrats have yet to field other candidates to challenge Republican incumbent John Ensign.

In New Jersey's governor's race, Republican candidate Doug Forrester has significantly chipped away at Democrat Jon Corzine's lead, from 18 points this summer to seven points last week, according to a Quinnipiac poll. If Mr. Forrester doesn't catch up and loses, it may be his best campaign proposal that does him in.

The air war between New Jersey's gubernatorial candidates is white hot, but it hasn't yet reached its crescendo. In the latest commercial, Republican Doug Forrester has a narrator speak about Democrat Jon Corzine's relationships with scandal-tainted Democrats and a $470,000 loan he forgave for a former girlfriend, Carla Katz, who heads the state-employee labor union that endorsed him soon after.

Here's a cautionary tale for Republicans everywhere. Machiavelli would be proud of Ted Gatsas, an ambitious GOP member of the New Hampshire state senate, where the chamber's president resigned his leadership post last month after a row with Mr. Gatsas that split the GOP caucus and rallied Democrats to one faction's side. As a result, Mr. Gatsas is the new Senate president.

The race among Democrat-Farm Labor candidates to replace retiring Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton is getting crowded. Child-safety activist Patty Wetterling will formally announce her candidacy this weekend. She's been exploring and raising money since February. She joins Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Klobuchar and Ford Bell, a veterinarian whose grandfather was a founder of General Mills (though Mr. Bell says he can't self-finance his campaign).

Where else but in New Jersey can an announcement that almost 5,000 dead people voted in last November's election be seen as a failure by both parties to turn out the vote? (After all, an even larger number of dead people were found to be registered.) Yet despite a reputation for smelly politics and smelly highway exits, New Jersey is a state to watch this year. Its gubernatorial election has the potential to trigger an important shift on the way to the 2008 presidential race.

Arkansas's Governor Mike Huckabee says he hasn't decided if he'll run for president, but he's following a trail blazed by a former Arkansas governor who did.

Mr. Huckabee last month kicked off his "Healthy America" initiative at Washington's National Press Club. He'll road-trip to Iowa and South Carolina to promote it. Iowans should recognize him -- he appeared at the "GOP Fest" event and on public television there a few weeks ago. He also toured New Hampshire in August to promote his book on battling obesity.

Thirty years, 114 missions, 150 billion dollars. It's not priceless, it's the Space Shuttle program, and according to NASA administrator Michael Griffin the whole effort was a costly mistake. "We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can," he told USA Today in interview published yesterday.

That path leads astronauts back to the moon, and eventually to Mars. Doing little damage means leveraging existing technology and flying without extra bucks from Congress. The agency says it will rely on its current budget plans.

Louis Farrakhan became the latest civil-rights demagogue to accuse government officials in charge of Katrina relief of saving whites at the expense of blacks. In a speech last weekend in Charlotte, NC, to promote his "Millions More March," Mr. Farrakhan said one of the New Orleans levees was intentionally "blown up" to divert flood waters from white to black neighborhoods. "I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," he said.