This post was originally going to open with, "What the hell is wrong with Chuck Schumer?" This business about his DSCC aides trying to swipe the credit reports of Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who's thinking about a Senate bid next year, seems as sleazy as it gets. The fact that his aides got caught in July and didn't get fired until late August looks even worse. But doing some aimless searching around, here's a more novel hook, "What the hell is wrong with the Democratic Party in Maryland?" Despite representing a liberal state with a sizeable African-American population (30 percent), the party hasn't once nominated a black candidate to run for statewide office. Steele, a Republican, is Maryland's first.

Meanwhile, unless the national anger at Bush persists forever, it kind of looks like the Democrats will have a nigh-impossible time retaking the Senate next year. But really, who knows? Maybe all the countless GOP scandals going on right now will actually bring down the party, although this complicated Abramoff-Rove-Safavian-Norquist business is more likely to put people in jail, it seems, than create an actual backlash at the polls. Back to the point at hand, a bunch of Dailykos commenters think Steele would actually put up a tough fight in Maryland, for whatever that's worth. And yes, this is sort of a random assortment of stuff to be reading on a Friday night.