Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: The bailout and the economic crisis continue to dominate the campaigns -- which is never good news for the GOP -- while the Republicans are fending off the attacks by charging that the Dems don't have any solutions, either.

Al Franken Opposes Bailout Bill
Al Franken has put out a press release strongly opposing the bailout bill, which incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman voted for: "Last night the United States Senate voted to take $700 billion from taxpayers who did nothing wrong and offer it as a sacrifice at the altar of financial mismanagement."

Smith And Merkley Joust Over The Bailout
Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is criticizing the bailout package, as well: "I have dedicated much of my life to advocating for consumers and I believe it is just wrong to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money to bailout the very Wall Street financiers who created this crisis." Incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith (R) has fired back at Merkley, saying Merkley has "shamefully placed his partisan ambitions ahead of the retirement, financial and economic security of the people he seeks to serve."

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Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: With GOPers scrambling to staunch the political bleeding amid the meltdown, all signs point to Dems gaining in multiple down-ticket races.

Bachmann Blames Loans To Minorities For Financial Crisis
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is laying the blame for the financial crisis on loans made to minorities, saying in a hearing that the Clinton Administration encouraged the granting of mortgages "on the basis of race and often on little else." Roll Call reports that Bachmann stepped back from her comment just a bit, saying that the policies were "well-intentioned."

Cheney Cancels Campaign Stop For House Candidate, Citing Economic Crisis
Vice President Cheney has canceled a scheduled campaign stop today for Ed Tinsley, the Republican nominee or an open GOP-held House seat in New Mexico, and is instead staying in Washington to assist in negotiations on the financial bailout.

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Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The money is flowing like water, as more and more candidates in close races are hitting the airwaves.

Senate GOP Candidates In Possible Financial Hot Water Over Ad Errors
The FEC and FCC are now examining complaints in four states -- Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado and Virginia -- involving the failure of Republican Senate candidates to have their approval disclaimers run for the appropriate length of time in their ads. If the complaints pan out, these candidates would have to pay a higher rate for their TV advertising for the rest of the campaign -- though it's unlikely that the agencies will actually take such a step over this error.

Millions of Dollars Being Pumped Into New Hampshire Senate Rae
The money is flowing heavily into the New Hampshire Senate race, where first-term GOP Sen. John Sununu has trailed former Dem Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in the polls. Between the candidates themselves, their party committees, and outside groups, over $5.4 million has been spent for TV ads on the state's biggest station, WMUR.

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Poll: Obama Ahead By Nine Points, But Iraq Verdict Unclear
The new Quinnipiac poll gives Barack Obama a 50%-41% lead over John McCain among likely voters, beyond the ±2.4% margin of error. But the poll has mixed news on Iraq: Respondents say by a 59%-34% margin that the war was the wrong thing to do, but on the other hand they say 51%-43% that troops should be kept there without a fixed date for withdrawal.

Obama To Give Speech This Morning On Iraq And Security
Barack Obama will be in Washington this morning, where he will give a major speech on Iraq scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Obama will condemn the war as a distraction from the true fight against Al Qaeda, according to pre-released excerpts, putting the national-security issue right back at John McCain: "It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large."

McCain In New Mexico Today, Hitting Obama On Security
John McCain will be campaigning today in the swing state of New Mexico, where he will rebut Obama's national security speech. "And I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time," McCain will say, according to a pre-released excerpt.

Another Poll Has Mixed News On Iraq
The new ABC/Washington Post poll shows that the public is evenly divided on the question of what do in Iraq, with 50% wanting a timetable for withdrawal and 49% opposed. John McCain has a 47%-45% lead over Barack Obama on who is trusted more to handle the situation, within the ±3% margin of error.

NYT: Comedians Having A Tough Time With Obama
In the wake of the flap surrounding the New Yorker cover, the New York Times explores how comedians have had problems finding an angle to go after Barack Obama. One problem is he is simply too earnest and gaffe-free to be easily lampooned, but an executive producer for David Letterman pointed to another factor: "Anything that has even a whiff of being racist, no one is going to laugh."

Poll: The Only Vulnerable Dem Senator Leads Her Opponent
In a further sign of how barren the map is this year for Senate Republicans, a new Rasmussen poll of Louisiana gives Senator Mary Landrieu -- probably the only vulnerable Democrat this cycle -- a 51%-45% lead over Republican candidate John Kennedy with a ±4.5% margin of error. This is despite the fact that John McCain has a 56%-37% lead over Barack Obama here, meaning that Landrieu is able to get a very high number of ticket-splitters.

And now for a little happy hour comic relief.

A GOP Senate candidate in Louisiana who used to be a Democrat has flip-flopped on Social Security, saying he now supports privatization when news reports indicate that he opposed it back when he was a Dem.

GOP candidate hews to party line on Social Security -- no surprise there. But here's the odd thing. The candidate's flack is saying that pointing out the flip-flop is a Dem talking point -- without refuting the flip-flop.

John Kennedy, the Republican candidate for Senate in Louisiana, endorsed President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security at a campaign stop yesterday. The problem: Kennedy used to be a Democrat, and when he ran for Senate in 2004 the Shreveport Times quoted him as opposing it (via Nexis).

So we e-mailed Kennedy spokesman Lenny Alcivar, with an open-ended question about what Kennedy's position is. He simply replied that we were "falling hook, line and sinker for the dem state party spin."

So we asked him why we were wrong and how this was falling for spin. "You don't know what you're talking about," he answered, repeating that we "fell for their spin directly."

So we asked him yet again why this wasn't a flip-flop, and why it was merely Dem spin. Not surprisingly, he didn't answer that either. Oh, well. We tried.

The GOP's single best pickup opportunity in the Senate right now is against Louisiana Dem Mary Landrieu -- but a new poll finds that she holds a solid lead over her Republican challenger, suggesting that this year's Senate map could be very rough indeed for the GOP.

The numbers from Rasmussen: Landrieu 55%, state Treasurer and ex-Dem John Kennedy (R) 39%. If Landrieu prevails this November, then the GOP is likely to be shut out on Senate pickups again, just as they were in 2006.

The Republicans are reportedly set to have their first Senate candidate with a realistic shot of picking off a Democratic incumbent. Political Wire reports that Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy (R) will announce his campaign against Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu early next year, and has already been soliciting campaign contributions. Kennedy used to be a Democrat, and ran for Senate as a Dem in 2004, but was recruited by Karl Rove to switch parties and run against Landrieu.

Landrieu is probably the single most endangered Democratic Senate incumbent, as she represents a Deep South state that has been trending more and more Republican — a situation that was exacerbated by the flight of many poor African-Americans after Hurricane Katrina. On the other hand, her vocal advocacy for Katrina victims might be able to endear her to the remainder of the electorate.

Late Update: Kennedy has updated his Web site, confirming the news.

If you thought the scandal surrounding Senator David Vitter (R-LA) had died down, think again.

Former New Orleans prostitute Wendy Ellis, a.k.a. Wendy Cortez, held a press conference outside Vitter's Washington office on Tuesday, accusing the Senator of carrying on an affair with her between July and November 1999 — shortly before he ran for Congress on a family-values platform.

"I want the truth to be known," Ellis said. "It was a pure sexual relationship. He would come in and do his business."

Vitter has denied Ellis' specific allegations, though he has admitted to a "serious sin" in his past, for which he has received forgiveness from his wife and God.

Ellis did not comment when asked if Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who provided documentation of a polygraph test, was paying her for her story. Ellis will appear in an upcoming issue of Hustler.

Looks like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) may have to do a whole new round of repenting and Lord's-forgiveness-asking in public:

NEW ORLEANS -- A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Wendy Cortez, whose real name is Wendy Ellis, says she had a sexual relationship with Vitter, R-La., in 1999, when he was a state legislator.

Copies of the results of Cortez's polygraph test, which she took at Flynt's request, will be provided to reporters at the news conference at Flynt's office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Hustler said in a news release Monday.

But remember, the only reason Republicans who demanded Larry Craig's ouster aren't howling for Vitter's head is because Craig did something illegal and Vitter didn't...

The election is this Fall, but Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy has already been effectively re-elected — he is running unopposed. Candidate filing closed yesterday, and not one candidate from either party will attempt to unseat him.

Kennedy switched party affiliation from Democratic to Republican a week and a half ago, a move that was widely seen as the first step in challenging Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu in 2008. He previously ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004, as a Democrat.

In a move that could throw a shadow over growing Dem optimism about making gains in the Senate in 2008, Louisiana Treasurer John N. Kennedy announced today that he is switching from the Democrats over to the Republican Party — a change widely seen as being a preliminary move towards challenging Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu.

In a statement posted on his Web site this morning, Kennedy said:

"I believe in certain fixed, bedrock principles: that government should be responsive and accountable to the taxpayers who pay for it; that economic growth originates in the private sector; that education is the best safeguard of liberty; that ethics in government is critical to people’s faith in democracy; that the values of faith, work, family, personal responsibility and individual liberty are the building blocks of a prosperous society. I have concluded that the Republican Party is the party that best reflects my values today."

Louisiana is one of the few states in the country currently trending Republican. After the election of Senator David Vitter (R) to succeed retiring conservative Democrat John Breaux in 2004, the state's Democratic base was further damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which caused many black voters to move elsewhere. If Kennedy follows up on his party switch with a run for Senate — which Karl Rove had been courting him to do — expect it to be a very tough race for the Dems.

Kennedy previously ran for Senate in the 2004 race as a Democrat, coming in third place in the all-party "jungle primary" election with 15%, behind second-place finisher Chris John (D) at 29% and David Vitter, the outright winner, who had 51%.

The full text of Kennedy's statement after the jump.

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Oh, dear. We've just learned that Senator David Vitter's 2004 campaign ads are still on his old campaign Web site's multimedia page -- and we've captured them for your viewing pleasure.

In his ads, Vitter repeatedly uses his wife and kids as campaign props in an effort to portray himself as a solid family-values sort of fellow, a portrayal he reinforced during the campaign by defending traditional marriage against its assorted enemies. Take a look:

Vitter, of course, is Rudy Giuliani's Southern regional chair and has now confessed to a very serious "sin" for getting linked to the D.C. Madam.

It's hard to decide which moment in these ads is most interesting. In one ad, his daughter narrates the whole thing. In another, Vitter is quoted as follows against the backdrop of his kids eating breakfast:

"Bottom line: For the sake of our children, there are a lot of things I'm gonna change."

And in the third ad, Vitter says:

"In life's most important moments, we're not Repulicans or Democrats, we are parents."

Special thanks to TPMer Ben Craw for putting together the video -- and for coming up with that "prostitute patron" gag.

Here's an interesting twist to the tale of David Vitter, who is now embroiled in a sex scandal involving his confessed frequenting of prostitutes in the D.C. Madam scandal: Vitter first got elected because his predecessor in the House resigned in the wake of a sex scandal of his own.

And that scandal involving his predecessor was created by the detective work of — yup — Larry Flynt.

This current scandal, of course, has come to light due partly to the investigate work of Flynt.

And the last politician who went down because of the intrepid pornographer was Congressman Bob Livingston (R-LA), who became Speaker-designate after the resignation of Newt Gingrich in late 1998. But before officially becoming Speaker in January of 1999, Livingston was forced to resign in disgrace — thanks to Flynt. The Hustler publisher had made a public offer for money in exchange for dirt on politicians' sex lives, in the heat of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the one he nailed turned out to be none other than Livingston, one of Clinton's chief detractors.

The special election to succeed Livingston was a colorful affair, featuring big names like former Governor Dave Treen and Ku Klux Klansman David Duke. And out of that tumultuous race, the final winner was ... none other than David Vitter, who went on to serve three terms in the House and ultimately won an election to the Senate in 2004, all because of a sex scandal suffered by his predecessor.

Flynt had this to say at the time, words to which Vitter may want to pay close attention: "I read where Livingston called me a bottom feeder. Sure, but look what I found at the bottom." (Business Week, January 18, 1999, via Nexis)

When Rudy Giuliani was first endorsed by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) earlier this year, it was a real coup: The support of a Southern conservative star would surely help the socially-liberal New Yorker win over social conservatives, to whom Vitter would be his main liason. But that's no longer the case, thanks to Vitter's involvement int he D.C. Madam scandal. Now Rudy is being put on the spot about Vitter, and he doesn't seem all that sure of what to say, according to MSNBC:

On Vitter, Giuliani mostly dodged and said that he hasn't talked to the senator yet. He emphasized "this is a personal issue" and highlighted that he couldn't have achieved so much in the campaign and during his years as mayor without the good character of his staffers and supporters. "But," Giuliani added, "Some people disappoint you."

Senator Mary Landrieu's geogrpahic base in New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, but that won't stop her from campaigning to evacuated constituents, Roll Call reports. In what a Landrieu aide called an "unprecedented" move, Landrieu's campaign will be running TV ads, sending direct mail, and other usual campaign tactics, but in other states. The campaign efforts will be aimed at New Orleans evacuees who are currently living in other states, but are registered to vote in Louisana and are eligible to vote absentee. While unprecendented for a Senate race, similar tactics were used by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and his 2006 opponent, Landrieu's brother Mitch.

"I often think we would have been better off if the terrorists had blown up our levees. Maybe we’d have gotten more attention."