Congressional elections heat up

This mid-term Congressional elections have heated up in the late summer, and it has been exciting to see the next twist in an election year where nothing short of control of one or both chambers of Congress. The public opinion of Congress, including people's opinions of their own representative, is at the lowest point since 1994, the landmark year when both houses of Congress changed control. Some interesting races:

OHIO: Rep. Bob Ney, seeking a seventh term, dropped out of the race, citing an increase in pressures on his family as criticism mounted for his involvement in the Jack Abramoff bribery scandal. Ney has not been indicted but he has been identified as the congressman listed in several accounts filed by the prosecutors. He won the Republican primary recently. [ CNN report ]

GEORGIA: Cynthia McKinney is in a tough re-election battle. A run-off election will see who gets to be the Democrat candidate, since McKinney failed to acquire 50 percent of the vote earlier. She made headlines earlier this year when she was involved in an altercation with a Capitol police officer. She later apologized and was not charged. The issue appears to be her own behavior.

TEXAS: State Republican leaders have abandoned their effort to replace Tom DeLay on the ballot. DeLay had already won a March primary when he resigned from Congress in June. Democrats said he should remain on the ballot, obviously hoping that his name no longer would mean as much under indictment and after a resignation. Will the man who resigned get re-elected, or will he launch a write-in campaign for a fellow Republican? [ CNN Report ]

CNN also has a rundown on some other races as well.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.