SEC chairman Harvey Pitt lurches from lapdog to bulldog, threatening CEOs with jail time if their corporate reports mislead. George Bush demands "top floor" accountability. Republican leaders in the House muscle their own caucus members into passing a sham prescription drug benefit.

The run-up to the fall elections has begun. Barely a month ago, White House political guru Karl Rove was telling Republicans they could retain control of Congress by waving the flag, celebrating the recovery and promoting an ill-defined "compassion agenda." Now, with the dollar and the stock market sinking, the recovery looking shaky and Vice President Cheney back in hiding as investigations widen into accounting deceptions at his former company, Halliburton, Republicans are getting nervous.

Americans don't want the war on terrorism turned to partisan purpose, pollster Stan Greenberg informed a Campaign for America's Future press briefing, "and they want this election to be about their own pressing concerns"--the soaring price of healthcare, educating their children, paying for college, decent jobs with good benefits and whether they can afford to retire now that their 401(k) has become a 201(k).

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