The Friday Political Thread: Family-Friendly Edition

Since the Family Research Council clambake won't end til Sunday I'll have to update later with the really big stories. For now, the week in brief:

– Sam Brownback won't be president in 2009. But he's a young man!

– In a special election Democrats held the fifth district of Massachusetts, the most conservative (Kerry by 16) seat in the bluest state, when Niki "Paul's Widow" Tsongas beat Jim "Yeah, Well, My Brother Was Killed on 9/11" Ogonowski. The state GOP wants Ogonowski to run for something else. On an unrelated note, John Kerry is on the ballot in 2008.

– The Democrats tried, and failed, to override the president's bloody-handed genocide of American children SCHIP veto. (This, along with "ending the war," was one of two promises Tsongas made in Massachusetts.)

Below the fold…

– Ray Gustini analyzes the John Edwards non-sex scandal.

– Pollsters are starting to include Ron Paul in their phone surveys. How's an obscure anti-war Republican with buckets of cash do? He loses to Clinton in Ohio and ties her in Kansas.

– Byron York likes Tom Tancredo's stump speech. I agree, it's good: There's a reason he nearly beat Brownback in the Ames Straw Poll.

And this week's Politics 'n' Prog stars are Gentle Giant. This 1975 performance is notable mainly for the incredible facial expressions of John Weathers.