JAILHOUSE CONGRESSMAN: Even though Ohio's James Traficant has been kicked out of Congress and sentenced to eight years in prison, he still plans to seek re-election this fall as an independent. Traficant's predicament reminds me of that of Leonard Richards, a Minnesotan convicted first of murdering his half-sister in a bid to collect on an insurance policy, and then during his trial, killing his lawyer (a crime for which he was later convicted; on a 7th grade field trip, I attended a day of his trial). Richards, undeterred, ran for State Treasurer of Minnesota in 1996 as a Democrat, gaining 33,033 votes. Now granted, this is the same state that elected Jesse Ventura governor, but Traficant is so popular in his Youngstown district that it won't surprise me if (even if he's not re-elected) he at least out-polls Richards.
And in other Traficant news, the crazy ex-Congressman has been forced to admit for the first time that his bizarre hairstyle is in fact a toupee. Shocking, I know.