Okay, finding a pol who had an illegal alien as a nanny hardly makes the front page these days. But not that many made their nannies hide in the basement to make sure no one found out they had an illegal working in the home. Let’s thank Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV), who’s now running for governor, for raising the bar.

Harold Ford’s got a response ad to the Corker/RNC/Mehlman ‘Ford’s an Uppity Negro’ spot …

Take a look. Not bad.

Hmmm. Not looking too good for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ). Just a short while ago we alerted you to the AP story breaking the news that Renzi is the subject of a federal investigation centering on a shady land deal. We’d been working on that story too. And a short time after the AP story broke, TPMmuckraker.com followed up with more details we have about the transaction and the subsequent investigation.

Because of that we weren’t surprised to see the New York Times following on these stories with their own piece about the Renzi probe.

But I got a bit more surprised when I read the Times piece by David Johnston and realized that they were reporting an investigation into what appears to be an entirely separate bad act. This one’s about an investigation into a piece of legislation Renzi introduced to help what the Times calls a telecom company that happens to employ his Renzi’s father.

Also of interest, I just talked to TPMmuckraker’s Justin Rood who says the company in question is an intel contractor that apparently had ties to Mitch Wade’s MZM. So if you’re still looking for the grand unified theory of GOP corruption, hey, the night’s still young.

LATimes/Bloomberg polls out on five key senate races.

Ohio: Brown (D) 47%, DeWine (R) 39%.

New Jersey: Menendez (D) 45%, Kean (R) 41%.

Virginia: Webb (D) 47%, Allen (R) 44%.

Missouri: Talent (R) 48%, McCaskill (D) 45%.

Tennesee: Corker (R) 49%, Ford (D) 44%.

The Ohio race is pretty stable and clearly in Brown’s favor. I’d rather have seen another poll of Montana.

The staffer strikes back: In an admittedly partisan gambit, last week the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee booted a Democratic staffer, claiming he may have played a role in leaking classified information. Now, the staffer is going public — and it sounds like he can make a good case for himself. That and other news of the day in today’s Daily Muck.

Turns out Bob Corker’s ads against Harold Ford are pretty similar to that ‘independent expenditure’ ad that knocks Ford for diddling white chicks. Mark Schmitt brings us more.

Bush 8.4, this morning: Stay the Course on Goals, Cut and Run on Methods.

Gotta love the subtext of President Bush’s excuse-making on ‘the war’. Every earlier war was easy. Only mine is really tough. Gimme a break.

Good news about that field staffer from the Tester campaign. Reportedly, he contracted some illness “while working for the Peace Corps in Africa [that] makes him become disoriented.” One way or another, he appears to be ill but on the mend. If only every person missing for four days story ended so well.

President Bush: “Reconciliation is difficult in a country that has been tortured and divided by a tyrant.”

He ain’t kiddin’.