Daschle's meltdown

A sure sign that a candidate is trailing in an election is the filing of a lawsuit, but to file a lawsuit before the votes have all even been cast, much less counted, is really remarkable. Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) sued his challenger, John Thune, individually for actions allegedly taken by poll-watchers. Among the offending acts by these poll watchers were "ostentatiously taking notes" and "rolling their eyes." How dastardly. DvT was live-blogging from the courtroom during last night's proceedings and has some very interesting comments.

Talk about a conflict of interest -- here's what Daschle once had to say about the judge presiding in last night's fiasco:

"First, I got my start in politics thanks to lawyers... rather, one lawyer in particular. In 1978, I won my first election to the House by 14 votes. Don’t laugh, in South Dakota, that’s 60 percent of the vote. Apparently undaunted by that landslide of support, my opponent sued to contest the election. I was fortunate to be represented by a great lawyer and a dear friend, Larry Piersol. It took one year and 21 days, but here I am 25 years later."

Common sense prevailed, and the judge only prohibited the poll watchers from writing down license plate numbers. Let history record, however, that the first candidate lawsuit from Election 2004 was filed by the Democratic leader (who will almost certainly now lose).

Hat tip: The Corner.