Today is election day in Virginia, and I voted in the Democrat Primary election this morning. I am not a registered Democrat, but then again, neither is anyone else. (There is no party registration in Virginia.) Living in Virginia's 8th District means that I have to hang my head in shame every time James 'Blame the J-E-W-S' Moran opens his big fat mouth. I don't know much about the challenger, Andy Rosenberg, except that he's not likely to be as anti-semitic as Moran. Still, I was compelled to brave the high school parking lot during rush hour, and wade through countless teenagers rushing off to class, just to cast my vote against Moran. The ballot might as well have said:

[ ] Moran
[ ] Not Moran

Driving in to work I heard one of Moran's supporters on the radio. He was being interviewed after just having cast his vote for the incumbent. When asked about the allegations being made against Moran, the voter whined about the smear campaign that Rosenberg was waging, and said something like: "It ticks me off when someone makes a slur and has nothing to back it up." Of course, Rosenberg wasn't the one making the allegations. It was Moran's own aide and former pollster making the accusations, and Rosenberg simply highlighted the Washington Post article, which gave the details:

However, Moran is a wounded giant, stung most recently by the accusation of his longtime aide and pollster, Alan Secrest, that Moran made an anti-Semitic remark in a campaign meeting March 18. Secrest did not disclose what Moran said, and Moran denied making any anti-Semitic statement.

Rosenberg is challenging Moran, not because of his voting record, but because of the constant embarrassment that Moran is causing to Virginia and the Democrat Party. According to Moran, it's never his fault, but the weblog Morantics has the laundry list of his latest bumblings.

# Moran accused of anti-Semitic remarks. (June '04)
# Moran kicks military vets out of his office. (April '04)
# Moran's aide tries to deny remarks about Jews. (April '04)
# Moran flip-flops on baseball stadium. (July '03)
# Moran attacks priest after Mass. (May '03)
# Moran attacks Jewish community on Iraq. (Mar. '03)

And this is just in the last year. And don't forget Marc Fisher's article in the Washington Post.

Challenging Moran should be the easiest job in America. After all, this is the congressman who -- you'll need a deep breath to make it to the end of this sentence -- grabbed an 8-year-old boy in a parking lot because Moran thought the kid had threatened him; borrowed $25,000 from a drug company lobbyist five days before agreeing to co-sponsor a bill that would help that lobbyist's client; took a $447,000 loan from a credit company four days before signing on to legislation that the company was pushing; got into a shoving match on the House floor with one colleague; threatened to punch another congressman in the nose; and just last year told an audience that there'd be no war against Iraq without the support of the Jewish community. Whew.

We should find out how easy it is or isn't, today.

UPDATE: Augh. Moran wins 59-41.