And Tom Daschle's bloody fingerprints are all over it. Dashcle and his crew have used some obscure Senate rule to require a 60 percent vote to pass legislation he is trying to stonewall, and the stimulus bill (among others) has apparently fallen victim to that.

Daschle can't wait to wipe his butt with the Bush budget proposals.

Daschle is so frantic that the economy not improve before the election (screw the struggling businesses and the "little people" that he and his kind don't give a rat's ass about anyway) that he may have made a major mistake.

I personally think the economy will do just fine without the bill, something Daschle, a socialist down to his marrow, probably is unable to conceive of. And this may be his big mistake. If the economy improves, the Democrats will not be able to point to anything they did. Bush will not be able to credit his specificl egislation either, but simply by being in office will get some brownie points. On the other hand, if the economy is still tanked, Bush could make a good case (true or not) that it's the Democrats' fault for killing the legislation.

Interestingly, not spending this money would almost balance the budget, which would take another major arrow out of the Democratic quiver. However, I'm sure they are preparing to hit the Bush budget with their own fusillade of spending in order to sink it.