The 2006 Election Apocalypse has begun.

Just yesterday I made an armchair prediction that this year's election cycle would be one of the ugliest we've ever seen in terms of negative campaigning. Today, I wrote that DeLay-style politics will continue to be the standard among DC Republicans until they are removed from office to a man (and that includes Ohio's Jean Schmidt, recently caught falsifying her resume). The GOP has little to run on policy-wise, and that means character assassination in spades. And just a few minutes ago, I came across this story on Pennsylvania Republican Curt Weldon, "the second ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee."

Under scrutiny from the national media because of his family’s ties to lobbyists, Weldon is running an aggressive campaign. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) flew in to campaign for him Saturday, and Weldon said he has raised $430,000 in the past two weeks. (. . .)

Weldon attacked Sestak’s decision to continue owning a home in Virginia while only renting in Pennsylvania and questioned why Sestak did not move back to Pennsylvania when he was working at the Pentagon. Weldon commutes from Pennsylvania each day.

Why does Weldon's opponent, Admiral Joe Sestak, rent a Pennsylvania apartment yet currently reside in Virginia? What sleazy, underhanded political trick does Sestak think he's trying to pull?

. . . on Jan. 19, retired Adm. Joe Sestak and his wife, Susan, awaited the doctors’ verdict about the condition of their 5-year-old daughter, Alexandra.

She had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last summer and given three to nine months to live. The Sestaks lived for four months in the ward. They watched as their daughter survived three surgeries, and as she endured chemotherapy.

With a full seven months to go before election day, a staunch Bush Republican has decided that a child's battle with cancer is the perfect opportunity to paint his opponent as a phony. Our long, national nightmare has just begun.

Oh, and McCain? Screw you for campaigning on behalf of this scumbag.