Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham had already handed us Democrats a huge boost in our quest to take back the House in 2006 by announcing his retirement earlier this year. And of course, the very reason he announced his retirement -- a votes-for-yachts scandal involving a defense industry lobbyist -- added to the laundry list of scandals tarring House Republicans. So is it really all that important that Cunningham has come clean and admitted taking bribes? Well, for starters, it means that there's now one less Republican in Congress.

Beyond the fact that there's now one less member of the House Republican Caucus, this is the beginning of the end for the corrupt Republicans who've developed an all-too-cozy relationship with lobbyists. Sure, Tom DeLay's been indicted and Bob Ney's been implicated in the Abramoff scandals, but none of that is as clear as an actual admission of guilt.

Tonight's evening news will likely be filled with stories about a Republican Congressman taking pleading guilty to crimes that could (but probably won't) earn him some serious prison time (up to ten years). If there's any justice in this world, the story will be reported in context of DeLay, Abramoff, Ney, Safavian, etc, etc, etc.

One of the major points of the Democratic efforts to win back control of the House will be Republican corruption. In 1994, when an indictment of Democratic Rep. Dan Rostenkowski on mail fraud charges, the corruption argument helped usher in a Republican Majority in the House. That scandal is peanuts compared to the rampant corruption the Republicans are currently wrapped up in. This is something one of their own admits. As former GOP Congressman J.C. Watts has written, "Republicans in just 10 years have developed the arrogance it took the Democrats 30 years to develop." This from a Republican who was part of that power shift in 1994.

And as Jonathan wrote earlier, the GOP retirements of 2006 are likely to have the same impact as the Democratic retirements of 1994. More open seats to defend plus a black cloud of corruption equals disaster for the party in power.

UPDATE: I left out two important facts.

1. There will be a special election. Special elections are our friend.
2. Democrat Francine Busby will be running. Her prospects are good, but she'll need our help.