"It doesn't hurt," Miringoff said. "If it (ethics situation) is not resolved, it can stay as an open wound. A one-day story turns into a one-week story, which turns into a one-year story. And that's what Democrats have to worry about."
Former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., sees parallels between what the Democrats are experiencing on ethics and what his party endured in 2006.
Davis, a former chair of the House Committee on Government Reform, said he was so worried about the ethics scandals that enveloped former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Tex., and Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., that he wrote -- but pocketed -- a letter to the House Republican leadership warning them that these problems could hurt the party at the polls.
Davis envisions similar troubles for Democrats.
"Unemployment is still high, so issues like corruption become exaggerated in this atmosphere, and that could pose a problem for Democrats," he said. "Corruption can't be a game-changer, but it usually works with other items. And you've got all the makings -- a year from now, the Democrats will have all these problems: It will be (President Barack) Obama's wars, Obama's economy, Obama's corruption."
Some Democrats, however, have rejected that notion and rallied around Rangel and other members under ethical clouds. Pelosi hasn't pushed for Rangel's removal as Ways and Means chair because, her aides say, she wants the ethics investigation process to unfold fully.
Other Democrats said they don't want to give in to what they think is GOP grandstanding.
"They are upset that some of their members in the past were convicted and, as a result, aren't in Congress anymore," said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who joined other members of the Congressional Black Caucus in signing a letter to Pelosi in support of Rangel. "Now, they're playing politics, trying to make something out of nothing."
Some Democrats and their allies, however, are nervous. Lori Edwards, a Democratic congressional candidate running in a Republican-leaning Florida district, returned a $1,000 campaign contribution from a political action committee of Pennsylvania's Murtha, the influential chairman of the House Appropriations' defense subcommittee, the newspaper Politico reported.
Political foes and watchdog groups have raised questions about Murtha's use of earmarks and campaign contributions.
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