Politico's Latest Anonymous Rumors

Politico's latest adds a little more information on Eric Massa's alleged misdeeds. According to an anonymous Massa staffer, the alleged wrongdoing had been going on for eight months.

Other than that, there's not much new. The piece mentions the dispute between Massa and Sanford Dickert, his first paid campaign manager, in 2006. Anyone who isn't familiar with that dust-up can read the summary I wrote back then.

Comments

What I'm hearing is that there's going to be a special election -- that the scope of Massa's problems is such that he can't survive to the end of his term. If true, it's going to seriously compress the window of time available for candidates to get in (or out) of the race.

If I were Tom Reed, I'd be negotiating hard for a suitable consolation prize and acknowledging the inevitable GOP candidacy of Maggie Brooks.

On the Democratic side, I'm no longer sure Shawn Hogan thinks being Massa's hand-picked successor is quite the advantage it was a few days ago, though the money will certainly help!

I continue to believe that the key to this is the potential retirement of Louise Slaughter and the desire to position a candidate for that seat; if so, watch for both the GOP and Democrats to go with a Rochester-area candidate, unless Massa insists on throwing his money to Hogan, which might well make him unbeatable in a hurry-up primary.

Update: the word I'm hearing is that a resignation is imminent -- could be as early as today, but near-certain within the week.

The Washington Post is now reporting a resignation.

My Lord. Who would have imagined any of this a week ago?