Do you think the Democrats might be attempting to gently nudge the topic of Congressman Phil Crane’s struggle with alcoholism a little?

I had to kill off two posts from a persistent commenter last week who wanted to focus on the subject. The poster was anonymous, but I had a hunch who it was, found out I was right, and, yes, he does have a connection to Democratic challenger Melissa Bean’s campaign, as well as, apparently, WAY too much time on his hands (although, I gotta admit, the posts were pretty funny and he should not take this as discouragement - keep it up, dude).

I didn’t think anything more about it until this morning, when I saw that the Sun-Times managed to work an alcoholism reference into its Crane story:

Some suburban Republican leaders said they think Crane has spent less time and effort in the district in the last several years, particularly since he spent 30 days in rehab for alcoholism in 2000.

So, I did a quick Google check, and found this recent story on national pundit Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” website:

According to national Democrats targeting the race, the attention that has been drawn to Crane’s lack of legislative activity coupled with the state GOP’s current disarray have conspired to make the 35-year House veteran vulnerable. They also say Crane’s stay at an alcohol rehabilitation center several years ago doesn’t help matters either, though the GOP says it’s an old issue.

Even with the booze issue, when all is said and done Sabato thinks Crane survives the rematch.

Bean’s enhanced name recognition and the race’s presence on the national radar screen will probably make the outcome a lot closer this time around, but Crane, who replaced Donald Rumsfeld in this seat years ago, is a Chicago institution and remains the favorite to win a 19th term.

“Chicago institution”? Not. More like “Washington, DC institution.” Almost nobody knows who Phil Crane is. He faded away long ago.

And while I certainly don’t condone this sort of behavior, I think that if the Democrats are willing to stoop to using these naughty little tactics then maybe Bean does have a shot at winning. It ain’t easy to unseat an incumbent in an overwhelmingly GOP district. A little dirt is probably necessary.

The Beanos will need all the help they can get. The Republicans brought in a negativity specialist this week, so hold onto your hats. I know the guy. He’s always fun to watch. I have no idea what will happen next, but I’m positive that Bean won’t like it much.

By the way, if the Republicans hadn’t panicked and eliminated straight-ticket voting after the 1996 election, then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now. The straight R’s would have overwhelmed Bean.