Watch ’em, folks

LITTLE ROCK — THEY SAY politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed regulary. But beware. Even after you’ve made the change, the smell may linger.

Here’s the latest among the tealeaves/tarot-card readers, aka political reporters. An article in a fine, upstanding national newspaper that starts with Wall and ends in Journal, says the Democrats are planning for one last hurrah should they lose Congress this November.

Oh, sure, four months is a long time in politics, and it’s possible the Dems will actually add to their majorities in the House and Senate this fall. But it’s not looking good for the Democrats. (Ask Blanche Lincoln.) The president’s popularity is falling, and the Democratic leaders in Congress have never been all that popular nationally. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have become epithets rather than names.

So if the Democrats lose big this fall, what could happen before they have to surrender Congress? A lame-duck session in December, which would let the party bigs have their way on key issues without having to explain themselves to those pesky voters who may have just thrown them out of cushy office.

And what would those key issues be? Tax increases. Increased federal spending. The usual.

Also, this: Card Check.

What, you thought Card Check was over and done with? You don’t know union bosses very well. They want this thing. They aren’t about to give up without a fight. Fair or not.

Card Check is a way for the unions to all but do away with the secret ballot when it comes to unionizing the country’s workplaces. Instead of having a real behind-the-curtain vote, the unions’ enforcers could just walk around a shop, or hunt down workers at home, and have employees sign a card indicating their choice. Talk about an open invitation to a little intimidation. Or maybe a lot.

If you thought Card Check was a dead issue, you’ve been listening to Bill Halter too much. It’s not. To quote Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, a kneejerk lib if there ever was one: “. . . to those who think [card check] is dead, I say think again.” It’s more like the undead, stalking their next victims in a horror movie.

A congressman from Arizona, one Raul Grijalva, co-chairman of something called the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters last month that a lame-duck session might be the best, and maybe only, chance to pass legislation like Card Check. “The lame duck would be the last chance, quite honestly, for the foreseeable future.”

Add this to the list of questions voters should ask incumbents running for re-election to either the House or Senate: If you lose this election, would you go back to Washington for a lame-duck session and start voting for legislation you didn’t dare defend before the November election?

Town hall meetings this summer could get even more interesting if somebody got up before a hot microphone and put that question to an incumbent. The response would be interesting. And, if the candidate dodged the question, even more revealing.