You can't make this stuff up:

It’s now up to a judge to decide whether to accept the prosecution’s recommendation. And the judge overseeing the case has a history with Lewis, having been part of a three-judge panel that threw out redistricting plans that Lewis led the way in creating, calling them unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

Howard wrote Wednesday that he hopes federal District Judge Max Cogburn can put that aside — and recognize that in many ways, that redistricting lawsuit was the beginning of a downward spiral for Lewis due to “the immense time and attention it mandated from David to the detriment of his health and farming interests."

Get that? It wasn't the guilt over what he had done; stripping the power away from voters to choose their representatives while also unfairly packing and cracking his Democratic colleagues. Oh no, it was being called to account for those actions that put him into a "spiral." And he also had the burden of having tons of money thrown at him:

I call dibs on the new nickname Gourmet Cupcakes for Mark, but only if it makes him cry:

In October, the nonprofit government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) requesting an investigation into Meadows, based on a Salon report that detailed a series of apparent violations of the prohibition on using campaign funds for personal expenses.

Those payments covered gourmet cupcakes, grocery store purchases, a cell phone bill, posh meals and lodging at Donald Trump's Washington hotel, according to filings with the FEC. Meadows' campaign also spent thousands of dollars on "printed materials" at an upscale Washington-area custom jeweler on the day he left Congress for the White House. (The jewelry retailer has said it sells nothing that could be categorized that way.)

This is bad, but it's not as bad as using taxpayer dollars to golden parachute a serial sexual harasser. An FEC probe is nothing to scoff at, but it looks like Meadows may be facing more serious charges down the road from the Justice Department:

Make no mistake, this is election fraud, and a violation of the Constitution:

More than 150,000 ballots were caught in U.S. Postal Service processing facilities and not delivered by Election Day, agency data shows, including more than 12,000 in five of the states that have yet to be called for either President Trump or Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

Despite assurances from Postal Service leaders that agency officials were conducting daily sweeps for misplaced ballots, the mail service acknowledged in a court filing Thursday that thousands of ballots had not been processed in time, and that more ballots were processed Wednesday than on Election Day.

Get that? Trump is ranting about late votes, and Tweeting, "STOP COUNTING!" while DeJoy was (is) holding ballots hostage until after Election day. When a judge first ordered the Postal Service to begin sweeps of postal facilities 7 days ago, they (DeJoy) ignored the order. They barely lifted a finger on Monday, and even Tuesday (Election Day). Then they started sweeping (in earnest) on Wednesday. That demonstrates (clearly) the intent to delay and obstruct the votes of tens of thousands of citizens, regardless of lame rationalizations:

You wanted us to divide and conquer? Asked and answered:

In North Carolina, Senator Thom Tillis saw another devastating poll from a high-quality pollster. CBS News finds him trailing Cal Cunningham by ten points. At this point in the race, most voters know a lot about both candidates and closing a gap that wide in five weeks will be difficult. He will need Cunningham to stumble to make up the difference and Cunningham has not made many mistakes after a year of campaigning.

But what may be the worst news for Tillis is what is happening in other states. Outside money bolstering Tillis will soon be diverted to those states if his numbers don’t improve and races in those other states stay competitive. Expect the GOP to pull the plug on Tillis if the national environment or his numbers don’t improve in the next week or two.

Keep in mind, the Trump campaign is apparently down to eating its seed corn, and you know that bastard will scoop up as many dollars as he can, with zero concern for downballot races. And before you scold me for leaning on polls (which would be valid), we desperately need some good news in this current hellscape.

I'm sure they will "discover" those records on November 4th:

Forest’s latest campaign finance report shows that he has received $6.9 million in donations from individuals and PACs. But the donations from Lindberg mostly went to separate groups. One of them, the Republican Council of State Committee, funded a recent campaign ad featuring Forest and the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.

The News & Observer requested Forest’s schedule and emails during the period of Lindberg’s political donations, under the state public records law, to find out how frequently they communicated. Sixteen months later, the N&O has not received the records.

Bolding mine, because social media has been littered with right-wing whining and angst about Mandy Cohen not turning over reams of pandemic data so those plague rats can misquote it, but we're just now finding out that Dandy has been concealing potential campaign finance shenanigans for 16 months? We're talking millions of dollars he received from a convicted felon, who not only tried to bribe government officials but also likely defrauded insurance customers and fellow investors. And Dan Forest appears to have been involved in the bribery scheme, too: