Interesting item from Paul Krugman's latest column:

Donald Shields and John Cragan, two professors of communication, have compiled a database of investigations and/or indictments of candidates and elected officials by U.S. attorneys since the Bush administration came to power. Of the 375 cases they identified, 10 involved independents, 67 involved Republicans, and 298 involved Democrats. The main source of this partisan tilt was a huge disparity in investigations of local politicians, in which Democrats were seven times as likely as Republicans to face Justice Department scrutiny.

How can this have been happening without a national uproar? The authors explain: “We believe that this tremendous disparity is politically motivated and it occurs because the local (non-statewide and non-Congressional) investigations occur under the radar of a diligent national press.

The 298/67 ratio is a statistical oddity given at the federal level the number of Republicans under investigation and/or indictment clearly has outnumbered that of Dems. As the authors state, the difference here being the federal level has national press exposure, further insuring fairness and due diligence, as opposed to the local level which suffers from a dearth of media coverage and thus is more prone to rigged shenanigans.

Much of this under-the-radar maneuvering occurred with the scandalous firing of federal prosecutors, but thanks to newly-in-control Dem call for hearings, the rot and filth is being shown the light of day and made known.

Let's hope we get to see much more of this long-overdue national exposure to countless number of highly questionable practices committed over the last seven years.