The Democrats' duty; They might as well relinquish their new power if they can't enact ethic and campaign finance laws.(Perspective)(Editorial)

W hat don't the Democrats understand about why they won back control of Congress, after a dozen years, in the recent midterm elections? There was a general sense of disgust with President Bush and the Republicans, of course, particularly about the Iraq war. But the corruption of Congress - very much a bipartisan issue, remember - had as much as anything to do with voters across the country kicking out one party in favor of another.

If the Democrats don't believe that, and how their own potential inaction on toughening congressional ethics laws could lead to yet another realignment of political power, they won't need to wait until the elections in 2008 for irrefutable …