Oh, what a Blue House could do...

For future visions of Bush being held to accountability standards higher than those of Fox News, one needs only travel a few miles from DC to the mythical land of Annapolis. Maryland's true Red Governor, Bob Ehrlich, faces a blue house and senate. And, while the national democratic party could not hope (well, we can hope for anything, really) for a veto-busting sized majority following the elections this fall, 50+ in the Senate is not out of reach, nor is a tide-turning 218 in the House. Aside from hearings on Iraq, Katrina, and other serious crises, imagine the following scene.

Jim Oberstar, the new chairman of the House committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, invites Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation, to a hearing on Federal shortfalls in promised money. Unbeknownest to Secretary Mineta, Chairman Oberstar also invites a few dozen governors and mayors to the hearing as well. As Mineta frets and fumes, the mayors and governors relate stories of millions of dollars of promised federal infrastructure support that has simply not materialized. Moreover, the mayors and governors talk about the increased burden they face because of the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush administration.

Doesn't sound like much, eh? Well, imagine this happening every day.

In Maryland, the equivalent of this happened yesterday in Annapolis.

After lecturing Flanagan on the need to keep the business of filling potholes nonpartisan, Franchot -- who is running for the Democratic nomination for comptroller -- invited the mayors to stand and tell how the loss of state highway funds was hurting their citizens.

As Flanagan stewed at the witness table, mayors and local council members told stories of being denied $50,000 here or $200,000 there -- insignificant sums in a state budget measured in billions but in some cases one-fifth of a municipal transportation budget.

While the GOP called it an ambush, when the pressure was put on, they began eating their own:

But back in the committee room, Flanagan's contention wasn't getting much support -- even from members of his own Republican Party.

John Martin, a budget analyst with the Department of Legislative Services, told the panel that the Transportation Department had "additional capacity there to find some money," and that the issue is "easily resolved by writing a check to the localities tomorrow."

End result? The GOP looks bad, the Governor looks fiscally irresponsible and the mayors make a point.

Now imagine this, once again, at a national level. Imagine it, not only in transportation, but in Defense, in Education, in Agriculture, in Appropriations, in International Relations, in Small Business. Imagine official after official getting called out and taken to task. Imagine the media coverage as Mineta sweats, as Rumsfeld steams. And imagine the Bush administration no longer getting a free pass. Ladies and gentlemen, imagine your oppositional congress, in power. This is what the framers had in mind. This is what we must do in 2006. It looks good in Annapolis. It will look even better in DC.