Understatement of the Week

Long article in the N&O about Liddy Dole stumping in Montana for Jack Abramoff's good buddy, Sen. Conrad Burns.

We're heartened that Senator Dole can find Billings, Montana, just fine, when she can't seem to find a home in North Carolina.

Said Bill Peaslee, chief of staff for the N.C. Republican Party, with just a hint of defensiveness, "Elizabeth Dole doesn't have to be in North Carolina to be serving North Carolina's interests." (We naturally love such a classic example of understatement.)

That Peaslee quote rates right up there with N.C. House representative Gene Wilson's explanation for why he's rated 109th for "effectiveness," out of 120 House members: "Those rankings are based on what you do there [in Raleigh, where, uh, the state legislature is located and where it conducts the people's business]. They don't reflect what you do outside [Raleigh]."

Why, for what he does outside Raleigh, Wilson would be rated at least 110th! So there!