(2006-10-31) — New York Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee, said today that next Tuesday’s Congressional elections are shaping up to be “more and more a referendum on former President Richard Nixon.”

The remarks come a day after Sen. Schumer received significant media coverage for saying that the election is increasingly becoming a referendum on George W. Bush, although Mr. Bush has promised to serve out his final term as president, and has no immediate plans to seek a seat in the House or Senate.

“If you don’t like Richard Nixon’s dirty tricks and his disastrous war in Vietnam,” Sen. Schumer said, “it’s time for a change in Washington. It’s time to vote Democrat.”

The senior senator from New York scoffed at the suggestion that Congressional elections are part of a Constitutional process for selecting legislators from each state to represent voters interests at the federal level.

“That’s what Republicans would like you to think,” he said, “because they want to get you distracted with issues, and with the qualifications of candidates in your home state. In these final days, we’re going to stay on our progressive Democrat message — when you vote Republican, it’s like voting for Nixon.”