Go Charlie Go!

Charlie Rangel will not back down. Go Charlie!

Rep. Charlie Rangel, the flamboyant Harlem Democrat, was working frantically Wednesday to strike a deal with House colleagues that will spare him the kind of open ethics trial that has not occurred there since 2002.

But to escape that fate Rangel would have to admit guilt and accept punishment for charges ranging from failure to pay taxes on rent from a Dominican Republic villa to using his influence as chairman of the powerful Ways & Means Committee to secure donations for a namesake school in his district.

Rangel's reluctance to admit guilt has frustrated Democratic leaders eager to avert a full-blown trial that would allow Republicans to portray the party in power as corrupt and out of touch with voters, sources said.

That's the last thing Democrats need as they head into an midterm election where dozens of Democratic House seats are in jeopardy.

"In the fall, Charlie Rangel will be the advertisement that sinks marginal Democrats," said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant in New York City. "If played properly by the Republicans, Rangel becomes the symbol of congressional corruption versus public morality, and abuse by Washington versus public good."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/congress/Dems-face-embarrassment-from-Rangel-corruption-charges-1004535-99498544.html#ixzz0v4q35HXe