Just to inform everyone: I will be on vacation all week long. There's an off chance that I might write something new on Thursday or Friday, but it is unlikely, so please don't be disappointed if I don't manage to.

Instead of new columns this week, I dug way back into the misty shrouds of time to re-run some of my earliest columns. These are all (except maybe Friday's) from my first two months of blogging, in June and July of 2006. Some of the points made in these early columns are just as relevant (and demanding of attention) now as they were back then -- a sad commentary on our elected officials, in a way. To set the stage: back then, Democrats were in the minority in both houses of Congress, George W. Bush was president, and midterm elections were approaching. Of course, we all now know that the 2006 midterms were a victorious "wave" election for Democrats in Congress, but that was in no way assured when I wrote these columns.

Anyway, sorry for the week of repeats, but even I've got to get away from politics every so often. New columns (starting, hopefully, with the "Obama Poll Watch" column which really should have run today) will resume next Monday. Hope everyone had a happy Labor Day!

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant