Hotline After Dark

It was the last minutes of "24" for Jack Bauer, but he'll always have cable news.

While there was some talk of Pres. Bush's still declining poll numbers and the situation in Iraq, most of the political talk centered on Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA).

MSNBC's Matthews: "This is almost funny, except it is criminal if it's true" ("Hardball," 5/22).

CNN's Bash: "The congressman says he won't resign, despite private pressure from Democratic leaders, who want to make corruption a campaign issue against Republicans" ("AC 360," 5/22).

FNC's Wilson: "Democrats are apparently worried. We have received word that they have approached a couple of key Democrats from New Orleans, one of them is the council president Oliver Thomas, city council president, and a state represent by the name of Karen Carter asking them if they would be interesting in running for Jefferson's seat" ("Special Report," 5/22).

Al Sharpton: "This was all found months ago, almost a year ago, and yet they still had to make an unprecedented raid at his congressional office. So if it was that cut and dry, why haven't they closed this case, indicted him or not, a year ago when they found the cash. They didn't find the cash last week, so obviously they're still looking for something and they're not still satisfied that they have a case to make the unprecedented move they made before" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 5/22).

NBC's P. Williams: "Federal officials say they acted only after asking for documents from Jefferson's office eight months ago, and getting nowhere" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 5/22).

Dem strategist James Carville: "I have been racking my brain all day and calling people, wanting to know what could be the other side of the story for a congressman having $90,000 of cash in his freezer. And the collective wisdom of my friends have not been able to come up with anything. But if he can come up with a reason for this, I'm waiting here, man. I want to hear it, because I can't think of it" ("Situation Room," CNN, 5/22).