James Traficant, the disgraced Democrat congressman who served nine terms in Congress before serving seven years in prison for bribery, obstruction and tax evasion, is out of jail and looking to get back into politics. He filed papers this week to run as an independent against a former staffer, Tim Ryan, who beat Traficant when he tried to run for re-election from prison. Thanks to Congress’s flexible ethics laws, Traficant’s jail time doesn’t bar him from running again. While his lack of money and party support make his victory unlikely, if he’s the same man we knew years ago, we will no doubt witness a colorful campaign.
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