The special election to fill the seat of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now imprisoned for bribery, takes place today. Many around the country are looking at the race as a referendum on the spate of congressional scandals and an indication as to whether those scandals will affect the electoral chances of Democrats or Republicans.

CQPolitics has more on this race and on Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) who face their own primary challenges today and will find out who on the Democrat side will be facing them in the general election. Both Pombo and Burns have been dogged by connections to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.