A Pertinent Fact

From the AP:

Six of the eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department ranked in the top third among their peers for the number of prosecutions filed last year, according to an analysis of federal records. In addition, five of the eight were among the government's top performers in winning convictions.

Were they not pursuing Bush's policies on immigration and drugs? Again:

Immigration cases a top Bush administration priority, especially in states along the porous Southwest border helped boost the total number of prosecutions for U.S. attorneys in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

Four of the prosecutors also rated high in pursuing drug cases, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Only one of the eight received a better-than-average ranking in prosecuting weapons cases.

Was Rove trying to get pliant new U.S. attorneys to prosecute Democrats in battleground states before the next election? We don't know yet.