Randy "Duke" Cunningham, ultra-conservative, pure as the driven slush.

No wonder these guys are the first ones crying like stuck pigs when anyone dares to question their sterling integrity. When Republicans steal, they steal big. Big bad "Duke", a real man of the people, living aboard the 42ft yacht of a millionaire contributor he helped get government contracts. I'm sure "Duke" had ever reason to think he'd never be touched. After all, if you're a Republican, you can do no wrong. But this must be really bad if Rove didn't even call off the FBI.

WASHINGTON – In a dramatic sign of a fast-moving, bicoastal investigation, federal agents searched the Rancho Santa Fe home of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham yesterday, along with the Washington office of a defense contractor linked to the Republican congressman and the yacht where Cunningham had lived. The federal task force that conducted the coordinated, surprise raids on opposite coasts included agents from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, said Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington.

"The operation is part of an ongoing investigation," she said.

It has been known for at least two weeks that the FBI and a federal grand jury in San Diego are investigating Cunningham's ties to Mitchell Wade, founder of MZM Inc.

On June 12, a story in The San Diego Union-Tribune revealed that the defense contractor bought Cunningham's Del Mar-area home in 2003 and later sold it at a $700,000 loss. Shortly after selling the house, Cunningham purchased his Rancho Santa Fe home for $2.55 million. Cunningham also lived aboard Wade's 42-foot yacht while in Washington.

Yesterday's raids and the overall pace of the investigations seemed to support speculation by some former MZM employees that Wade and Cunningham might have been under federal scrutiny for months and that the scope of the probe may go beyond the purchase of the house and use of the yacht.

MZM, which was founded in 1993, had no federal contracts until 2002. Since then, it has received $163 million in government contracts. Cunningham, a member of the influential House defense appropriations subcommittee and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has said he supported Wade's efforts to win contracts.