Meanwhile, in a case that may not have gotten much attention outside of New England, a much-discussed scandal has amounted to . . . not much in the legal arena.

Federal prosecutors have dropped their case against a GOP organizer they accused in a plot to jam Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during an election, drawing a sharp response Wednesday from a congressman who said he will continue to press for a “full airing.”
Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes was responding to news the federal government has ended its prosecution of a former Republican political organizer accused of making false statements to FBI agents investigating the plot.
James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, had been accused of making false statements to FBI agents investigating the plot. The case against him came to a quiet conclusion last week when a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston dismissed an appeal by prosecutors.
Tobin had already been cleared in federal court in New Hampshire of taking part in a plot to arrange more than 800 hang-up calls that jammed get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002.
Then the government brought charges in Maine of lying to investigators, and a judge dismissed those before the case went on to the federal appeals court.

The judge has dismissed the charges, and the prosecutors have dropped the case. But Congressman Paul Hodes fights on, despite messages from Don Quixote that it’s time to move on.