New York, NY —

With Republicans galvanized by a victory in Massachusetts and a new Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to spend freely on campaign ads, Democratic incumbents are heading into this year’s midterm elections with some frayed nerves. It doesn't help that on the horizon is the ethics investigation against Harlem’s congressman, Charlie Rangel, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Observers say the last thing Democrats need now is even a hint of corruption in their party, and the longer the report remains unfinished, the longer Republicans can use ethics as an issue against the Democrats. As Rangel waits for the final report, his district is watching him figure out his political footing these days.

In a happier time, Rangel wrote in his memoir “And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since,” that he loves the beaches of the Dominican Republic so much, he’s thought about telling God not to worry about him -– that if there’s a backlog of people waiting to get into heaven, he’ll be just fine staying on the beach until it’s his turn to get in. But these days, Rangel seems a lot more intent on claiming his spot.

“I’ve often said, ‘I’m 79 and I’m not letting anything interfere with me getting into heaven,’” he tells the congregation at Convent Avenue Baptist Church during Sunday service, trying to raise funds for Haiti.

The ethics investigation against Rangel has been grinding on for a year and a half. The charges have piled up. He’s accused of enriching himself with four rent-stabilized apartments, using his office to raise money for a center to be named for him, and failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income -– including rental income from a beachfront villa in his beloved Dominican Republic. Rangel has denied any wrongdoing. But even here, in the cocoon of Harlem, where he’s been re-elected over and over for 40 years, often with more than 80 percent of the vote, Rangel seems anxious to impress his voters. Perched at the church pulpit, he reminds people about the important health-care bill he’s trying to pass, and the important company he keeps.

“All of last week, I was with the President of the United States. More than once he reminded me he was the President, too," he says, and the audience laughs. "Those things happen.”

When asked directly how the investigation has affected him, Rangel stammers and changes the subject.

“That is the, that is the -- people, you know, the hundreds of thousands of people that I represent and have for nearly four decades -– those things speak for itself,” he says.

Many of his supporters say the allegations are minor -– at most, he’s just accused of sloppy bookkeeping. But others totally disagree. Like Rep. John Carter of Texas, the Republican congressman who’s been leading the charge against Rangel.

“You can’t call that sloppiness,” says Carter. “You have to call that arrogance!”

Carter says he won’t let the investigation drag on as a forgotten sideshow. He’s reserved time on the floor this week to bring it up again.

“I’m concerned about the fact that there are people of privilege in the Congress –- and Mr. Rangel is a perfect example – who get treated differently than the rest of the American public,” he says, “and I just don’t think that’s right.”

The question is, will others agree? Rangel is up for election this fall, for a 21st term in office. And the state Senator from Harlem, Bill Perkins, says the investigation has done little to change the way people feel about Charlie Rangel.

“You know, despite the investigation, Congressman Rangel is loved. Okay?” says Perkins. “You just don’t erase what someone has contributed because somebody’s investigating that person.”

But that doesn’t stop reporters from constantly asking Perkins if the rumors are true –- that he is going to run for Rangel’s seat this year. He says he’s hounded wherever he goes.

“Every time I turn around, you know?” says Perkins. “It’s like, ‘Excuse me, I have to go the men’s room. ‘Oh, well, let me come with you!’’”

But Perkins remains coy about his plans. He says he doesn’t want to jump the gun. As a longtime marathoner, he likes to use running analogies.

“The key to running a marathon is one mile at a time,” he says. “You understand what I’m saying? I have a job to do right now, I want to focus on that job right now. I don’t want to get into a discussion about the congressman’s job.”

But on the streets of Harlem, people like 73-year-old David Johnson are willing to get into that discussion.

“It’s jive!” says Johnson. “They wanna take that job away from him, that’s what they wanna do.”

Others are less supportive.

“I kind of blame him for a lot of changes in Harlem that I don’t agree with,” says Doris Phillips, who’s lived in Harlem for more than 60 years. Another long-time Harlem resident, who declined to give her name, says, “Charlie Rangel is a crook.”

What really got to people here, according to Harlem historian Michael Henry Adams, was that Rangel was occupying four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem. The median income here is only $26,000, and a lot of people who want rent-stabilized residences can’t get them. Rangel was using one of the apartments as a campaign office, even though state and city rules say rent-stabilized apartments have to be used as primary residences. But Adams says even if all the other charges are true, much of Rangel’s legacy here will be left unmarred.

"Every housing project, every child-care program, every business and development initiative that’s come through Harlem over the past 30 years, he’s had a hand in,” says Adams. “So, no matter what, you will find that people, for some time to come, will have fond memories of Charles B. Rangel.”

Even the one person who’s declared he’s running against Rangel this year is quick to pat Rangel on the back. Vince Morgan is one of Rangel’s former campaign managers and says the congressman has done an excellent job representing his district. But it’s just time for him to go.

“I think there’s a natural progress in everyone’s career, where after 40 years, I mean, come on,” says Morgan. “There’s a beginning, middle, and end to every story, and I think that we’re at the end of this great story that Mr. Rangel has as our leader.”

Morgan leads me into Chez Lucienne, one of the new chic restaurants dotting Harlem, and says even though Rangel is so admired here, he thinks he has a real shot at beating him. Because every great leader eventually falls.

“It’s like a boxer -– it’s always the next fight, the next fight, the next fight,” says Morgan. “But one of those fights that you get to –- you’re not the stronger contender. You’re actually the underdog.”

Rangel brushes off the challenge from his former campaign manager. He says he’s just been too busy to think about it.

“We got a health bill that we have to do, we have to reform the tax system, we got climate control, two wars that we have to pull ourselves out of, and certainly we have to deal with Haiti,” says the congressman. “So, I encourage young people to do what they have to do, but I can’t afford to allow that to stop the work that I’m doing.”

Watchdog groups in Washington say it’s anyone’s guess when the ethics committee will finish its work.