Perhaps you failed to notice that he's currently engaged in a campaign to retain his senate seat in '08...and "Son of Swiftvet" is, apparently, an oft-recurring nightmare for him.
This is an armed recon mission to scout the political horizon. I'd say he made unidentified contact more quickly than he might have imagined...and it looks like a small boat in drydock being carefully readied for sea by some really pissed-off sailors. One can dream.