[richlevy]

It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on the elections. There was no time to pull Foley's name off the ballot, so all votes for him will go to a substitute, Joe Negron.

This means that the people who vote Foley on the ballot are:

Those who know they are electing Negron and approve of him.
Those who know they are electing someone who will replace Foley and prefer any Republican to Democrat Tim Mahoney.
Those who think they are reelecting Foley even knowing what he is accused of and still prefer him to a Democrat.
Those who are completely clueless about the whole affair and/or are just pulling the Republican lever.

Of course having established themselves as the party who wanted to impeach a president over lying over a consensual affair with an adult woman, being accused of covering up the alleged solicitation of minors does bring things into perspective.

Special prosecutor. anyone?


From here

Whomever Republicans pick faces an uphill challenge against Democrat Tim Mahoney in a district that was seen as a safe GOP seat until last week.
The new GOP candidate will have only five weeks to finance and run a campaign and, because of a state law that bars removal of the original nominee's name, will have to convince voters that marking their ballots for the tarnished Foley will benefit the Republican replacement.
Republicans are banking on the Republican leanings of a district that voted 54 percent for President Bush in 2004.
Rooney says some friends have told him that running a short campaign under Foley's name is a "suicide mission." But, Rooney says, "I think it's possible. It is a Republican district."

Looking on the bright side, he's a shoe-in for the NAMBLA vote.