Too many ironies to count: Mark Foley, Patty Wetterling and the ghost of Edwin Edwards

While it is true that Edwin Edwards, the former four-term governor of Louisiana, was a corrupt scoundrel, he does deserve credit for uttering one of the most entertaining political prognistications of all time. Said Edwards on the eve of yet another triumph: "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."

For Minnesota's sixth district congressional candidate Patty Wetterling, Mark Foley, the now-ex Florida congressman who ignited the PageGate scandal, is a virtual God send. He also brings that great Edwards quote to mind. After all, Wetterling's political credentials are almost entirely based on her work as a child safety advocate. And with Wetterling still trailing in the polls to Michele Bachmann (the GOP candidate and this week's City Pages cover model), Foley has presented the Wetterling campaign with a useful, if somewhat clumsy corollary to the Edwards principle: "The only way I can win this election is if it can be proved that Republican leadership didn't care whether Mark Foley was caught in bed with a dead girl or sent sexually explicit IMs to a live boy."

From the looks of the instant attack ad concocted by the Wetterling campaign, that seems to be the Hail Mary strategy that is being pursued--and, truth be told, probably the campaign's best hope. Why? Because, stupid, the sad sexual deviance of an ex-congressman is the most pressing issue of our times.