Jim: Winner for Worst Political Scandal: The easy answer here is Foley; however, I think what was almost as appalling, and much more avoidable, was the degree to which the House Republican Leadership could not, quickly, come up with a clear explanation of who knew what and when about Foley’s creepy behavior.

Runner Up: the Indictment of Karl Rove. Okay, no, seriously, the fact that we spent how many years waiting for this indictment “within 72 hours” or just around the corner or whenever, when it is clear that “Fitzmas,” like the Great Pumpkin, will never come.

Marshall: The answer here really can’t be anything but the Foley mess.

So, I too will pick a runner up: the Delay indictment and resignation. The Foley scandal was shocking and the timing couldn’t have been worse, but the Delay scandal had a far more profound impact on the whole political environment. Delay’s position in leadership meant that the stain of his scandal affected the whole party. Indeed, the impact of the Foley scandal was surely greater because Delay had already branded the Republican leadership with the mark of corruption.

Cam: Oh c’mon now guys. Don’t you remember when that Democratic Senator was caught having sex with an underage goat? And what about that Democratic governor who was photographed doing meth while Bea Arthur performed unspeakable acts on him at the same time? Or the Democratic Congresswoman who took hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from little old ladies, only to use that money to establish mandatory euthanasia centers in every nursing home in her district?

You don’t remember any of these? Oh yeah, that’s right. None of them happened. Gotta be Foley.