The Elliot Spitzer thing, obviously. But honest to Pete: suppose I go to my editor and tell him I have a great idea for a political thriller. High concept, dude! A powerful, populous eastern state produces the country's first female Presidential candidate, wife of a former President who barely weathered a sex scandal in office. In the middle of her hard-fought primary battle against a young black Senator from a powerful, populous midwestern state, the Governor of her state, who swept into office as a hardline reformer, is caught in a prostitution sting. He fights calls on all sides for resignation, eventually to give in and be succeeded by the Lieutenant Governor, a blind black man!

Please. I can already see the look of shocked boredom on my editor's face. (He can do that, my editor: shocked boredom.) This thing, he would tell me, is so unbelievable on so many levels, it's not worth discussing. Go away and come back with an original idea.

I wish someone would tell that to our politicians.