Hmmm... now that Democrats are in power, POOF! There go the zippers - I wonder if this guy is going to help Charlie raise a few bucks before he gets retired. I post this for the primary reason of looking the Brown folks straight in the face over their zealous ethics attacks to remind them that Congressman Doolittle is due an apology several times over.

BTW - to understand the significance of this. Lean Republican is what this CA-04 race is rated...

FL-16    Tim Mahoney    Lean Democratic to Lean Republican

In two years, so much has changed, but some things have stayed the same. If it's election season, you can count on ABC News's investigative unit to break a sex scandal in Florida's 16th CD. "Foley Friday" (Sept. 29, 2006), meet "Mahoney Monday" (Oct. 13th, 2008).

Private polling in the past few months has shown Mahoney in surprisingly strong reelection position. Even some Florida Republicans have admitted Mahoney's centrist voting record and strong presence in the local news have made him a tough target for GOP businessman Tom Rooney, who has had to explain why he was registered to vote for a time at his father's dog racing track. But today's revelation, complete with an expletive-filled audio tape, that Mahoney likely paid a former mistress a $121,000 settlement to keep quiet about their extramarital affair after firing her from his congressional staff, is certain to turn this race on its head.

At this point, the story is still breaking and Mahoney has yet to respond publicly to the charges. And it's true that a scandal can appear to be more devastating on the day it breaks than it ultimately is. But it's almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which he could avoid severe political damage as a result of these allegations, even with a significant cash-on-hand advantage over Rooney.

Plenty of members of Congress have won reelection after sex scandals have broken. However, the same voters who were livid at former GOP Rep. Mark Foley's double life two years ago are unlikely to see Mahoney's transgressions as anything other than grossly hypocritical. Mahoney's 2006 ads played up his own "faith in family" in contrast with Foley's misconduct. The ABC News story cites former and current Mahoney staffers who say the affair with the former staffer, Patricia Allen, began before the 2006 election.

Early voting in Florida begins one week from now, so all voters will have had a chance to digest the latest developments in the race by the time they cast their ballots. This scandal moves FL-16 to the Lean Republican column and the top of the list of GOP takeover opportunities.