NYT/AP: Analysis: Foley Shadows GOP Election
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 2, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a twist on the old Watergate question, the Republican Party is struggling to answer: What did GOP leaders know of a congressman's salacious exchanges with underage male pages and when did they know it?
The truth could determine not only their own political futures but also whether the party can recover from the scandal surrounding former Republican Rep. Mark Foley -- and manage to remain in power on Nov. 7.
''I don't think this is so much about Foley as it is about the handling of this,'' Rick Davis, a Republican strategist, said Monday as the drama rocked the House GOP five weeks before midterm elections, much to Democrats' delight.
''The question becomes who's getting thrown overboard besides Foley to get this to go away,'' said Tony Fabrizio, another GOP consultant....The tawdry turn of events set off finger-pointing among House Republicans and overshadowed what the GOP had hoped would be a triumphant final work week highlighting the party's national security credentials before the campaign's homestretch.
But, the Republican Party -- already facing an unfriendly political environment and the fallout from a new book critical of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war -- finds itself knocked even further off message and working to contain the political damage....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Foley-Fallout.html