In other news ...

Washington’s October surprise e-male sexscapades produced a predictable orgy of “To Catch a Predator” jokes, pedophile priest callbacks and similarly snide editorial page smirk-offs. Scott Stantis wed the send-button scandal to a hot-button issue. But though former Rep. Mark Foley’s streak across the political stage was distracting, cartoonists had plenty of other capital ideas. Dan Wasserman echoed Bob Woodward’s cover story that denial is a tributary of de Potomac. And while the G-rated family-values crowd was caught off text message, and the gleefully outraged opposition went orgasmic over R-rated chat, Tony Auth reminded us that the Iraq war is still November’s XXX-factor. All of which made Jack Ohman wonder: When the evildoers are banished, democracy is firmly established in Iraq and the electronic infrastructure hums along, will the voting machines work?

--Joel Pett