Okay, by a show of hands, how many of you out there have ever given $1,500 to the college fund of a friend's seven-year-old and then didn't tell your spouse about it?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

In case you haven't heard yet, I'll give you a brief wrap-up of the latest scandal that has befallen Governor Rod Blagojevich.

You may remember that the governor amended his statement of economic interests after he was interviewed by the FBI. One of those amendments included a previously undisclosed gift from Michael Ascaridis, his campaign treasurer during his congressional bids and his first run for statewide office.

After spending millions of dollars on unanswered television ads, Governor Rod Blagojevich has only an eight-point lead over Judy Baar Topinka, according to the latest poll.

The Research 2000 poll of 800 likely voters was conducted August 28 through 31 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The poll found that Blagojevich was leading Topinka 47-39.

Nearly five years into the "war on terror," it's still at the core of American media and politics.

Yeah, I've seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush's "war on terror" claims. And I've read a spate of commentaries in recent months celebrating Bush's current lack of political traction on the terrorism issue, like the New York Times piece by Frank Rich triumphantly proclaiming that "the era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over."

That's a comforting thought, hovering somewhere between complacent and delusional.

As President George W. Bush's job-approval ratings continue to slump, Republican incumbents almost everywhere are running away from him as fast as they can. It's gotten so bad that even U.S. Representative Tom Reynolds, the chairperson of the National Republican Congressional Committee, doesn't have the word "Republican" on his campaign Web site's front page.