WV State Sen. Randy White (D)

What are the 2006 elections about?

Instant messages?

Macaca?

A deer head in a mailbox?

A leaked tape of a conversation between an outraged wife and a friend?

Body paint romps?

CHARLESTON, W.Va -- A state senator said he is evaluating whether to continue his bid for a second term after a Charleston television station aired revealing pictures of him last week.

"My family has urged me not to withdraw from the election and I will work with them to make a decision in the immediate future," State Sen. Randy White, a Webster County Democrat, said in a letter to newspapers in his district.

An apologetic White also wrote that he was "shocked" and "horribly embarrassed" after WCHS-TV aired photos depicting him and at least two other men wearing only body paint.

"The pictures were taken approximately two years ago in private and were stolen from my personal computer," said White, 51, a married father of three. "I am not sure why they were given to the media, but I must assume for obvious political reasons."

WCHS said it received the photos anonymously on a compact disc. The various photos, censored by the station, were shown for about 80 seconds during a 5-minute news segment alleging White was the apparent victim of a blackmail plot. The station aired the segment during several newscasts last week.

White did not mention extortion during a brief Monday interview with The Associated Press or in Tuesday's letter. White wrote that he had been working with his family to overcome a "personal identification situation" and to overcome depression for which he has been treated through medication for over a year.

...In its news segment, WCHS said it had reported the disc and its contents to the FBI.

This is a state race in West Virginia, so this matter isn't on my personal radar screen; but the story does highlight the politics of personal destruction.

So Democrat White was posing with two other men while clothed in nothing but body paint.

As in the Mark Foley case, the evidence is undeniable.

How does the local station that received the photos react?

It runs a story from the angle that Democrat White is being blackmailed.

That's interesting, isn't it?

What's odd is that WCHS decided to air the photos. If the concern is blackmail, then why would the station choose to air the humiliating pictures of White smeared in body paint?

"We're outraged by this smear campaign, but check out White wearing only body paint with these two other guys?"

Does that make sense?

The answer is no.

Still, WCHS takes the stance that Democrat White is being blackmailed.

Have the media done the same when it comes to Mark Foley?

Has sleazy Brian Ross questioned why dozens of Foley's three-year-old IM chats have suddenly surfaced?

Has the macaca-obsessed Washington Post questioned why people came out of the shadows to allege that George Allen is a dyed-in-the-wool racist?

Has The New York Times addressed why a year-old conservation between Jeanine Pirro and Bernard Kerik was leaked to the press about a month before the election?

Why hasn't the issue of blackmail been the focus by the mainstream media when it comes to Mark Foley, George Allen, or Jeanine Pirro?

Simple.

That's an easy one.

They're Republicans.

I think it's disgraceful that so little emphasis is being placed on the issues of Election 2006.

Mark Foley's IMs should not determine the power balance in the United States House of Representatives.

The unsubstantiated smearing of George Allen should not determine control of the Senate of the United States of America.

The fact is the only way Dems believe that they can win in November is via smears and carefully timed disclosures to embarrass the Republicans into defeat.

That is irrefutable.