…because while he’s a gimp and his bein’ in that race in Missouri more or less ruins the GOP’s chance to win it (or maybe not; maybe McBuzzkill will say somethin’ just as stupid and turn that race back to winnable), he did say he was sorry. And what he said was fairy-tale stupid, yeah, but it wasn’t like he suggested anybody get raped.

Or, like, rape somebody else. Because that’s what we got in Minnesota…

A Minnesota state lawmaker who authorities say admitted having a liaison with a 17-year-old boy at a rest stop faced calls from party leaders on Monday to give up his re-election bid.

Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, hasn’t been charged in the July incident, and authorities said he wouldn’t be because the boy was older than 16, the legal age of consent, and no money was exchanged. Police say the teenager responded to the lawmaker’s Craigslist ad for “no strings attached” sex.

Gauthier admitted to the liaison, according to police reports made public late last week. The teen told police the two had oral sex, according to the reports.

The scandal has hurt Democrats’ hopes of retaking at least one chamber of the Legislature. They need to pick up at least six seats in the House, and Gauthier’s Duluth-area seat is usually reliably Democratic. But if he drops out, any Democrat seeking to replace him would have to run as a write-in candidate, making the race much more difficult to win.

OK, maybe it’s not “legitimate rape” that this cat got caught gettin’ a Lewinsky from a live boy – but c’mon, man.

And it’s at least fair to say that the local Dem machine is pushin’ Gauthier to get out…

Still, Democratic leaders called on Gauthier to withdraw from the race. House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, D-Minneapolis, said he was “deeply disappointed” in Gauthier’s conduct and wants him to step aside.

“As I shared with Rep. Gauthier, I believe he should withdraw from the race for re-election,” Thissen said in a statement released by his office.

Less than an hour later, state Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin echoed Thissen’s comments, although neither man asked Gauthier to leave office before his term ends in January.

Somewhere in Livingston Parish, Edwin Edwards is havin’ himself a chuckle. This dude got the second half of Edwards’ formula right – y’know, the part about how he couldn’t lose his election unless he got caught with the dead girl or the live boy?

Well.

Which reminds me of one of Fred Mulhearn’s all-time best cartoons. This is from 1987, when Edwards was about to get beat by Buddy Roemer of all people (that was the last election Roemer ever won)…