bq. If Sanford, who in 2009 admitted to an extramarital affair, wins an open House seat May 7, he will join a long line of political survivors. Scandals make it harder for office holders to get reelected, but they’re usually not fatal.
That is Danny Hayes, over at Wonkblog, summarizing some research on how scandals affect politicians — including from Erik’s earlier post. Here’s another tidbit:
bq. But the overall patterns suggest that American voters are a fairly forgiving, or at least forgetful, people.