You know Jefferson. He’s the guy discovered to have $90,000 in cash stored in his freezer — wrapped in aluminum foil no less. In June 2007, he was indicted on 16 charges of bribery and influence peddling, although he has yet to be tried. In the meantime, it’s been much tougher for Democrats to condemn scandal-ridden Republicans like Rep. Rick Renzi and Sen. Ted Stevens, knowing that Jefferson is in a similar boat.

Democrats lost that baggage over the weekend, when Republican Anh Cao shocked New Orleans by defeating the nine-term Jefferson, thus becoming the first Vietnamese American to hold a seat in Congress.

That left Democrats generally free of any high-profile embarrassments in their ranks — for three whole days.

Now they have Blagojevich instead. Go figure.