Introduction
It might not have reached the heights of the Watergate and Lewinsky years, but the political scandals of 2009 had something juicy for everybody.
Republicans went for sex, Democrats for money, and former Gov. Sarah Palin simply bailed out on Alaska. But for sheer bizarreness, the award has to be split between the state dinner gate-crashers and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached for trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat--before quitting and winning his own seat on The Donald's 2010 Celebrity Apprentice.
"Sex. Greed. Greed. Sex. Wherefore does this year differ from all other years?" asks Brookings Institution political scholar Stephen Hess. Hess does have a favorite: "Scandal of the Year should be gate-crash-gate, which combines scam, security, reality TV, and two characters who are delightfully hateable."
Click here for the Washington Whispers Top 10 Political Scandals of 2009.
