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Pastimes : CONDIT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yogizuna who wrote (1624)	3/6/2002 7:55:04 PM
From: Sarkie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1669

Relief in 'Condit Country' as Congressman Ousted March 6, 2002 2:52 pm EST MODESTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California's "Condit Country" exhaled in relief on Wednesday after the defeat of Democratic Rep. Gary Condit, with many constituents ready to bid good riddance to both the embattled congressman and the scandal that destroyed his political career. Condit, who had not lost an election since 1971, was trounced at the Democratic primary polls Tuesday evening, losing to a one-time protege, state Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, by 56 to 37 percent. Cardoza will face Republican nominee state Sen. Dick Monteith in November in the heavily Democratic district. Condit's stinging defeat put a end to a 30-year career which collapsed in a media frenzy last summer after the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old Washington D.C. intern linked to the 53-year-old congressman. On Wednesday, Levy's parents pleaded again with Condit to reveal anything he might know about Chandra's fate. "It's never been about politics. It's about helping us find our daughter Chandra," Dr. Robert Levy said in a brief statement to reporters. "Mr. Condit made has pledges and promises for a long time before and during the campaign that he would do anything he could to help the investigators. We're just asking him to keep his word." The Levy scandal boiled into the biggest sex-and-politics blockbuster of the summer as both national media outlets, gossipy tabloids and celebrity television shows zeroed in on the central California Democrat amid allegations of a string of affairs. Through it all, Condit persistently refused to give the public -- or his voters -- a full account of his links to Levy, a stonewalling tactic that quickly cost him support both among Democratic allies in Washington and voters at home. "Gary Condit's political career is over, dead of self-inflicted wounds," the Modesto Bee -- a onetime Condit supporter which turned against the 53-year-old congressman during the Levy scandal -- said in an editorial Wednesday. "We expect politicians to be accountable for what they do or don't do," the Bee said. "Condit was above that, but not above delay, denial and duplicity. And the voters, who had so long supported him, had their say." "CONDIT COUNTRY" NO MORE For many residents of the 18th Congressional District, the Condit affair marked an unwelcome turn in the national spotlight for a growing district in California's Central Valley farmland long known as "Condit Country" because of the congressman's bipartisan popularity. "Last July and August we stumbled into roles in the 'Summer of Condit' spectacle. Tuesday we starred in the sequel," Bee columnist Judy Sly said. In ousting Condit, many area voters said they hoped they were also finished with the media hordes who have crowded their streets with television satellite trucks and hounded them for quotes on their congressional representative. "On some levels it's been fun, but on others it was a long haul," said Sandy Lucas, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Stanislaus County. "It feels like we were under a microscope for almost a year," Lucas added. "Every little bleep that happened was national news." And for that, she said, she blamed Condit and his reluctance to come clean on the Levy story. "If he had come out and explained the Chandra Levy affair, this never would have happened. It would have been a five-minute story." Condit -- who was never named by police as a suspect in Levy's disappearance -- has said he knows nothing about Levy's disappearance and has been pilloried by media organizations dishing out intrigue and innuendo. The family has also taken to the courts, with Condit's wife Carolyn charging the National Enquirer tabloid with libeling her over an Aug. 7 story about Levy's disappearance.