On our editorial page, we take note of the 'race to the bottom' in today's political circles.
I guess you could actually take that literally in light of the comments by Republican nominee Donald Trump on that decade-old tape that was leaked Friday night.
The reaction was about what you might expect. Trump offered an apology, then went on the debate and passed his comments off as "locker room talk."
That didn't sit too well with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who basically pulled the plug on his support for Trump, saying he would not defend him, nor campaign for him, and was instead going to focus his efforts on saving the GOP majorities in the House and Senate.
That would include the 7th District race, where incumbent Republican Pat Meehan indicated over the weekend his belief that Trump should exit the race.
That doesn't look like it's going to happen.
Neither does a similar call from Pat Toomey.
The Republican running for another term in the U.S. Senate finds himself in a very tight spot in one of the most contentious, tightly contested Senate races in the country.
Most experts are pointing to the Pa. U.S. Senate race as one of the keys in Democrats' attempts to take back control of the U.S. Senate.
So while Toomey has again decried Toomey's lewd, vulgar comments about women as "outrageous and unacceptable," he can't really afford to reject the GOP nominee. That's because Toomey will need every Republican vote he can get - and then some - in his efforts to hold off Democrat Katie McGinty, who will look to reap the benefits of the Dems' healthy voter registration edge in the state.
None of this is going to make much of what we see over the next few weeks any more palatable.
Like we said, it's a race to the bottom.
In more ways than one.
You can read our editorial here.
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