The cynical view of politics holds that a political action committee or well-heeled donor kicks into a congressional campaign if hopes of having a friendly-voting ally on Capitol Hill.

So I wonder if any of Sen. Larry Craig's donors are feeling a twinge of buyer's remorse, with style="text-decoration:underline;">the news that Craig has spent $23,000 in campaign money on his legal defense.

The law may give federal officials considerable leeway to apply campaign dollars to legal bills. The question is whether Craig's appeal of a disorderly conduct guilty plea — stemming from his arrest in a Minneapolis airport restroom — is connected to Craig's Senate job.

Is there no limit to the awkward moments the Larry Craig story provides us all?

From Randy Stapilus' style="text-decoration:underline;">Ridenbaugh Press blog comes this nugget: The Craig restroom arrest will provide a plotline for the Nov. 13 episode of ABC's "Boston Legal."

Once again, Hollywood proves itself out of touch with mainstream middle America. Where do these writers dream up this stuff, anyway?

The good news for ABC: Last week's Craig-Matt Lauer primetime interview on NBC was such a huge ratings flop that some viewers may actually be unfamiliar with the bathroom sex sting storyline.

You probably can't tell by reading our Opinion page or driving along the streets, but we have city elections in 15 days.

It's election season in the Treasure Valley. Wake me when it starts.

I don't think I've seen less voter interest in a local election in my 6 1/2 years in Boise — or in my 22 years in Idaho communities.

I'm not sure why.

The mayor's office is up for grabs in five of Ada County's six cities.

Boise Mayor Dave Bieter faces Jim Tibbs, the longtime police officer Bieter passed over for police chief, and the closest thing Bieter has to a foil on the City Council.

SCHIP has officially traveled the public policy arc from little-known program to cause celebre to political stalemate.

So let's just take a little step back this morning.

My biggest concern with expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program was how Congress planned to pay for it: with a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax.

Now, I'm all for providing health coverage for children: I can't think of a better lifelong investment in wellness. And I have no problem with raising the cigarette tax, since it might dissuade young people from taking up smoking.

I do have a problem with marrying these two objectives.

Here's what some Statesman letter writers had to say about Tuesday's Larry Craig interviews:

• Peter Petersen, Boise: “Liar, liar pants on fire Sen. Craig. Quit thinking about yourself and think of the good people of Idaho. Resign. It is the right thing to do for us.”

• Stanley E. Stolarski, Twin Falls: "After watching Senator Craig’s television interviews, here is what you should consider. A Minnesota bridge collapse made news and when a reporter wanted to investigate they were threatened to be arrested by a police officer. Senator Craig’s incident took that story off the news. Senator Craig stated he was profiled. This assumes both parties were innocent. I think he was targeted. He said he went to the same airport weekly and the same men’s room regularly. I think his political opposition noticed this and set a trap.

Through no fault of the NBC hype machine, America voted with its remote Tuesday night.

And America decided it didn't really care much about an Idaho senator's attempt at image reinvention.

The Matt Lauer-Larry Craig interview was a ratings flop, according to style="text-decoration:underline;">the New York Times' Benjamin Toff.

Sure, 5.7 million Americans watched the at-times-painful-to-watch Craig interview, according to the Nielsen estimates. But the Larry Craig Hour lost handily to CBS' "NCIS" and Fox's broadcast of the Cleveland Indians-Boston Red Sox baseball playoff game. Among 18- to 49-year-old viewers, Craig managed only a tie with the CW reality show "Beauty and the Geek."

Here's what some of our letter writers had to say about Sen. Larry Craig's TV interviews:

• Jack Trotter, Twin Falls: "Senator craig paints a calm, collected reasoned approach in his TV interview and with his replies to TV questions. He did not show this composure or reasoned thought process under fire. I want a senator (read also congressman, president) who is making important decisions for me, my state and my country to take responsibility for his own actions (before he is pressured to do so), who approaches serious problems actively, not passively. Senator Craig did not adequately show these characteristics. I urge him to resign."

First off, thanks to everyone who logged in or e-mailed during Tuesday night's interviews. We had more than 100 comments on the blog (and no, they weren't all mine), and I got 20 or so e-mailers from letter writers who offered their instant analysis.

This was my first experiment in running a live online discussion; thanks for making it a fun two hours. Not really to my surprise, I found the online discussion a lot more enlightening than the interviews themselves.

Ultimately, I don't think Craig had any blockbusters, either in the soft KTVB interview or the considerably tougher Matt Lauer interview. We learned more about toilet paper and the senator's time-honored commitment to use restrooms for their intended purpose, but I'll leave it to you to decide whether that's a good thing.

Hello everyone. Looking forward to your questions and comments.

I did a little bit of blatant spamming last night — but for a good objective.

I e-mailed every Idahoan who has e-mailed us a letter to the editor on the Larry Craig saga — nearly 250 people in all. My idea was to invite them to drop us a line during or after Craig's televised interviews tonight, or check in here at ID Quicktakes to join my live discussion (right here, 6 to 8 p.m.).

A few of our writers already had some interesting remarks heading into the interviews. Among the highlights:

• From Arne Sampe, Paul: "I totally approve of his decision to not resign. He stated up front that his resignation was an intent. In fact, I rather fancy that he ought to re-think his decision to not run for re-election. He could become a folk hero. However, I do not think that Senator Craig will have much luck with the Minnesota courts, as in my opinion too much Minnesota dirty laundry would become public knowledge. I do not like the Senator‚s political views, but all the same, entrapment is a worse evil, since entrapment has the potential of silencing an open democracy."