After all, with Bush sagging in the polls, budget deficit projections soaring after his big tax cut, and his energy and environmental plans going up in smoke, the eyes of the nation are nonetheless fixed on Gary Condit, as the cable shows chat 24/7 about what the Democratic congressman might have had to do with Levy's disappearance.

But instead of criticizing their centrist colleague for his bad judgment in getting involved with a 24-year-old intern -- and then scrambling to cover it up after she disappeared -- many Democratic legislators have gone to unbelievable lengths to defend Condit.

"I know one thing for sure, that Gary Condit did not have anything to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy," Rep. Nancy Pelosi told CNN, insisting Condit is still ably serving his constituents despite the controversy.

That's an incredible statement, unless Pelosi herself was spending every minute with Condit the day Levy is believed to have vanished. (And while the list of women who've been intimate with the married congressman grows longer every day, Pelosi isn't on it.) Personally, I too find it hard to believe Condit murdered Levy, but no one can say for sure that he didn't. And if it turns out that Levy came to harm or harmed herself, it's very likely that it had something to do with the young woman's sad relationship with the 53-year-old congressman. Pelosi has no business denying that possibility.

Democrats should have been calling on Condit from Day 1 to come clean about his relationship with Levy. The fact that he only recently told police they were lovers means law enforcement officials lost critical weeks in trying to understand Levy's frame of mind at the time she disappeared. In the event she was murdered, they no doubt lost access to crucial clues, clues that probably don't but could conceivably lead to Condit. (Tragic but true: One-third of women who are murdered are killed by their boyfriends or husbands).

Instead, many Democrats have concentrated on showing support for their beleaguered colleague. "It's important to have him know that he has friends standing by him," declared Rep. Elliott Engel, D-N.Y. "When someone hits a rough spot, do you throw him overboard? I don't think so," adds Rep. Anna Eshoo, like Condit, a Democrat from California. "None of us here, Republican or Democrat, kick people when they're down."

While California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has criticized Condit for his failure to come clean, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt continues to insist that "Gary is cooperating in every possible way with the police investigation to try to make this happen, and that's what he should continue to do. I think he's doing what he's been asked to do." It was Gephardt's bad luck to be quoted by the Associated Press defending Condit the very same day federal officials opened a criminal probe into whether the congressman has obstructed justice during the investigation.

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