Malcolm in the middle

The best story of the election so far--in my book--is the Malcolm Azania saga, which goes something like this:

1. Colby Cosh digs up some old Usenet dirt on local NDP candidate Malcolm Azania.
2. Malcolm publishes an apology on his website before the story breaks in the media.
3. The story leads local CBC Radio this morning, and makes the front page of the Edmonton Sun and the CBC.ca home page and election page. Only one of stories I saw sourced Colby's website (maybe that's because he's an NP columnist).
4. Whipsmart NDP leader Jack Layton orders Malcolm to "begin a process of reconcilation with the community through a public letter of apology" (see point 2 above)
5. Debby Carlson shakes her head in judgement.
6. Rahim Jaffer's impersonator is outraged.

I like Malcolm, and this will surely test his legs. How he carries himself in the next few days will determine his political future. Or, to be more exact, if he has a political future at all. But even now, he's still the least objectionable candidate in Edmonton Strathcona.

Unfortunately for Jack Layton, he and Paul Martin might be sharing the Kim Campbell trophy for worst election campaign.

Update: Colby Cosh has a pretty thorough breakdown of the story.