This week three below-the-fold scandals threatened three politicians while Sen. Obama stayed “clean,” in the good meaning of Sen. Biden’s adjective of a year ago. Because Barack Houdini easily escaped the chains of Rev. Wright and because of “the math” after the North Carolina romp, it certainly looks like it’s too late for Clinton to stop him– just like when the Phillies couldn’t make up seven games with only 14 to play in the National League East race in 2007. Remember?

First came Vito Fossella, as of this writing a five-term congressman from Staten Island-Brooklyn. A good-looking, buff Republican with a reputation, said a colleague, of being “the Paris Hilton of Congressmen,” he lived down to his reputation when, driving drunk, he made the mistake of spilling the beans to cops at 3AM where his mistress and previously unknown love-child were sleeping. If you’re a public figure urging that the 10 Commandments be posted in public places, it’s probably a good idea to live to #4 about coveting other women. And “if you’re going to be in the party of family values,” said commentator Doug Muzzio, “you shouldn’t have more than one.”

Second was Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who appears likely to soon join Fossella in the ex-category. It was widely reported this week that a Long Island businessman, Morris Talansky, personally gave Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars while he was mayor of Jerusalem and running against Ariel Sharon for leadership of the Likud Party. Olmert, suffering his fifth financial investigation in recent years, denied the money was a bribe but said that he’d quit his position if indicted.

(And if he leaves office, it appears likely that he’d be succeeded by a former Labor PM, Ehud Barak, which would delight tabloid headline writers when the likely leaders of the U.S. and Israel meet in 2009.)