It never goes away, does it?

OK, it's not "Dewey Defeats Truman," but here's a can- didate for the Headline Hall of Fame. The paper is the Los Angeles Times of Feb. 23, 1942, and the topic is -- well, what do you suppose they mean by "a case of suspected espionage in the Ivanhoe district that appears a direct menace to the Visalia-Dinuba School of Aeronautics"?

This is offered as a reminder, as the campaign season lurches toward its conclusion, that some candidates for higher office across this great land of ours are, ahem, loonier than others. Their public statements should perhaps be subjected to correspondingly higher scrutiny in the public press.

The particular example who comes to mind in these parts is the amazing Sharron Angle, who made some news at the weekend by suggesting it was time to liberate Dearborn from the clutches of sharia law -- to the consternation of Mayor (is this too good to be true, or what?) Jack O'Reilly.

Candidate Angle is not alone. You might, for example, find yourself with a Sue Myrick in your district. The ballot box is the weapon of choice in a democracy, but there are cases in which a little public ridicule wouldn't be out of line. America's Newspapers, are you listening?