This Foley case may have cost Republicans control of Congress. The MSM got into such a frenzy about this that it dominated the news in October ‘06 leading up to the elections.
The Foley case and the George Allen macaca thing were the two big factors in losing control of Congress. Especially Allen, because the Senate line-up after the Nov. 06 election was 49 Republican 49 Democrat, 1 Socialist and 1 Joe Lieberman, the latter 2 caucusing with Democrats. If Allen had won re-election, the resulting 50 Republicans would have kept control of the Senate in Republican hands, as Dick Cheney would have cast the tie breaking vote if needed.
The media did create a frenzy—but it took STUPID conservative voters to buy the kool-aid they were peddling.