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So, by now you've probably heard that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has appeared to acknowledge his alleged involvement in an international prostitution ring. As he put it in today's press conference, "I have acted in a way that violates the obligations of my family," but did not directly say he would step down, only that he would use this opportunity to rebuild trust with his family and the public. "I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals," he said, "It is about ideas," suggesting that he may not be ready to call it quits just yet. "I will report back to you in short order," he said as he left the podium without taking questions. In the post-Clinton era, pehaps he thinks he can fight this one out.

I'm sure we're going to learn much, much more about this in the hours ahead, but if it's true -- as the Times alleges -- that Spitzer is "Client 9" of the Emperors Club, a prostitution ring with branches in Washington, London, and Paris in addition to New York, I have to wonder: Who are clients 1 through 8? Is the ordering by importance, chronological, or random? How international was the clientele?