Liberals are probably astounded that voters in South Carolina would prefer a candidate who misled and lied to them to conduct an affair over another whose personal life was, in comparison, spotless. Conservatives felt about the same astonishment over the Massachusetts senate race, when Elizabeth Warren, who had been serially untruthful about claiming a phony Native American heritage that has been quite advantageous in her career trajectory, beat Scott Brown, an upfront, honest guy. The lesson seems to be that red states are red and prefer conservatives, blue states are blue and loyal to liberals, and in these divided times ideology and politics can easily trump considerations about character.