Like the tele-evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, another of Louisiana's fallen idols, Mr Edwards was the son of sharecroppers, raised among blacks and French-speaking Cajuns.

ECONOMIST: American politics

Before he was caught with a prostitute, Jimmy Swaggart, an Assemblies of God minister, reached 500m viewers a week and attracted an estimated half a million dollars in donations every day.

ECONOMIST: Pentecostals

My second was to wonder exactly how much contrition he wanted, on a scale from Nixonian modified hangout to a full Jimmy Swaggart, from something suitable for family viewing to a blushing Playboy-channel disclosure.

CNN: Blowing His Stack