At least they are fiscal conservatives.
Spitzer paid thousands, Craig  was gonna get it for free( In the bathroom)

Why have they not resigned?

Well, a lack of shame and an overload of ambition, to start.  

Also, Vitter is from Louisana, which has for years enjoyed a certain-how shall we say-more relaxed moral perspective for its public servants.

But Sptizer situation has certain unique qualities...

1. His conduct is potentially a federal offense as a violation of the Mann Act

2. He ran for office based in part on his efforts to crack prostitution rings in NY-at the same time he was frequenting one.  It not only goes to integrity, it makes one wonder who he was carrying water for-NY or someone else...

3. As a crusading prosecutor and then as a governor, Spitzer has accumulated a long list of enemies-all of whom are pushing for him to leave office.

4. I don't know under what terms that legislators can be removed from office once elected, but I imagine that if they can it would have to be by their peers in the legislature.  History has shown legislators are very wary of cracking down on their colleagues. Spitzer can be impeached, and in the face of the #1 and #2 if he were impeached he would likely have been removed from office by the legislature.

Craig and Vitter can hang on until the next election and see if they can rehab their reps.  

Not that this paints Vitter and Craig as better than they are, but like all humans who have fought long to get to where they are, they are loath to give it up if there is any chance to stay in place.

It doesn't make it right...but that's likely the way they are thinking...

Bwana, you said it exactly right. My post below was completely redundant.

...blah blah ;-)

Why isn't Vitter prosecuted?  Craig was prosecuted, plead guilty and then rode out the public heat.  Vitter clearly hired prostituted, possibly over state lines.  What is the difference?

Larry Craig is still in the Senate because he's odd and stubborn and a glutton for punishment. There were plenty of calls from within his own party for him to resign.

Vitter is still a Senator because he is from Louisiana, where they seem to shrug at that sort of thing.

The thing with Spitzer is a little different for 2 reasons. First, there is the fact that as the Attorney General of NY, he made a big thing out of prosecuting several high-class prostitution rings on Staten Island. And he made political hay out of it at the time. The man literally sent people to prison for doing something that he himself was engaging in.  That pisses me and many other people off a lot more than the simple fact of visiting a hooker would.

Secondly, there is the fact that Spitzer is facing federal charges, since this involved some sort of banking chicanery and the interstate transport of prostitutes. He could be looking at as much as a 20 year sentence. Think about the extent to which this is going to consume his life. For the next year or 2, Eliot Spitzer is going to be totally engulfed in the process of trying to stay out of prison and deal with these federal charges and all of the legal proceedings that go along with it. He's not going to be able to do the job of being Governor.

There's nothing unfair or partisan about the way that Spitzer was found out or charged.  The whole thing is a damn shame, but it is what it is.

Also bear in mind that Eliot Spitzer has not gone out of his way to make friends even within his own party over the last year.  If anything, he has made a lot of enemies. The man is a prosecutor, accustomed to ruthlessly zeroing in on people and taking them apart. That is his whole professional background. He never learned to get along with people in the world of normal, professional politics. He doesn't have any real base of support any longer from within the NY party, so there's nobody willing to go to bat for him.  David Vitter and Larry Craig got along with other people in their own party, so there were at least some people willing to stand by their friends and defend them.

will be both black and blind, a first. It may seem like a question only a carrion-feeding vulture could ask, but I will anyway: has Patterson publicly chosen sides in the Clinton-Obama dust-up?

no surprise, however.  I would be absolutely stunned if he were with anybody else; state leaders usually stick together.

On the evening of the Iowa Primary he was standing next to Bill and behind Hillary as she spoke.

The question is whether or not the person the DNC chooses to replace him is.

Seems to be the face of the week.   First Gov. Spitzer then Adm. Fallon.  Of course, Spitzer has more reason to make the face...

I would rather be in Fallon's shoes than Spitzer's today.

Fallon is retiring in what seems to be protest.  He'll be a hero for millions.  Spitzer is one of the biggest disappointments the Democrats have seen since Monicagate.

Mark Foley - a congressman obsessed with child abuse...found chasing young congressional interns.

David Vitter - "family values" Senator found to be fond of being diapered by prostitutes.

Larry Craig - anti-homosexual crusader who hired gay prostitutes, and solicited gay sex in public restrooms.

Eliot Spitzer - prosecutor and politician who campaigned against prostitution crime...runs a tab with prostitution ring.

We really do have a 'sex problem' in this country. The conflict can live in a single person.  

Am I the only one who remembers a brief media flurry when the D.C. Madam story hit the fan---- and Vice-President Cheney's name was on her list? The story was immediately and totally squashed, presumably by the White House. Or am I totally off-base? Seems like another example of the double standard, worthy of revival. Hmmm