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Staten Island Watch: The Curse

Boy, has bad karma settled over GOP Rep. Vito Fossella's seat. If you recall, Fossella was busted last month in Northern Virginia for drunk driving, an event which triggered a series of bizarre revelations about a secret love child he'd fostered with a former Air Force officer. With the disgraced Fossella unable to run again, desperate Republicans settled on a political novice, Frank Powers, to run on the GOP ticket -- a choice that ignited its own weird drama when Powers's eldest son decided to run for the seat against him. Then, this weekend, Powers the Elder ... died:

The race to replace disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella took another bizarre turn Sunday when the GOP favorite to run for his seat, Frank Powers, abruptly died. ... Now, weary Republicans are back to the drawing board. "I think we need to go back to the well and revisit everybody we considered," Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton said.

It's awful, but also just so intriguingly "Days Of Our Lives"-esque.

--Eve Fairbanks