He's wearing antlers and a red dildo on his nose. She has on a Santa hat and is, well, sucking on Rudolph's silicone snout. The photo is just one of several that show a couple of 20somethings posing flirtatiously in ridiculous costumes for the camera. All in all, it looks like customary drunken revelry among people in their early twenties. But, six years after those photos were taken, the young woman fellating the reindeer just so happens to be a Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia.




Her name is -- no joke -- Krystal Ball and she is now a 28-year-old mother and wife. Despite her name, she apparently didn't predict that these snapshots might damage her future political career. The photos were leaked this week and showed up on a couple conservative websites along with some cutting commentary. On Wednesday, Ball's campaign released a press release decrying the "smear campaign" against her. That was the very first I had heard of this local scandal, which raised my skepticism. Was it just a craven attempt to increase name-exposure and get national attention at any cost?