In a recent press conference, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert attempted to clear the air of all the so called "rumors" regarding the Mark Foley scandal.  According to House Speaker Hastert, he was not notified about the emails from Foley to a former Congressional page only a week ago.

Kirk Fordham, the former chief of staff to Mark Foley and more recently Tom Reynolds, stated to the record after he resigned that Dennis Hastert's office new of these emails for at least three years now.

As of present date, Hastert has not resigned from his post of Speaker of the House.  He is however being pressured by many members of his own party.  Looking at this from a Democratic strategist's standpoint, no matter what Hastert does plays directly into the Democrats hands.

Situation 1:  Hastert remains as House Speaker
Dennis Hastert decides not to resign and remain as Speaker of House.  The wounds made by Foley to the Republican party will never have time to heal.  Every time Hastert is at a press conference, this will keep on getting brought up.  He will only be viewed as symbol for this Republican scandal.

Situation 2:  Hastert steps down as House Speaker
Dennis Hastert decides that it is best to resign as Speaker of the House.  This will raise many questions regarding his party's leadership.  Think about how this will look seeing the person third in line for the presidency step down.

Either way you look at it, the Republican party looks to be in quite a bind politically from all this.  If they can rebound by midterm elections, this would be an absolute miracle.