As the controversy over Tom Daschle's tax problems rose this week, this old campaign TV ad surfaced. Circa 1986, the year Daschle won his Senate seat, the ad plays up Daschle's South Dakota regular guy image to great effect. The prop is his rusty, dusty old Pontiac that burns oil and spews smoke as Daschle proudly drives it among "Washington's BMWs," parking it smack in front of the Capitol. Too bad "the rest of Washington doesn't understand that a penny saved is a penny earned,'' the ad concludes.

You can't watch the video and not want to put out an all-points-bulletin on the man and the car. Where'd they both go? Because this week, neither was in evidence.

Instead, news reports focusing on Daschle's nomination to be the Department of Health and Human Services secretary revealed another side of the former South Dakota senator, and it wasn't flattering. The Aberdeen, S.D., native is now a jetsetting consultant who can't be bothered to take the Metro subway or drive his own car like the rest of us. His preferred mode of transporation? A chauffeured limo provided by a wealthy friend. Daschle's nomination unraveled because he hadn't paid taxes — $128,000 — on this expensive perk.

Daschle's nomination withdrawal is a shame. He has deep expertise in health care and was formidably equipped to move reform legislation through Congress. Both Daschle and President Obama would have been far better off had the former senator stayed true to his Midwestern roots. Daschle didn't have to keep driving the old Pontiac (it looked like it was on its last tire back in 1986), but he didn't have to go to the other extreme — the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous car service.

The old ad and Daschle's downfall are sad but striking evidence of just how toxic and intoxicating an environment the nation's capitol can be.