As political spectacles go, the word from Scott Lee Cohen, a Chicago pawnbroker, that he would drop out was not so surprising, since his campaign had been overwhelmed by questions about steroid use and allegations of domestic abuse against a former girlfriend with a conviction for prostitution. Mr. Cohen’s expression of tearful regret while surrounded by supportive family members followed a familiar script. But as Frank James noted on NPR’s news blog, the time and place Mr. Cohen chose to make the announcement — the Hop Haus tavern on the Far North Side, during the Super Bowl — made this one of the “strangest exits many of us who’ve covered politics over the years have ever seen.”

Here is a brief slice of Mr. Cohen’s announcement at the Hop Haus, made while his son sobbed into his chest: