Have you never heard of Marion Barry? He was convicted of crack possession BEFORE running for mayor of DC! And he won!
Hey, I said I knew I should be wary of pointing fingers! I will say that your recitation of the facts is somewhat inaccurate, in that Barry was mayor when he was arrested and convicted, then later ran again and won. I am no fan of his, but to me he doesn't seem quite as stupid as Rob Ford, who seems to be a nonstop highlight reel of stupid comments and stupid behavior.
By all accounts, the Ford family has been involved in fairly high-level criminal behavior for decades. I guess I frankly think Canadians as a whole are smarter than Americans, as a whole, and I wouldn't expect them to buy into a boob like Ford.