Today’s bombshell out of the Big Apple - that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had placed a call for services to a high-priced prostitution outfit - has pushed aside the presidential race to become the political story of the day.

Veteran observers of St. Louis politics must no-doubt be reminded of a similar scandal here involving Circuit Attorney George Peach.

Like Spitzer - who made his name as a swashbuckling attorney general taking on Wall Street - Peach framed himself as a crusader for morality and justice. That is until 1992, when he was busted at a hotel near Lambert Field soliciting a woman for sex that he thought was a prostitute - but turned out to be an undercover St. Louis County police officer on vice duty.

The rest of the sordid tale - how Peach was using city funds to book hotel rooms and taking calls from pimps in his city office - was captured in an investigative blockbuster in the Post-Dispatch by the dynamic reporting duo of Lou Rose and Michael Sorkin.

Here’s a sample of the reporting, which was one of the finalists for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize:

George Peach, the tough-talking, law and order prosecutor, had been leading a double life.

In the past decade, Peach frequently met prostitutes at many of the area’s best-known hotels, according to call girls, madams and a pimp interviewed by reporters.

“He was a regular customer for years,” said Mara Montague, a convicted madam.

And a procurer, “Louis,” told the Post-Dispatch that Peach had used him as a source for call girls for 10 years - until the night in March when Peach was arrested for soliciting a prostitute.

“I often wondered where he was getting all of the money to do this,”Louis said. He described Peach as “Dr. Jekyll by day, busting people, and a Mr. Hyde at night with the girls.”

Louis said Peach’s most recent favorite meeting place with prostitutes was the St. Louis Airport Hilton.

Judy Crowe, the hotel’s reservations desk supervisor, said Peach had called the Airport Hilton about once a month for three years.

“He identified himself as George Peach and made the reservations for Larry Johnson,”Crowe said.

In New York, the Spitzer saga is just beginning to unfold. What type of lurid details will emerge? Will the first-time governor be able to keep his seat? Or are Democratic bosses in the Empire State already planning for Spitzer’s exit?

In the meantime, one more note on the affair d’ Peach: The assistant attorney general who handled the Peach case was a young state prosecutor named Kenny Hulshof, who himself now hopes to be a state governor.

UPDATE: The New York Times reports that Spitzer used an alias, too. The name he used was George … Fox. Interestingly enough, that’s the same name of the man who founded the religous group known as the Quakers.

Peach after his sentencing in 1993

Spitzer’s press conference earlier today