America spends too much time on our politicians personal lives and not enough on the issues.

True, what Spitzer and Craig did is somewhat different than what Edwards did. Spitzer and Craig crossed the line; into the illegal. Edwards merely betrayed his wife and lied about it. However, you're basically saying that the legality/illegality is what determines what is right and wrong. It is wrong, but not illegal, to cheat on your spouse. It is illegal, however, to hire people to do it with, lie about it under oath, etc. It is wrong, but not illegal, to get drunk. But it is both wrong and illegal to drink and drive. What's the difference? In the second case, operation of a vehicle while intoxicated is a serious danger to yourself and others, while with designated drivers and things like that, drinking itself can be kept as risk-free as possible when imbibing large quantities of addictive substances that are flammable and unhealthy in large quantities. With adultery, however, there are ALWAYS victims. When you are callous enough to cheat on your spouse, your spouse is hurt. Badly. Your mistress is hurt, because, as with Edwards, the relationship is extremely unlikely to come to a satisfactory conclusion. You yourself are hurt because you are defiling yourself, and it turns you askew. I'm not saying all adulterers' lives are ruined, at least not immediately, but it will come back and get you. Adultery is, quite simply, not what I want my elected leaders to concentrate on. Even if it is, as you say, basically something we should just ignore, it has to impair their ability to do their job. Thus, illegality is not a good measure of whether a person's personal actions should be scrutinized; it is Right and Wrong. This is doubly true with elected leaders: they represent us in more ways than one; they speak for us at the level they are at, but they also reflect back on the people they represent. When Elliott Spitzer was outed as a sleazeball, the people of NY rightfully wanted to get rid of him right away, because he reflected badly on them. I contest what you say about a "Wall of Edwards." I don't have any figures, and I'm sure you don't either, but from the news I've seen, it seems that the media concentrates far, far more on issues like the War, the economy, etc. than it ever does on the personal lives of politicians, even when they're embroiled in scandal. I think we're concentrating too much on the adultery side of this. Candidates "personal lives" can include legitimate things such as their pet peeves, relationships with their family, etc. It can also include financial misdealings and bossism, such as Gov. Rod Blagojevich is under investigation for. You may not see how adultery can affect someone's ability to lead, but when politicians steal and bribe, that's part of their "personal lives" too. Do you think THAT interferes with their ability to do their job well? Again, just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's right or just. It all comes down to what we want our POLITICIANS concentrating on: the blond babe they're cheating with, or the people they're representing? The money they're taking in illicit side contracts, the money they've made in Cattle Futures, or the interests and needs of the people? When they concentrate on the wrong things, the scrutiny of the people is and should be attracted, because they're not doing their job. Fun Fact: Bush Sr. may have had some of the lowest approval ratings in history, but he also had THE highest--after the Gulf War 1 was successfully concluded. And Nixon's shenanigans at Watergate, I think, are part of his personal, private life; or were before they came out. So you think the scrutiny and anger over Watergate was unjustified? Sure he broke the law, but it was part of his "personal" life. Should we just ignore that? Say you were in an affair with someone. You love the person very much, but want to stay married to your current wife so people will not lose their respect for you. It may also be bad for your prestige generally, because you hold a very important, closely scrutinized job. You are preoccupied with keeping your affair secret from everyone. You worry about your wife and children finding out, you worry that your mistress will blackmail you because of the importance of your job; you worry that she will reveal the affair, intentionally or unintentionally. Now, do you think that having all these things going on in your head might, just might, interfere with your ability to do your job? Or say it is a financial indiscretion. The same circumstance applies. Your personal life is intertwined almost beyond the point of distinction with your public life, and so an indiscretion in one reflects just as strongly in the other, even if the effects are not immediately apparent. So, spending time on politicians' personal lives is no wrong; and while not as important as the actual issues, it is still important--to keep politicians honest, and to know bad apples when you see them.