We've all belatedly grown up about this. The culture was very different back in 1987, when the Miami Herald staked out presidential candidate Gary Hart's Washington town house and reported on his relationship with Donna Rice. Hart refused to answer when then-Washington Post reporter Paul Taylor later asked him if he had ever committed adultery, and soon withdrew from the race. Rumors of infidelity swirled around Vice President George Bush as he geared up to run for the top job. In a preemptive move at a press breakfast, he acknowledged that his marriage had not been perfect.
Many news organizations consider an informal statute of limitations in making decisions.
If that politician is backed by Jerry Falwell and takes the family-values route, that gets pretty legitimate. But I don't see us pot-shotting extramarital affairs just because it's juicy copy. The revelation of Clinton's affair with a White House intern has unquestionably changed the dynamics of the 2000 campaign. The Rev. Lou Sheldon, who heads the Traditional Values Coalition, said he will ask every candidate whether he or she has committed adultery. We don't want to make it like writing a bad check or a parking ticket.