Edwards, sex and politics

August 9, 10:51 AMSF Politics ExaminerArthur Bruzzone

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- A very long list.   Politicians consumed by the fumes of power and celebrity, especially in the grand campaign, run for the presidency.  Gary Hart in 1987 was so brash he taunted the press. "Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'll be very bored."

Two reporters from the Miami Herald staked out his residence and observed an attractive young woman coming out of Hart's Washington, D.C., townhouse on the evening of May 2. The Herald published the story on May 3, the same day Hart's dare appeared in the New York Times.  Hart's bid for presidency was effectively over.

The Edwards illicit tryst has disgraced his party and worse.  As Democrat Party veteran Bill Cavala  observed, "He was our ideological Democrat. The candidate for President of what remains of the "old" left. And he offset the hard edges of ideology with an image of "family man", using his cancer-stricken wife to good advantage."

Whether disgraced Republican congressional leaders,  ministers, presidents, or candidates, nothing demoralizes already dismayed voters than sexual transgressions by their leaders. The loftier a candidates message, the higher the voters' standards.  No matter the venue --- an affair with a TV reporter (Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa), or with your top aide's wife (Mayor Gavin Newsom) - the voters zeal is dampened when they learn their candidates succumb to the ever present temptation.

Temptation, it is.  Sex permeates campaigns and government. It's part of the celebrity glaze of politics, at all levels. But when candidates come forth with ambitious goals and embellished messages, like Edwards, the voters expect more. When their candidates fail, decades-long voter cynicism is confirmed.  Hence, the miserable voter turnout records.  So, a night with a political groupie does more than end careers. It weakens the democratic process.