"Pressed" to destruction: the saga of Gary Hart.

• Author: Klebanow, Diana
• Position: Political Landscape - Brief biography

GARY HART, the former Democratic senator from Colorado who unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, somewhat has returned to the public eye due to journalist Matt Bai's All the Truth Is Out: The Week When Politics Went Tabloid (2014). The book laments the fact that, in 1987, the media exposed Hart's extramarital relationship with model and actress Donna Rice, and argues that the incident--by focusing on the private life of a politician instead of the issues in a campaign--forever changed the relationship between the media and politicians. Bai regards Hart "as sincere, patriotic, and thoughtful a man as I have encountered in American politics," and laments the fact that his political career was ended for what Bai regards as a personal matter.

Hart appears to enjoy the attention he is receiving--limited though it is--even if it is bound to conjure up some unpleasant memories. Bai later summarized some of the points made in his book in a New York Times Magazine article, "How Gary Hart's Downfall Forever Changed American Politics." The piece was accompanied by a full-length color picture of the still-handsome Hart against the backdrop of a Colorado landscape. Hart has written 15 books since 1987, including several novels, and serves on voluntary commissions for the secretaries of state and defense. He remains married to his wife of 56 years, the former Oletha ("Lee") Ludwig, whom Bai also interviewed for the article. Gary and Lee Hart feel the country was harmed by the publication of the Rice story: they believe that Hart would have gone on to defeat George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election, and that he would have served his country with honor. In a statement at the end of the article, Hart maintains that Bush's defeat in 1988 would have prevented "Bush's aimless eldest son" from becoming president in 2000, and would have spared the nation the ordeal of the Iraqi war.

Many observers readily accept Bai's argument that the media was wrong to invade Hart's right to privacy and write about his relationship with Rice. They also share Bai's belief that Hart was one of the most talented men of his generation. To his critics, Hart was viewed as a flawed contender in his quest to obtain the top office in the land. It

is their contention that the public had a right to know about his failure to curb his errant behavior when he was in the midst of seeking his party's presidential nomination.

Gary Warren Hart was...