Of course, there is the example of John Edwards, who as of January 2008 was running 3rd after Clinton and Obama, but was still a viable candidate. But he withdrew abruptly at the end of January, to the great surprise of many. The National Enquirer had previously published rumors that he was having an affair with Reille Hunter, a campaign videographer, but the rumors were not widely believed because of their source. However, the rumors kept circulating and a few months after Edwards dropped out he admitted the affair but denied he was the father of Hunter's baby (which he later was forced to admit). As it turned out, Edwards turned out to have been a rather awful person, not only for cheating on his wife (who was dying of cancer) and fathering an illegitimate child, but for doing it during his campaign for the nomination. What if he'd been nominated or selected as the winner's running mate, and then the affair had been discovered? The election would have gone down in flames and McCain probably would have won. So, yes, the big ugly stuff does need to be known. But not the stupid crap about articles written 40 years ago or the actions of somebody's spouse or whatever.
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